Free Cold Fear by Toni Anderson Page A

that self-reproach in her tone? “What about you? You part of the popular crew?”
    Her eyes flashed and she snorted out a bitter laugh. “Am I a bitch, do you mean?” She nodded. “Yep, I can be. Helena was the nicest thing about me.” Shadows haunted the depths of her eyes. “I think that’s why Jesse asked her out. She’s the sweetest person I know. Is Jesse going to be okay?” Her voice hitched with concern. Kit seemed less of a bitch and more of a thoughtless teen.
    “He’s alive, probably due to your sister’s expertise.” The young man hadn’t regained consciousness yet, but it was early days. He’d suffered severe head trauma. Brain damage was a possibility. They wouldn’t know anything until the kid woke up and opened his mouth. “You went to the party. What happened there?”
    She crossed her arms and looked away from him. “The place was packed. We all hung out for a while. Danced. Ate—everyone was supposed to bring something.” She glowered at her feet. “Then they started playing some dumb games.” She looked angry. “I got pissed off and went to the hotel pool.”
    “What time?”
    “Just after midnight.”
    While Frazer and her sister had been at work, trying to save the world. He didn’t want to see mirrors in his and Isadora’s personalities, but they were impossible to miss.
    “You went swimming alone?”
    She pressed her lips together and shook her head. Tears refilled her eyes.
    Impatience lit through him. “Who were you with?”
    She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “A guy.”
    He waited.
    “He’s new to the school. Name is Damien Ridgeway. I, um, went swimming with him.”
    Frazer didn’t ask if clothing was optional. She wasn’t his sister. “Did you see Helena leave with Jesse?”
    Kit nodded. “She came and asked if I wanted to come with them to the beach. I laughed at her.” Her eyes were blotchy and swollen as she dabbed them with a wet tissue. “That was the last time I saw her. I laughed at her and gave her a look like she was stupid. No way would Jesse want me tagging along with the two of them.” She caught the sleeve of his jacket. “If I’d gone with her she’d still be alive, wouldn’t she? No one would’ve attacked three people.”
    “It’s unlikely someone would have confronted three individuals unless they were carrying a weapon. But murder isn’t an exact science so it’s possible he’d have killed you, too.”
    A shudder wracked her body. “She was such a good person.” She stood in front of him, looking up from under her bangs with fierce blue eyes. “Was she raped?”
    He held her gaze. “We don’t know for sure and anything I say now is spoken in confidence. This isn’t schoolroom gossip.” It was a risk to speculate but he’d worked enough cases to know he was probably right. He needed Kit Campbell to trust him because he needed to know what was going on in every level of Helena’s life, and that included high school. “She was probably raped.” Frazer had to catch Kit as her knees buckled. Her pain and anguish rang out on the thin breeze. Barney rushed over to see what was wrong, but Kit quieted and her screams turned to sobs and she clung to him, tears soaking into his shirt.
    “It’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair ! Helena was saving herself for someone special, and he stole that from her!” She slammed the bottom of her fist against his chest. “He stole it like he had the right.”
    He held onto her elbows, trying to steady her and wishing he’d given Randall this assignment. Teen drama was not his thing, although maybe he was being a little unsympathetic. She’d just lost her best friend. “She was a virgin?”
    “I don’t even know if she’d kissed anyone properly.” Her eyes were so red they looked like they were bleeding. “She was the nicest person I ever knew. How can I live knowing what happened to her?”
    She threw herself into his embrace, and Frazer found himself wrapping an arm around