Eighteen Kisses Read online

  ‘Don’t worry, Han,’ said Ross. ‘Absolutely no danger of explosion with you.’

  Hannah gave him the finger. I laughed. It was good to be back.

  ‘We’re studying psychopaths at the minute,’ said Sophie. ‘Learning their traits and stuff.’

  ‘Cool,’ I said. ‘What are they?’

  ‘They show very little or no remorse, they have a fluctuating self-image, they often engage in self-mutilation, they experience fear of abandonment… that sort of thing.’

  ‘Sounds fascinating,’ I said. ‘Dark, but fascinating.’

  ‘Oh, and they have such confidence in their work, and such belief that they can’t do anything wrong, that it sometimes makes them reckless. It’s, like, their downfall.’

  ‘Are those night classes not just like school though?’ said Ross. ‘Except you don’t actually have to be there?’

  ‘Not really,’ said Sophie. ‘I love them. People just learning for the sake of it, with no end goal but to gain knowledge… it’s beautiful.’

  ‘No, that’s beautiful,’ said Ross, staring at a group of girls in sundresses strolling past.

  ‘We learned about tarot cards in divination last week,’ said Sophie. ‘That was just as interesting. I know you don’t believe in that sort of stuff, Jacki, but -’

  Sophie was preparing herself for a rant, which I probably would have launched into a year ago.

  ‘I dunno,’ I said. ‘Maybe I do.’

  ‘You’ve certainly changed your tune,’ said Ross.

  I shrugged. I couldn’t really tell them that the reason I’d become open to the idea of the paranormal was because it was literally part of my life now.

  ‘Well, as they say, the purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one!’ said Sophie with a smile.

  I missed hanging out like this. It was amazing how easy it was to slot back in, like I’d never left.

  ‘Jacki,’ said Ross suddenly. ‘What’s up with your arm?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I said. I looked down and saw a huge scratch, running right round in a circle from one side of my elbow to the other. It looked new, like I’d cut it on something. I took off my sunglasses and inspected it more closely. I couldn’t think when it had happened – I didn’t remember seeing it earlier.

  ‘Whoa, that looks nasty!’ said Hannah. It really did. It definitely looked like the kind of injury you would feel happening. But then I suddenly thought of last summer, when I’d woken up one morning with my body covered in bruises. Ger had told me that it was nothing to be frightened of, that it was simply another way that Beth was communicating with me – giving me a sign. This cut was equally inexplicable. I thought maybe this was a sign from Kayla. I wasn’t sure what she meant by it though.

  ‘Oh, that’s nothing,’ I said, trying to brush it off before too many other questions were asked. ‘Just a scratch – it happened a few days ago.’ I ran my finger along the broken skin.

  ‘It looks painful,’ said Sophie, sounding concerned.

  ‘Yeah, is it sore?’ asked Hannah.

  ‘Not really,’ I said. ‘It’s OK.’

  ‘Jeez,’ said Ross. ‘Maybe you would survive a zombie apocalypse after all.’

  Chapter 10

  My plans for tonight couldn’t have been more different from the relaxed sunny evening I’d spent with the others. I was due to meet up with the last two people to see Kayla alive – Amy Whelan and Andrew Hogan. We were going to walk the route they’d taken to and from the shop on the night of the party, and so possibly retrace Kayla’s last moments. Even though the thought of wandering around late at night with two potential suspects made me incredibly uneasy, I wanted to walk the route after dark in order to get a feel for what happened on the night of the party. Sergeant Lawlor had set up the meeting, so he knew where I was going to be, but I had to make sure Gran didn’t find out.

