The Pretty Ones by Ania Ahlborn Page A

as a bad day turned into a good one. When I made that scene at the office, the girls turned to see what was wrong. I couldn’t have very well said that I was afraid my brother was going to get himself arrested. I couldn’t have said that . So, I said that Linnie and I were friends. It just tumbled out of me, and the strangest thing happened.” Nell smiled at the memory. “You should have seen them. They were like flies on a corpse. As soon as I said we were close, everyone wanted to say how sorry they were about her death, as though I was the one that deserved their condolences. I guess I pulled off looking pretty sad about the whole thing. Her friends were mumbling about how she had never talked about me, but what do they know anyway? They can’t prove anything. Maybe I should have been an actress.”
    Barrett was frowning again. He wasn’t happy with Nell’s confession.
    â€œI only said the thing about me and her being friends to protect you , you know. And isn’t that what you were doing when you did what you did? Didn’t you go through with the whole thing to protect me ?”
    You should have kept your mouth shut, he wrote, then looked away from her, not sold on her reasoning.
    â€œWell, I don’t see what you have to be upset about,” she said. “ I’m the one that turned down an invitation to the Cabana Club.”
    It was then that Barrett’s eyes blazed.
    He shot up from his chair, his notepad tumbling to the floor.
    She could see it in his expression, the memory of their mother dancing across the deep brown of his eyes. Their sloppy drunk mother who locked them in the closet while she pulled strange men into their dead father’s bed. He wore a mask of disdain, and that’s when his true intentions became clear.
    Yes, Barrett had killed Linnie Carter, because Linnie Carter had made Nell cry.
    Yes, he’d killed her because she was an unappreciative bitch who couldn’t bother with politeness.
    Yes, he had wanted to see how it felt. For his book. For his art.
    But mostly, Barrett had killed her because Linnie’s disregard for Nell’s feelings had reminded him of their mother’s disregard for her own children.
    He had killed her because, at her core, Linnie Carter was a carbon copy of Faye Sullivan. And Faye Sullivan was out there somewhere, alive.
    â€œIt had nothing to do with research, did it?” Nell asked. “You did it because of Mom.”
    Barrett reeled around, his stare hard, wild with a rage Nell hadn’t seen before. That’s when the realization hit her. Nell was afraid of losing Barrett, either to a girl or the police, and Barrett was afraid of losing her too. He was afraid of Nell hanging around the girls she worked with because they were just like their matriarch. Ugly and sinful and hateful right down to their bones. But if he wiped them out, Nell didn’t stand a chance of being their friend. If he killed the ones who got too friendly, they wouldn’t ruin his sister, and Nell couldn’t make any friends.
    â€œYou can’t do that, Barrett,” she said, her newfound understanding igniting a flame of resentment deep in her chest—small, but still there. “You can’t just go around killing people who remind you of her, no matter how much you want her gone.”
    Barrett refused to look at her, his lack of eye contact assuring her that he’d do whatever he damn well pleased. Because of course he would. It didn’t matter that his actions affected his sister. That was the whole point, after all. How was she supposed to change her life if Barrett cut down her opportunities?
    â€œYou’re selfish.” Her tone was hard-edged. Most of the time, all she wanted was to please him, but he’d crossed a line. After all she sacrificed for him—letting him live out his dreams of being a writer. Her working full-time, while he sat around reading his books. Having to