Under Threat by Robin Stevenson Page A

wouldn’t think he’d—”
    “Yeah, he’s my brother. I trust him because I know him.” She meets my eyes for a
second and then looks away. “And I thought you trusted me.”
    “I do,” I say. “Of course I do.”
    “If you trusted me, you’d have talked to me. Not acted like everything was fine and
then gone behind my back and told the police that Jake might be some crazy killer.”
    “I couldn’t risk not saying anything to the police,” I say. “Because if I didn’t…if
I just said nothing and if you were wrong about Jake…and if something happened to
my parents…then it’d be my fault.”
    We stare at each other in silence for a long moment. I can’t see a way forward. Can’t
see a way out of this.
    And there’s no going back.
    Leah stands up. “I’m going up to the house,” she says.
    It’s over, I think. She’ll never speak to me again. She hates me, and Jake hates
me, and their mother will hate me as soon as she hears about what I’ve done.
    I’ll have to move Buddy to some other stable.
    Then the door swings open behind me, and I scramble to my feet.
    It’s Jake.

Chapter Thirteen
    “I can’t believe you have the balls to show up here after what you did,” Jake says.
“Telling the cops lies about me. Telling them—”
    “I didn’t lie,” I say.
    “Right. That’s why they were here this afternoon, going through my room, asking questions
about where I’ve been.”
    “All I said was that you called my parents baby killers,” I say. My voice is louder
than I mean it to be. “Which is not a lie!”
    “No law against calling it like it is,” Jake says. His fists are clenched. “You’re
crazy. A crazy dyke.”
    I flinch. For a moment, I wonder if he might hit me.
    “Jake,” Leah says. “Don’t…don’t use that word. Not like that.”
    “Stay away from us,” he says. “Stay away from my sister.”
    I look at Leah. Her face is white, her eyes wide and shining with tears. “I’m sorry,”
I tell her. “I never meant to hurt you.”
    “Just go,” she says. “Please. Just go.”
    I’ve lost her. Leah’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and it’s over. It’s
my fault, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do. I feel empty. Hollow. Every part
of me aches.
    I turn to leave.
    And my phone rings. I hesitate, but I can’t ignore it. Because the first thing that
comes to mind is my parents. I take a few steps away from Jake and Leah and answer
the call. “Hello?”
    “Franny? It’s Rich Bowerbank.”
    My heart thuds painfully in my chest. “What is it? Is something…has something…my
parents?”
    “Your parents are fine,” he says quickly. “But there’s been an incident.”
    “An incident? At the hospital?” I glance at Jake and Leah. They’re both staring at
me. Jake still looks angry, his fists clenched at his sides, his jaw tight. Leah’s
mouth is open, her fingers pressed against it. “What happened?”
    “Everyone is fine,” he says again. “A man came into the clinic. He pulled a knife
and—”
    My knees turn to jelly, and I sit down abruptly on a bale of hay. “A knife?”
    “Oh my god,” Leah says. “What’s happened?”
    I ignore her. Turn away slightly, pressing the phone to my ear.
    “He was disarmed very quickly by security,” Detective Bowerbank says. “We have him
in custody. We’re still investigating, but it looks like he’s responsible for all
of the threats. The phone calls, the letters…”
    I start sobbing. Relief, I guess. I feel like an idiot, but I can’t help it.
    Leah is at my side, her face wet with tears. “Franny? Franny, your parents? Are they…has
something—”
    “They’re okay,” I say. I can hardly breathe.
    “What happened?”
    I end the call and stick the phone back in my pocket. “Someone showed up at the clinic,”
I say. My voice sounds strange. “With a knife.”
    “Holy crap,” Jake says. He sounds kind of stunned.
    I whirl on him. “You thought I was making this up or