  I stood at her bedroom door, waiting for the sounds of sleep. She doesn’t snore, but if you listen closely you can hear her breathing, soft and rhythmic. I moved a little closer, and sure enough there it was. I was confident that she wouldn’t hear me tiptoe away. There are a few ways to sneak out of Gran’s. Number one is down the stairs, out the back door and around the side of the house. It’s never wise to use the front door because she’s much more likely to hear that when it closes – her bedroom is at the front. And she is also one of those people who sleeps with the window open. However, you have to keep in mind that walking around the side of the house always sets off the sensor light, which has the potential to wake her. The second option is to go out of my bedroom window and step on to the flat roof of the extension. You then lean over and grab the oak tree and shimmy down it. The only problem with this is that it almost always causes the neighbour’s dog to bark. They have a Chihuahua called Charles who is scarier than any dog three times his size. There was a time when Hannah refused to come over here when he wasn’t tied up. I don’t think he’d actually ever hurt anybody, he’s just very loud. And I suppose he’s not the only problem with this option – it’s also really dangerous. I felt bad about having to sneak out of Gran’s, but it was unavoidable. Although she wasn’t strict on many things she was firmly against ‘gallivanting’ on school nights. And since she considered work experience to be in the same category as school, there was no way I could tell her I was going out.

  I grabbed my bag from where I’d placed it outside my own bedroom door, and moved very quietly down the stairs. I’d decided to go out the back door. It was much less risky.

  The bus was empty, apart from a couple making out down the back and a drunk guy singing up the front. I sat in the middle, watching out for my stop. The route looked different in the darkness. I noticed things that I hadn’t seen the other day. Like the neon pharmacy sign, the crowded fast-food restaurants and the derelict cinema with its boarded-up windows. I felt a bit uneasy so I listened to some Thin Lizzy on my iPod to try and distract myself. A few students got on at the next stop, talking so loudly that I could hear them over my music.

  ‘I can’t believe these are still out in the shops,’ said one guy, who was munching on an Easter egg.

  ‘That’s gross,’ said another. ‘Don’t eat all of that, Marcus. I don’t want you to be sick on my couch later.’

  ‘Relax!’ he said as they trampled up the stairs.

  I laughed to myself; they sounded like my friends back in Avarna.

  I pressed the buzzer for my stop, then took out my earphones and wound them round my iPod. I had to be fully alert. I stepped off the bus and walked quickly through the darkness.

  The pizza place was small – it mainly did take-out orders – but there were a few tables. Amy was already there when I arrived. I recognized her immediately from the picture on Kayla’s invitation. Her blonde hair was longer now and naturally frizzy. She was sitting up on one of the chairs at the window. She wore a purple beret and a mint-green blazer and had a book in her hand. Her slice of ham and mushroom pizza was untouched on the paper plate.

  ‘Hi,’ I said, as I sat beside her. She looked up from her book.

  ‘Oh, hey, Jacki?’ she said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You want some pizza?’

  ‘Yeah, I’ll go get a slice,’ I said.

  I bought a double pepperoni and sat beside her again, glancing at the book as I rested my plate on the counter.

  ‘Emily Dickinson,’ she said, showing me the cover. ‘Reading it helps me to calm down.’

  ‘I’m sorry I’m asking you to do this,’ I said. ‘But knowing the route Kayla took home would really help give me a clearer picture of the whole situation.’ I had to start detaching myself more from the suspects, I thought. I was getting too involved, feeling bad for asking questions, for even being there. I had a duty to Kayla, and I had to stop apologizing for it. It just wasn’t easy.

  ‘Oh no, it’s not that,’ said Amy. ‘It’s just… well, Andrew and I had kind of a messy break-up. We don’t really talk any more.’
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  ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘OK.’

  ‘Well, we talk,’ Amy carried on, her words tumbling over each other. ‘But just so it’s not awkward for everyone else in the group. It’s never one-on-one.’

  I hadn’t even thought of the possibility that they would’ve broken up. I’d just assumed that they were still going out. I wondered if it’d had anything to do with Kayla’s disappearance.

  ‘So you only kind of get along?’ I said.

  ‘I tolerate him,’ she said with a sigh.

  I’d only had one other serious boyfriend apart from Nick – a guy called Cian, and I certainly didn’t get along with him. In fact I’d only heard from him once since we broke up. He called me to ask if I still had his Iron Maiden CD. I was pretty sure I didn’t have it, but I hadn’t looked very hard. I’d gone out with other people for a few weeks at a time, and I still got along really well with them. But I’d adored Cian and I suppose the more you loved a person, the more awkward it is.

