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Noah ignores her. “Hey, guys. Are we having a slumber party gossip session or are we playing a serious game here?” Noah snaps his fingers at the twins to get their attention. “Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you want Julian, Mason, and Aiden to win against us.”
“We are winning,” Mason taunts, and I hear a musical sound from the game that doesn’t sound good for team Noah, Jackson, and Jason.
“Aw, man! You used a cheat code!” Noah accuses, and all six boys start arguing over it.
Laughing, I leave the room to grab a snack in the kitchen, and Annalisa follows me. Charlotte’s already there, pouring herself a tea.
“I’m glad the twins made up,” Annalisa says and drifts off, leaning against the counter awkwardly as if waiting for me to notice something different about her. Nothing comes to mind, so she fills in the blank for me. “Wanna know what Ray told me about Luke? Remember I got a call from him last night, that’s why I left early? I didn’t text you to update you because I saw the video and knew you had a lot going on.”
“Right. Yes.” It completely slipped my mind. Now that I actually know Luke is innocent, and after everything that went on last night, I forgot about asking Annalisa if she found anything.
“He said they checked the cameras and saw that he left the bar around 4 p.m. According to Luke, he left the bar to go looking for his old drug dealer, Greg. We asked Ray where he would’ve went to find him, and he sent us to another bar.”
Maybe if we find evidence of Luke not being near the crime scene we can clear his name and keep the twins out of it. It still wouldn’t help me with the whole Luke’s trying to contact Tony thing, but it’s a start. If Luke left the bar at four o’clock, he was on camera at Howard’s convenience around 5:15, and walked off camera around 5:25. Where was he between those times? And where was he after, since the time of death was around six?
“Did you find anything at the other bar?” I ask her.
“We talked to a bunch of people who looked like regulars. Some of them said that Greg was there that night, but who knows. We were told that the manager would know, but he wasn’t there when we went.”
Okay, so we’re still not really any closer to knowing anything.
“Has Luke’s lawyer said anything?” I ask. “Have the cops found anything out?”
“No. And apparently no one is looking for evidence to prove Luke didn’t do it. He had motive, his DNA was all over Greg, and he admits they got in a fight.”
“But Luke looked absolutely plastered in the video from the convenience store, and that was before Greg died. How could he kill a guy in that state?” I already know how, but I ask anyway.
Annalisa rubs her eyes and her black eyeliner smudges. “There was heroin in Greg’s system when he died. They said it wouldn’t have been a hard fight.”
Charlotte chimes in. “How do they know he didn’t overdo—”
“He didn’t overdose,” Annalisa cuts her off, her tone agitated. “They know the signs of an overdose. Plus, they said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to his head, remember?”
Charlotte pouts, mumbling something about just trying to help.
Annalisa sighs. “I know, I know. I’m sorry. I’m just annoyed that my brother is going to rot in jail over killing Greg, the worst person on this planet.”
“Luke isn’t going to be found guilty, Anna,” I tell her, trying to put as much conviction into my words as I can, because it really is the truth. Luke didn’t do anything, and it’s just a matter of figuring out what to do about the twins so that Annalisa can be reunited with her brother. What happens after that, I’m not sure, because I sure as hell can’t let him contact Tony. But for now, it’s one thing at a time.
