Dead Girls Don't Lie Read Online Free PDF Page B

pale as I am.
    “Right. I didn’t recognize you at first. You look different, older or something.” He smiles, but the fact that he doesn’t even know my name makes me realize how invisible I’ve been to him. He fidgets for a second, playing with the strap to hishelmet. “Well, Jaycee . It’s getting hot and you’re a long way from the lake. How about I give you a ride?”
    I look up at him, startled. “Me?” I touch my hair, wishing it was curly blond like Taylor’s or stick straight and shiny black like Rachel’s used to be. Instead, I’m not wearing makeup, I didn’t shower this morning, and my hair is in an “unflattering” ponytail. There’s nothing about me that would make Evan remember my name.
    “Unless you’re afraid of motorcycles.”
    “Um.” I hesitate, not daring to look above the level of his lips now. I can almost hear Claire’s voice screaming at me that I’m an idiot if I don’t go with him. But I can also see my dad, shaking his head with disapproval. I’m not allowed to accept rides from guys, especially not on motorcycles. “I’m not sure.”
    “Not sure it’s safe?” He pats the helmet under his arm. “I’ll let you wear this. Trust me. I’ve ridden these trails since I was younger than you.” I get it, a jab about my age, even though I’m only two years younger than he is, but he’s still being really, really nice and his lips have formed into a grin that threatens to melt me.
    Besides, Evan might be the only person who could tell me what really happened between him and Rachel on New Year’s Eve. Not that I’m brave enough to ask. I glance at the dark windows on the old house. They feel dead and hollow. Like eyes, watching me. The empty, creepy feeling of death settles into my chest. I need to get away from this place as soon as I can.
    “Okay.” A nervous laugh bubbles out of my throat. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”
    “Cool.” He puts his hand on my shoulder, propelling me away from the house to the edge of the path where his yellow dirt bike is parked. He settles the helmet on my head and then buckles the strap under my chin. It smells like sweat and guy, a smell that reminds me of Skyler. I wonder what he would think about me riding his brother’s bike.
    Evan looks beyond the woods toward Rachel’s house. “I’m sorry about your friend.” The sympathy in his voice makes me remember that everything isn’t okay. “Eric says this is a lot like the other one, the kid who was killed last summer, but he’s not sure how the two cases are connected.”
    Evan and Skyler’s older brother, Eric, is the sheriff. He was elected last fall, even though he’s only about thirty. If I’m not brave enough to ask about the date with Rachel, at least I can ask about that. “How are they the same?”
    Evan sets his hand on the seat of the motorcycle. “Eric says they’re still investigating, but it looks like a gang thing, like before. Rachel’s house was tagged.”
    “Tagged?”
    “Gang symbols. Graffiti. Like that.” He points to a faded red symbol on the side of the house, a leftover from the last time gangs visited Lake Ridge. I shiver despite the heat. It matches the dripping red symbol I saw last summer—a circle with an eye inside and a dot above the eye.
    “He said they questioned all the Mexicans who have ties to gangs, but they clam up whenever he tries to talk to them about anything.” He shakes his head like he’s disgusted. “You’d think they’d want to help. She was one of them.”
    “No, she wasn’t.” The words come out before I can stop them. “She lived here her whole life, and her dad was white. She wasn’t like them.” As soon as I say it, I know it sounds awful, racist, and stupid. I shrink farther into his helmet.
    Evan just shrugs. “Scary that this kind of stuff is coming here. Eric says Yakima has major gang stuff, and Moses Lake, even some other smaller towns, but Lake Ridge always felt safe.”
    “Yeah,” I