Page 73 of Murder on the Upper East Side

‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m…’ Alex paused. ‘I don’t know. I’m probablyin shock. I thought we’d have so much more time to fix things between us. And now she’s justgone.’

‘Yeah, this is… I’m sorry. Again.’

Alex shrugged. ‘Not your fault. But can we talk, finally?’

‘I don’t know.’ Ami sounded as miserable as she looked. ‘Maybe in a few days, when things have settled down…’

He let out a small, exasperated sound. ‘I’m tired of waiting.’

Ami cleared her throat, then straightened. ‘Fine, okay.’

‘Thank you.’ He placed his hand on her arm, and she flinched. Under the table, Hannah’s whole body tensed.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘I just… You bought my gala ticket. You bought me a return flight home from Japan. But what did your letter really mean?Madison doesn’t get to control what we do. I won’t let her.’

‘Exactly what it said!’ His voice pitched up. ‘We’re adults now. She doesn’t get to call the shots anymore.Didn’t.Whatever. This is all so epically screwed up.’

‘So you didn’t…?’

‘What,killmy sister to stop her from interfering?’

‘I don’t know. I… yes?’

‘Fuck, no! Jesus, Ami, why would you think that?’

‘Someonekilled her. And your letter…’

‘Was just a letter. Madison and I were never close,you know that. But for the past few years, we’ve mostly stayed out of each other’s way. It wasn’t great, but it was working fine.’

‘Okay,’ Ami said. She gave Alex a small smile. ‘I believe you.’

Hannah let out a long, slow breath, letting the linen drop back in place. Alex’s reassurance had been enough for Ami, but was it enough for her? He’d always been one for grand gestures – which Madison had prided herself on thwarting. The plus-one to the Montauk wedding. The promposal. Now, a ticket to the gala and a return flight from Japan. Hannah’s relationship with Alex had been limited to a few conversations in her senior year, but even from those interactions, it was clear that Madison had delighted in wielding an enormous amount of power over her little brother, for their entire lives. She’d deliberately ruined his chances with Ami back in high school. Had she been planning to do the same tonight?

Maybe Alex had been telling Ami the truth. But he’d said himself that things had remained unresolved between the DuPont siblings. Reconnecting with Ami over the past few weeks must have brought all those old, ugly feelings right back to the surface. Everything they missed out on at Prescott. Years of bottled-up resentment.Madison doesn’t get to control what we do. I won’t let her.

If he had killed his sister, of course he wasn’t going to confess to murder in the middle of the Lenox Clubdining room. Ami had been smart to keep their conversation out in the open, for her own safety, but it also meant she shouldn’t trust a word that had come out of Alex DuPont’s mouth. And neither could Hannah.

26 April 2017

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Image: Madison DuPont and Elle Harrington strolling down Prescott’s entry hall, arms linked.

TheUpperEdgeWith National College Decision Day nearly upon us, Prescott’s top-ranking seniors are faced with the age-old dilemma – Harvard or Yale? – while others play eenie meenie miney mo among Stanford, Duke and CMU. Hannah Miller’s headed to UPenn – or is it NYU? Elle Harrington is off to Harvard, of course. Rumour has it Madison DuPont secured a coveted spot at Columbia, despite a solidly mediocre transcript. (Is there anything money can’t buy?) And Theo Fitzgerald is Princeton-bound, just like his father before him. But what about Bash Beaumont? His acceptance to Cambridge could go up in smoke if our dear boy can’t get it together to graduate on time…

2727 April 2017

Mr Harris sat at the seminar table with his students, distinguishable as their teacher primarily due to his linen sports coat, navy trousers and knit tie. He’d attended Bard, a small liberal arts college in New York’s Hudson Valley, and he treated his class with the same respect and spirit of intellectual equality that had been instilled in him by his college professors. As he’d made clear to Hannah and the others at the start of the year, they were nearly adults, after all. The purpose of Prescott’s senior seminar was to prepare them for academics beyond high school. Forlifebeyond high school.

He turned to Oliver, who sat beside Hannah at the round table. ‘And what about you?’

‘Dartmouth,’ Oliver replied. ‘Just formalised my acceptance last night.’

‘Congratulations.’ Mr Harris shifted his focus to Hannah. ‘Still deciding?’