Page 65 of Bad Intentions

“But he wasn’t.”

I frowned at Donna. “What do you mean? We saw him walk into the house.”

“K, he wasn’t there.”

“What are you talking about?” My mind was spinning. If Derek wasn’t in his house, then we’d been tricked, and he was somewhere else, while something horrible happened at the bar, and he was⁠—

“Where? Is? Derek?” I gritted out, feeling the world spinning like mad on its axis.

“It wasn’t him,” Donna said quietly. “It wasn’t him, K. It’s as if he knew we were waiting for him. It was some girl wearing his hoodie. She opened the door. I left, and Steve stayed behind waiting for him.”

No. No-no-no-no-no. “You were supposed to get him, Donna!”

“I know, but we didn’t.”

“And now our daughters… Now Doug Hartzel is dead, Donna. Do you understand? The boy is dead. And you know whose fault that is? His! Because he was supposed to be gone.”

“I know, Karen! I’m not stupid,” she snarled. “I know! I know! Just let me think. We should call Steve⁠—”

“Are you out of your mind, Donna? And tell him what? That the girls were found with the dead body, with a weapon they both touched, but it’s not them? It’s the guy who no one seems to be able to locate?”

“It’ll be fine! We will⁠—”

“It’s already not fine! Look what those two got into!”

“Those two?”

“They are pointing fingers at each other.”

That’s when Donna shook her head, her face tightening. “Victoria had nothing to do with it. Dougie was Alysha’s problem. Always has been.”

I froze, staring at her. “Don’t even go there, D,” I gritted out.

Both girls denied doing anything to Dougie. There was no way to tell. And we weren’t going there with accusations like this, not when we were trying to cover this up. What the girls needed was to forget they were ever at the bar.

“If anything, K, what happened to Dougie is Alysha’s fault. You know it. We both know it.”

“Oooh, no.” I flared up with anger. “You didn’t just say that.”

“I didn’t accuse anyone, K. But Victoria had nothing to do with Dougie. She was always following Alysha’s lead. I’m saying for the record, if anything—anything—comes out, it’s not on Victoria. You know it.”

It’s situations like this, minutes, seconds, that make the world as you know it crack.

“I can’t believe you, Donna,” I whispered.

“I just want to make it clear, Karen. I’m in on this, a hundred percent. But this—this”—she stabbed her finger into the room where the girls were—“is because Alysha took her games way too far⁠—”

“Get out, Donna,” I whispered. “Out,” I said louder. “I got my ass on the line because I wanted our girls safe⁠—”

“I know that⁠—”

“I will make sure they are safe.”

“I am here to⁠—”

“You already messed up. It won’t happen again. Not on my watch.”

She rose from her chair abruptly, leaning with her palms on the table, all in my face. “Don’t. You. Dare. Karen. I ain’t leaving. Not now. Not till both of us figure this out. Not till the girls are safe.”