Kiss of Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

honest, in all the mayhem that directly followed my finding that photo, I’d forgotten for a while that I had it. I’d shoved it in my back pocket, only coming across it again when I was stuffing my dirty clothes in the washing machine at Aunt Gwen’s; it was sheer chance that the Polaroid didn’t go through a spin cycle and get washed out to nothing. I put it in my desk drawer, burying it under a pile of boring old exercise books so that Aunt Gwen wouldn’t come across it.
    Only a few weeks ago, I showed it to Taylor. And that was because Plum has found out something about Taylor’s brother that she’s been using to torment Taylor. Taylor’s family, it turns out, work for a secret U.S. agency. I’d say they were spies, but Taylor would whack me round the back of the head for using that word, so I won’t. Taylor’s brother, Seth, was on some kind of mission in Venice over New Year’s, pretending to be a superrich trust-fund boy with more money than sense, when Plum met him and unfortunately—because apparently he looks really like Taylor—knew immediately that he wasn’t who he said he was.
    Plum has been using that knowledge to get at Taylor ever since. And it wasn’t till I flashed the photo in front of Plum and told her that if she didn’t play nicely with the other girls, it would find its way to all sorts of online sites, that she backed off.
    (I may also have added that her tummy looked fat in the photo. And that there was some cellulite on her thighs. Neither of which is true, but there’s nothing more likely to make a girl take your threat seriously than if you say you have a photo of her looking like she has cottage-cheese legs. I may not have a lot of experience at girl-on-girl politics, but I’m learning.)
    “It’s in the jewelry safe,” I say smugly. “Inside the box with my necklace.”
    I inherited—sort of—a very valuable necklace from my mother. And once I found out how very valuable it is, I decided to keep it in the Wakefield jewelry safe, watched over by my grandmother’s secretary, Penny.
    “That’s very smart,” Taylor says approvingly. “Even if Plum knew where it was, there’s no way she could ever get to that safe.”
    “I know,” I say even more smugly as Taylor high-fives me.
    “Girls!” Miss Carter says over the mike at the front of the coach, making us all jump. “We’re driving along Princes Street! On your right, you’ll see Edinburgh Castle, which we’ll visit in a couple of days, and the National Museum of Scotland.…”
    The castle’s high on a hill, above a deep gorge, dark and looming, lit up from below with orange lights that make it look imposing and eerie in equal measure. It’s hard not to be impressed.
    “Ooh!” Lizzie squeals, looking to the left instead, which seems to be Edinburgh’s main shopping street. “Topshop! And H&M! And Accessorize! They have them all here, too!”
    “Of course they have the same shops here, Lizzie,” I say, rolling my eyes. “We’re still in the UK.”
    “Glad to hear you have your priorities right, Lizzie,” Miss Carter says rather sarcastically. “Forget the centuries of history at Edinburgh Castle! Robert the Bruce; Mary, Queen of Scots, giving birth to James the First; Oliver Cromwell invading Scotland and capturing the castle … But no, just focus on Edinburgh’s shopping opportunities, why don’t you?”
    The coach turns to the left, dipping down an incline. Edinburgh is really striking; all the buildings are high and made of gray stone, and uplit against the black night sky. It isn’t cozy or welcoming; it’s too stark for that. But it’s definitely stunning: wide streets, dark churches, imposing gray buildings.
    And apart from Edinburgh’s beauty, I feel a huge sense of relief at simply being somewhere new. Wakefield Hall has so many confused memories for me now; every place that Jase and I kissed, everywhere that was special to me, is overlaid now with fear and sadness.
    Because I’m