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"I killed my father.... I killed my father...."
Ariana had to keep herself from lunging at Briana Leigh. To keep from grabbing her and shaking her and screaming in her face.
"My mother's dead. My father's gone. Kaitlynn's locked up down there in that horrible place," Briana Leigh continued babbling. "I'm all alone and it's all my fault."
So she really killed her father? The letter from Kaitlynn had seemed so authentic, but then, Ariana knew how easily these things could be faked. Briana Leigh had probably paid some guard or clerk to send her some letterhead and had written the letter herself, just to prove her own innocence should anyone ever question it.
Ariana's fingers closed around her forearm as she fought the urge to vomit. She felt so abysmally stupid. What was wrong with her? How could have she ever doubted Kaitlynn? Ever let Briana Leigh suck her into her psychosis? Ever let herself start to care about the psychotic bitch? This was what Grandma Covington had been talking about. The old bat was right--Briana Leigh was evil. No wonder Grandma C. had loved Kaitlynn more. She knew the truth.
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Briana Leigh had murdered her father in cold blood and pinned it on innocent Kaitlynn. It was all true. She had simply fed Ariana the lie to keep up appearances, but now that she was on her way to Ibiza to start her new life, she was purging her heart. Ariana had thought the girl was saying good-bye to her parents in the graveyard; maybe she had been apologizing. And now the girl was drunk and thought she was talking to her new best friend, someone she could trust.
But she had no idea who she was talking to. No idea what "Emma Walsh" could do to her.
"I have no one," Briana Leigh repeated at a whisper.
It took all of Ariana's self-control to keep from smacking the girl across the face. Tackling her to the ground. Tearing her hair out. Ariana had almost forsaken Kaitlynn--innocent, sweet Kaitlynn--because of Briana Leigh's lies. She could have slaughtered the girl just for that. But she could do nothing. Not here. Not now. The authorities would be called--the authorities in D.C, who had been staring at her picture for a month now. Ariana would be headed back to prison before she could blink.
She had to keep playing the good friend. She looked around the plane's cabin, trying to distract herself. Noted the exact number of lights in the ceiling--twelve, six of which were on. Noted the flight attendant's shoes--patent leather, black. Noted a stain on the carpet on the far side of the plane. A spill of some kind, lightened by an attempt to clean it, but not quite gone.
Her breathing started to return to normal.
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"Don't say that," she told Briana Leigh, making her voice sound sympathetic. "You have Teo. And you have me."
Gag. Gag. Gag.
Briana Leigh smiled slightly. Her eyes were starting to close. "Teo. Teo's waiting for me."
Ariana felt a sting on her arm and looked down. Her fingernails had drawn blood. She reached for her napkin and quickly covered up the tiny crescent-shaped wounds so that the flight attendant wouldn't see. Briana Leigh, meanwhile, began to snooze.
The plane dipped slightly. They were starting their descent. Ariana looked out the window, her teeth clenched, and silently berated herself. How could she have ever doubted her friend? The girl she had lived with for more than a year? The girl who had been there for her at the worst time of her life? Was she that fickle? A few weeks on the outside and a bond like that forgotten?
Never again, she vowed. Never again.
The plane dipped again, coming out of the clouds, and the earth became visible down below. Somewhere out there was the Brenda T. Somewhere down there was Kaitlynn, sitting alone, staring out at the lake and the Philmore Hotel, still daydreaming about that swim. That swim in the lake where the authorities were beginning to think they would never find Ariana's body.
Briana Leigh let out a slight snore and Ariana glanced over at her. There was a rivulet of drool running down the side of her chin. Revolting. Here Ariana was, prepared to give Briana Leigh a good name with her impeccable manners and her perfect grades and her
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focus on the future, and Briana Leigh was just going to lead the life of a lush in Ibiza, married to some crappy DJ, getting away with murder while Kaitlynn was locked up for the rest of her life. The girl did not deserve to live. She simply did not deserve to live.
Ariana looked out the window again and her heart caught. They were flying over Lake Page now. She could see the brick walls of the Brenda T. on one side, the turrets of the Philmore Hotel on the other. A speedboat, apparently undeterred by the specter of Ariana's unfound corpse, cut a white V of foam across its pristine surface.
And just like that, an idea came to her. Ariana's veins sizzled with delight at the perfect deliciousness of the plan. If it worked out, everything would be fine. If it worked out, everyone would get the life they actually deserved.
The flight attendant paused next to Ariana's shoulder and whispered so as not to wake Briana Leigh. "We're starting our descent, Miss Walsh. Can I take your lunch plates?"
"One second," Ariana said. She grabbed one of the remaining wedges of her sandwich off the plate, then nodded. "All set. Thanks."
As soon as the flight attendant's back was turned, Ariana removed the roast beef from her sandwich and slipped it into the outside pocket of her purse.
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THE NEW PLAN
