Page 124 of The Other Side
“I never knew my mom.” She tried to get a look at the yearbook on the floor, but when she couldn’t, she reached out to snatch it from me. Her nostrils flared as she read the year. “I thought we were best friends. And for what? Some lying, piece-of-shit rich dick? Are you really that desperate? I never thought you’d turn on me.” Jolene glared.
“Turn on you?”
“Quit playing dumb. I’m not as stupid as you and everyone else around here think,” she snarled. “I know you figured it out.”
Seeing no point in keeping up the charade any longer, I decided to switch tactics. “I don’t think you’re dumb, Jolene,” I said softly. “Whatever happened, I’m sure you had a good reason.”
“I did have a good reason,” she agreed. “They deserved to die after what they did.”
“What did they do, Jolene?” I kept my voice even and calm, despite the panic racing through me.
“They stole my life!” she cried. “They’re my half-sisters. Their father got my mother pregnant and just left her. But she didn’t want me either, so she dropped me off at a hospital and ran.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t know how he found out who I was, but one day, I got pulled out of my foster home and enrolled at Montgomery. I didn’t know why until good old Chuck let it slip. Faith and Hope knew who I was, and they bullied me relentlessly at school. One day, I’d had enough. I was surprised how easy it was and by how quiet they were when it was done.”
I held back a grimace at her almost gleeful recollection of killing her sisters. I’d never heard Jolene call the headmaster by his first name. My stomach roiled at the implication. “You were one of Winston’s victims,” I guessed.
“He’s such a letch…well, hewasa letch.” She smiled, perhaps thinking of his demise.
“Did he really kill himself?”
“Yes, after I convinced him that I’d heard the police would be showing up with a warrant for his arrest and that they had solid evidence that would put him in jail for a long time.”
“But you wrote the suicide note.”
“I had to. You and your stupid boyfriend wouldn’t stop digging. I figured you’d take the win and let it go.”
“Did he know you hurt the girls?”
“He helped me cover it up from the very beginning. But I knew all of his secrets too, so I wasn’t worried about him telling anyone, until you found my sisters.” She smoothed out the sequins on her sweater.
“Why did you hurt Daniel? He was like you. Discarded by his family, just trying to survive. He was going to help you expose the headmaster, wasn’t he?”
“He was helping Marilyn expose the headmaster. But if Chuck didn’t have any secrets left to hide, then I’d lose my leverage for him to keep mine.” She leaned against the doorframe. “And when he found Faith and Hope, I had no choice.”
“And Claire?” I dared to ask.
Jolene cocked her head, “Violet, you know you’re the one at fault there. It might as well have been you who pushed her. It didn’t take me long to realize Chance was the person you were protecting, and I’d been watching Daniel for a while before I got rid of him, so I knew he was dating Claire. So if Chance was talking to her, it wouldn’t bode well for me.”
“Claire and Daniel were innocent.” I shook my head. Who was she? How had this monster been right under my nose the whole time?
“Claire is one less rich brat on this planet, and Daniel was collateral damage. I hadn’t expected a long-lost relative to show up and ruin everything, taking you away from me in the process. You should know, I took a lot of pleasure in exposing Chance Harper for the prick that he is to both you and the headmistress.”
“He didn’t take me away from you,” I argued. “I’m right here—I’m still your friend. I’ll keep your secrets. We can go back to how things used to be, now that he’s gone.” It was a long shot, but one of the few remaining cards I had to play.
Jolene uncharacteristically rolled her eyes. “Please,” she scoffed. “It’s obvious you’re still holding a torch for that asshole. I hope he was worth it. I can see now you were never really my friend.”
“That’s not true!”
“ItIStrue!” she cried. “And you’re going to wish you hadn’t come back. But at least it will give me the chance to get rid of him for good. I don’t think it will be too hard to frame him for your murder.”
My eyes widened, and my stomach dropped.
The overhead light glinted off something metallic in her hand…a knife.
“Jolene, you don’t have to do this.” I put my hands up in front of me, only able to take two steps back before I hit a shelf, stopping me.
