My brows pinched together. “Who wasit?”
“The Connery boy. The one you’re always hanging out with.” Mom’s eyes didn’t waver. She was telling thetruth.
My phone started buzzing crazily on the table. I grabbed it and cast my eyes downward. A flurry of texts from Hunter lit up the homescreen.
She’s lying,Laney.
I swear, she’s full ofshit.
I didn’t give her thenecklace.
I frowned and switched the screen off before sliding the phone back onto the table. Then I leaned forward and crossed my arms, one eyebrow arching upward. “So you’re telling me that Hunter Connery gave you the necklace and told you to lie aboutit?”
Mom’s nose wrinkled. “No, not Hunter,” she said, shaking her head. “The other one.Adam.”
18
Laney
“Adam?”I stared at Mom, aghast. “Really?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
I steeled my jaw and did my best to stop my hands from trembling on the table. “Why did he tell you to lie about it?” Iasked.
“There were a couple of reasons,” she said. She leaned back and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sure you already know this now that you’re friends with both of the Connery boys, but just in case you don’t, they had a sister. Lindsay. She died lastyear.”
“Yes, I know aboutthat.”
“Well, a few days after she died, Adam approached me. He was distraught, as you can imagine, and he had the necklace with him,” she said, gently touching the pendant in front of her. “He told me that he had it made for Lindsay a while ago, and he was planning on giving it to her for Christmas. But then she died, so he never got thechance.”
“Right,” I saidstiffly.
“He said he didn’t have the heart to sell it, but he didn’t want to keep it hidden away in a jewelry box either. He said Lindsay would’ve wanted someone to love it and appreciate it as much as she would have if she was still alive,” Mom went on. “So that was what he wanted—to find someone else to give it to. Someone who would love it. He said he’d overheard me talking about you a few times before, so he knew I had a daughter whose name started with L.” She paused and waved a hand. “Well, your nickname, anyway. So he offered it to me and said I should give it toyou.”
“Andthen?”
“That’s when he said I should lie about it. He was worried you would be freaked out if you knew the necklace was originally a gift for a girl who died, because it’s a little macabre, Isuppose.”
“Isee.”
“He was also concerned about me. He knew a maid could never afford something so expensive, so he was worried that people would ask questions. They might think I stole the necklace for you. Even if he told people the truth—that he gave it to me as a gift—they might get the wrong impression. They might think I seduced him, or something like that.” Mom sighed again. “He said I could avoid that by making up a story about finding it in a pawn shop and keeping the truth tomyself.”
I nodded slowly and knitted my fingers together in front of me, jaw clenchedhard.
The things Adam had done and the lies he’d told made me feel physically ill. I thought he was my friend, but when I imagined myself with him now, I pictured black tendrils of pure evil curling off him and twisting around my body, threatening to suffocate me for my ownignorance.
Movies and books always made it seem as if humans had a sort of sixth sense for detecting darkness and psychopathy in others, but that was either flat-out wrong or my radar was broken, because he’d been right in front of me all this time, wreaking havoc and destruction on my life, and I never sensedit.
Not even for asecond.
I could only imagine how terrible Hunter must feel right now, for the very samereason.
Mom mistook my silence for anger and leaned forward, eyes widening. “I know I should’ve been honest with you about where the necklace came from, but I wanted to give you something that you could cherish forever. Something I could never afford to give you otherwise. And Adam was right—if you knew the real story behind it, that experience might be tarnished.” She swallowed loudly and went on. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I really thought I was doing the rightthing.”
“I understand,” I saidsoftly.
“Are yousure?”