  Amy tensed up as soon as Andrew arrived. He wore a black T-shirt and denims and was quite tall and muscular, the kind of person you wouldn’t want to be up against in a fight.

  ‘Hey, Jacki, I’m Andrew,’ he said. ‘Hi, Amy,’ he added, without looking at her.

  ‘I thought we’d walk the route you guys took on the night of the party together?’ I said. ‘But first I’d just like to ask you some questions.’

  Amy didn’t react. ‘Sure,’ said Andrew. ‘I’m just out of work – mind if I grab a slice?’

  ‘Go ahead,’ I said.

  He bought a slice of pepperoni pizza too. I started off by asking them the usual questions – was Kayla in a good mood? Did she mention if anything was wrong? Did they notice anything suspicious? They had the same answers as her sisters and Ellie – she was in a great mood, having lots of fun, just like everybody else. Andrew finished his slice within a few minutes, but Amy didn’t touch hers. She tore off a piece, but didn’t put it near her mouth, instead dropping it down on the plate. I had a lot of sympathy for her. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stomach a pizza if I were sitting next to Cian.

  It felt like I wasn’t making much progress though, like the stuff I was hearing was the same from everybody. At least one person from the group had to be lying, or knew things but wasn’t telling me. But the answers that Andrew and Amy and the others had given me corresponded exactly with their statements and with what they’d told the police. I suppose it didn’t matter so much what they told me, but what I picked up did matter. I was meant to be able to see beyond any lies and cover-ups and find out what really happened.

  ‘We should get going,’ said Amy, dumping her slice of pizza into the bin. ‘Before it gets too late.’

  We walked up the hill, past the tram tracks and down to Kayla’s house. There was a blue Mini parked in the driveway, giant furry dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. The lights were on in the sitting room and I could hear loud music coming from inside.

  ‘That’s Hazel’s car,’ said Andrew. ‘It was parked in that exact spot on the night of the party, along with some other cars. Amy and I walked over from my house, and got here about nine p.m. By that stage nearly everybody else was here.’

  ‘How close are you to Kayla?’ I asked Amy.

  ‘Very close,’ said Amy. ‘She’s one of my best friends.’

  Amy didn’t act like Libby or Ellie; she didn’t look like she was going to cry when she talked about Kayla. Instead she had a sort of vacant expression on her face, like her mind was somewhere else. It must have been hard to know that so many people partly blamed her for what happened to Kayla. I wondered what had been going through her head when she’d left her at the top of the road. I was wary of accusing her of leaving Kayla – I didn’t want her to become even more closed off.

  ‘So, you guys left the house at about twelve thirty a.m.?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Andrew. ‘Amy and Kayla wanted to go buy marshmallows, and I said I’d go with them.’

  ‘Because you didn’t think they should go alone?’ I asked.

  ‘No, I needed cigarettes and fancied a walk.’

  I’d thought maybe he’d been concerned for their safety, but obviously not.

  ‘Always the gentleman,’ muttered Amy and rolled her eyes. ‘Anyway, it was Kayla’s idea,’ she continued. ‘We started talking about this time we’d gone camping and toasted marshmallows, and then Kayla said we should go buy some. The next thing I knew we were heading to the shop.’

  ‘We walked pretty fast,’ said Andrew, leading us up the path. ‘None of us had drunk that much.’

  ‘While you were walking to the shop, did you notice anything suspicious?’ I asked.

  ‘No,’ Andrew responded. ‘Like I said, everything seemed normal. Kayla was being kind of quiet, but Amy said that’s what she’s like anyway, so I didn’t think much of it at the time.’

  I looked round at Amy; she hadn’t said anything at all on the walk. She stayed a short distance behind us.

  ‘Is this how you remember it too?’ I asked. She just nodded. It must have been a particularly messy break-up or else this journey was particularly difficult for her.

  ‘So, we crossed the road here,’ said Andrew. ‘Then went this way.’

  We were on a busier road now and I could see the mini-supermarket up ahead, its OPEN 24 HOURS sign shining brightly.

  Andrew crossed the path and walked ahead of us.

  ‘Did she talk at all?’ I said. ‘On the walk?’

