Betrayal Read Online Free PDF

declined.
    â€œI’m tired, and this whole thing has been a total nightmare,” Brianna said. “Like, I just want to get this over with. This wasn’t how I wanted my party to end, you know?”
    Annie ignored the comment. No one wants a party to end in a bloody stabbing. She placed a yellow legal pad on the table at the exact moment Brianna’s phone buzzed.
    â€œIs it your mother?” she asked.
    Brianna scrolled through her text messages. She made a face. “No surprise. She missed the boat. She’ll have to take the next ferry.”
    â€œDo you want to wait for her?” Annie asked.
    â€œNo,” she said. “I want to go to bed. But not my bed. My entire room needs to be taken to a landfill.” She put down her phone. “I was ready for a change anyway.”
    â€œIs there anyone else I can call for you, Brianna?” the police chief asked. Her concern for the girl was genuine. Besides her work in law enforcement, Annie had given her time to coaching, mentoring, and speaking at conferences on behalf of young people whenever she could.
    Brianna shook her head. “No. Dad’s off with dumb-dumb and my mom will get here as soon as she can. I just want this night to end.”
    â€œI know this has been a terrible ordeal for you.”
    â€œIt has been the worst. The worst ever . The party was so fun and then this happens. It just isn’t fair.”
    â€œMurder is never fair, Brianna.”
    â€œI don’t need a lecture. Don’t misconstrue what I’m saying here, officer.”
    â€œChief, please,” Annie said, gently.
    â€œPeople are so hung up on their titles,” Brianna said, her tone a little smug, living up to her stereotype of an entitled rich kid with as much warmth as a vodka luge.
    â€œAbout Olivia,” Annie said, getting the interview back on track.
    â€œShe was cool. I liked her accent. She came to my party, and someone killed her. That’s all I know.”
    â€œFine,” Annie said. “Let’s dig a little deeper. You said Drew and Olivia came to the party together?”
    Brianna fiddled with her phone. “Drew picked her up,” she said. “I was busy getting things ready. She didn’t want to wait for Beth and the other Port Gamble losers.”
    Annie kept her expression flat. “Which Port Gamble ‘losers’ are you referring to?”
    â€œColton James, Beth Lee, and those genetic copies, Hayley and Taylor Ryan.”
    â€œWas she not getting along with them?”
    â€œShe told me Beth was miffed that she wouldn’t wait for her little clique. They had a big fight.”
    â€œAll right. Do you know if Olivia had any enemies?”
    â€œShe wasn’t here long enough. Look, she was pretty. She was smart.
    All the boys thought she was a supermodel in the making, and the girls wanted to talk fashion with her. She actually had an Alexander McQueen purse. That’s the Holy Grail. Harder to get than a Birkin, you know.”
    Annie nodded, though she really didn’t know. Her idea of designer goods was what she could find on the clearance table at Shelly’s Tall Girl shop at the mall. “She sounds like a nice girl,” she said.
    â€œShe was nice. I liked her. We were best friends. Well, I was her best friend anyway. She was so new, you know?”
    â€œKids at the party were using drugs and drinking, right?” Annie asked in her calmest, most nonjudgmental voice.
    Brianna flinched. “You can do whatever you want in your own home. I didn’t provide any booze or drugs. If kids were drinking and getting baked, that’s not my fault. I provided snacks and stuff. That’s not against the law.”
    â€œThis isn’t about your party and what snacks you served, Brianna. It is about the death of your friend, Olivia.”
    Brianna looked at her phone again, fingers almost twitching to touch the screen. It was clear right then to