Disclaimer: This story was possible only through Kate Brian, who created this playground of a story she's allowed us to play on.
Maybe it was in the closet somewhere, the evidence we needed…
I was shuffling through personal items in a Billings room, and getting frustrated with all of this again.
It's kind of funny, the promises you make to yourself. I'll never ever speak to them without doing my best to make them remember what they did, I promised to myself. I told myself I would never work with—or get along with—a Billings Girl again. There was not a shred of doubt in my mind that night that I hated, hated, hated those girls for leaving me. I also told myself I would also resent Cheyenne, my best friend, for the rest of my life. I had been prepared to do so.
Yet now that my best friend had been murdered, and police unable to make any headway, I was associating with my former enemy and boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. Life had a twisted sense of humor.
I riffled through books and shook them, hoping for incriminating evidence—something—to come out. No such luck. I went through the chest of drawers, hearing Reed hiss, "Shhhh!" and ignoring it.
"There's nothing here!" I said, not caring that my voice was loud. I strode towards the bathroom, and I hit something with my hip. A picture smashed onto the floor, and by the sound, glass had broken. I swore and picked it up.
It was a shot of Sabine and her mother. I began opening the back to release the glass, and then my heart stopped when I saw what was in the picture.
It was Ariana. Ariana, one of the girls that had abandoned me when my grandmother was suffering a stroke, and also somebody who had committed murder. She had her arm around Sabine and was beside her father. They looked like they were a family, a unit, and that they belonged. The implications whirled through my head. Why was Sabine with Ariana?
Reed walked over to see why I was frozen, and when she saw what I was holding, she seemed to transform into somebody else. Reed was suddenly and completely ice, a shell she had thrown over her shock.
"I lived with her for all those months and she never told me about this," she spat. "What else could she have been hiding?"
She made as if to go. I blocked her way, telling her that we needed to call the police, but she looked at me directly in the face and told me that she was confronting Sabine. I could either let her go, or she would knock me down. I let her go and dug in my pocket for my cell phone. Then I, too, headed to the Coffee Carma to hunt down Sabine.
As with most of the Billings Girls parties, it was extravagant to the point of vulgarity but incredibly alive. The Coffee Carma was seething with people as I pushed past, following Reed. I was trying to get through to the detective or officer handling Cheyenne's case, but the sheer noise level made it nearly impossible to hear anyone on the phone. Then Noelle was in my face, telling me I wasn't invited and to get out. I spun on my heel and got out, talking as I did, until Easton's Police Department agreed to send somebody. Then I marched back in.
By the time I got to Reed, Sabine was confessing. The girl seemed to be taking a malevolent glee in telling everyone how she had orchestrated everything. I had to give her points for that. She had been fiendishly clever in setting everything up. And pointing the blame squarely at Reed.
Someone had cut the music, and Sabine's voice rang clearly as she said, "I may be just like my sister, but unlike Ariana, I am going to finish this." Then Sabine took the gun and pointed it at Reed.
The shot went off.