  ‘Oh yeah, she talked about the party, and all the presents she’d got so far, that sort of stuff.’

  ‘Did she mention a fight with anyone?’

  ‘No, she didn’t talk about anything like that,’ said Andrew.

  I felt like I wasn’t making much progress at all.

  ‘Did you notice anyone hanging around on the way up?’ I asked, desperate for some new information.

  ‘Nope. We passed a man walking a dog here, then we crossed at these traffic lights.’ Andrew hit the pedestrian button. It turned green almost immediately. ‘We crossed the road and arrived at another set of lights. We didn’t have to wait for these to change, just like now, because there was no traffic.’

  It was so strange to walk like this, hearing Andrew recount every detail. It was like I could see it all unfolding in front of me. Kayla had walked this path, completely oblivious to what was about to happen. I wanted to go back in time and tell her to turn round.

  Andrew walked into the shop and Amy and I followed. It was a small supermarket, with two cashiers. ‘Marshmallows were down the back somewhere,’ he said. ‘I waited here while the girls went and got them.’

  The next part was the one I was most interested in, the part where they left Kayla alone.

  We walked back the way we’d come. This time Amy took the lead, staring straight ahead and not looking at either of us as she talked.

  ‘We always stopped here,’ said Amy. ‘I always left her here.’ We were at the top of Kayla’s street.

  I looked down the road. You could see Kayla’s house from where we were standing. It wasn’t very far away at all. This made me think that maybe someone was waiting for her, someone from the party who had been holding out until she was alone.

  When I got home I looked at the video from the party again. I’d told Amy and Andrew that they could go after we’d walked back from the shop – there wasn’t much more I could ask from them at this stage. They’d left separately without even a word of goodbye to each other. Sitting on my bed and watching the video on my laptop, over and over, they seemed like a different couple, standing together, hands entwined, and I thought about how much could change over such a short time.

  I scanned the rest of the people in the semicircle that had formed round Kayla’s chair. I could see Ellie, wearing a pretty purple strapless dress, her hair tied up in a loose ponytail. And Libby was there too, smiling broadly. She had her arm round a guy, presumably her boyfriend Rob, whose name had been scratched off the list. He wa
s a really good-looking guy, exactly the kind I’d expect Libby to go for. Amy watched as Andrew went up to kiss Kayla on the cheek. Another guy, who was tall and skinny, went up after him. He kissed her on the lips and she smiled. I looked carefully at the crowd, searching for anything suspicious, but nothing jumped out at me. I heard somebody shout ‘Fifteen!’ and then Hazel gave Kayla a quick kiss on the lips. A guy wolf-whistled and then walked up to Kayla. He kissed her on the lips too. This time she didn’t smile though. He leaned in, and I couldn’t hear it, but I was sure he whispered something in her ear. I rewound the video and it definitely seemed like he had whispered something to her. He didn’t get to say much though because another guy playfully pushed him away and gave Kayla her eighteenth and final kiss.

  Chapter 11

  I was grateful that Electric gave us an hour lunch break: it meant that I could gather my thoughts together and review what I’d learned about Kayla over the last couple of days. I bought some mint ice cream from the ice-cream shop on the square. I loved the ice-cream place. All its tables were outside on Temple Bar Square, so it was a great place to people-watch. They served their ice cream in blue tubs with colourful plastic spoons. I always got sprinkles. They made my mint ice cream look like a tiny rainbow had exploded into millions of pieces on top of it. When Hannah and I were younger, my dad would often bring us here on Saturdays. If we got cones, he’d always manage to talk the lady who was working there into giving him two flakes. Everybody loved my dad. Being back here, I was beginning to understand why Mum had wanted to move. There were reminders of Dad everywhere in this city, from the places we used to go, to the things he liked. Mostly I found it comforting, but I could see why Mum needed to start a new life.

  I sat down outside and took out my notebook, forcing myself to stop thinking about the past and instead focus on everything I’d learned about Kayla and the people who knew her. I wrote down all the important things so far, like the last time each of the people had seen Kayla, what they thought had happened and what their relationships were to each other. I’d only talked to five of the eight possible suspects, and already I had tons to consider.