Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser Page A

of us had.
    “We don’t know that anything bad’s happened to either of them,” I said.
    “Oh, right.” Jen smirked dubiously. “They’ve both just vanished into thin air. Happens every day. And by the way, you realize Lucy’s now been gone for more than a week?”
    Neither Courtney nor I answered. It was hard to imagine that there was anyone in Soundview who wasn’t aware of how long Lucy had been missing. Jen rose from her chair. “Be right back.” She went into the Starbucks.
    Courtney stared past me and up the block where Greg, Reilly, and Jake were coming down the sidewalk. Greg’s and Jake’s hands were jammed into the pockets of their jeans. All three of them had grim expressions on their faces.
    A little while later, there were six of us at two tables pushed together, huddled over our coffees.
    “This is unreal,” Jake muttered. “I mean, stuff like this doesn’t happen around here.”
    “You know, the night Lucy disappeared,” said Greg, “there were some guys I’d never seen before. I heard later that they were from FCC. And there was at least one guy at the kegger last night who I’d never seen before. Maybe—”
    “Oh my God!” Reilly gasped, sweeping her chestnut hair out of her face. “I know who you mean! I talked to him!”
    We stared at her.
    “Last night. At the kegger. I can’t believe I didn’t put it together until now.” Reilly pressed her hand to her chest as if to keep from hyperventilating.
    “What did you talk about?” I asked.
    “I don’t know, just stuff,” Reilly said, although from the distant look in her eyes you could see that even as she answered, she was still searching her memory. “I’d had a couple of beers and I talked to a lot of people. I’m trying to remember.”
    “Was he from FCC?” Greg asked.
    “I don’t think he said,” Reilly answered. “I mean, he definitely wasn’t from our school. I sort of assumed he was from some school nearby.”
    “What kind of stuff did you talk about?” Courtney asked.
    “Well, he wanted to know who was who—”
    “And that didn’t seem weird to you?” Jen interrupted.
    “Not at the time. I mean, he didn’t know anyone so he was asking, that’s all. Just making conversation. It’s seemed pretty natural.”
    “And you’re sure he never said where he was from?” I asked.
    Reilly stared at her coffee. “If he did, I don’t remember.…” She looked up as if she’d just remembered something. “He wanted to know who the most popular kids were.”
    For a moment, all of us exchanged shocked looks. “Oh … my … God!” Jen muttered.
    I flipped open my phone and called the police.
    It wasn’t long before a dark green sedan pulled up and Detective Payne got out and came toward us.
    “Do you know what happened to Adam?” Jen asked.
    “I think it’s best if I ask the questions,” Detective Payne replied patiently. He turned to me. “Madison, you said you have a friend who might have some important information?”
    I introduced him to Reilly.
    “You spoke to this person?” Detective Payne asked her.
    Reilly nodded uncomfortably.
    “Remember what he looked like?”
    “Sort of. It was kind of dark.”
    Detective Payne glanced around at the rest of us and then focused again on Reilly. “Would you mind coming down to the station? I’d like to ask you some more questions, and maybe you could give us a description.”
    Reilly gave me a nervous glance, but I nodded back reassuringly.She turned to the detective. “Should I, like, tell my parents?”
    “Certainly,” said Detective Payne.
    While Reilly called her mom, I asked Detective Payne if we could speak in private for a moment. We walked a dozen yards down the sidewalk.
    “Thanks for calling me,” he said in a low voice. “This could be helpful.”
    “I was thinking about the note,” I replied. “It said that my friends and I were in danger. Adam is one of my closest friends.”
    Detective Payne nodded. I didn’t have to spell