I Fell In Love With The Devil

Chapter 17

'Care to explain what those are,' Matthew growled. I must've looked like a little kid caught with sugar because Matthew's face reddened in anger.

'Photos,' I gulped. How long had they been watching? Did they think I had made it?

'We can see that,' Jake replied sarcastically. 'Where did you get that USB from?'

'Levi's garden. When Theodore painted his garage door he also dug a fake grave and hid it there. I dug it up last night, before I snuck inside,' I said guiltily. It hadn't been my plan to let them see anything on it. 'I'll show you.' I stood up and pushed past them then guided them through the house and garage. I shoved open the door and stomped through the garden to the place where I had dug it up. I stopped suddenly. The hole had been filled in and the headstone was nowhere to be seen. Not even the metal box was visible. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 'So Piper,' David drawled, 'Where is it? It's obviously not here.'

I didn't look at them because I knew how silly and childish my reply was going to sound. 'They filled in the hole and took the headstone and metal box,' I grumbled then added quickly, 'But I can show you it before I dug it up. There's a photo of it on the USB.'

'It's confiscated, you will have no access to it,' Matthew said sternly.

'Um, before you find it and get really angry, I planned to make another runner but you caught me, Matthew. So, anyway, I had this thought, looking back it wasn't a good thought, so when I snuck in, I kinda, sort of, downloaded the tracking program onto it --but that was because I wanted to track Theo-- and well, I guess you can delete the program from it.'

No one spoke while I stood there twiddling my fingers and looking at the ground. 'You're not coming on the stake-out,' Scarlett said softly and somehow it made me feel worse, if she had said it in a stern angry voice I would've been fine but the softness hurt so much more. I felt as though I had betrayed them, even though I hadn't. I headed back inside and climbed the stairs to my room where I gently closed the door and I heard a lock click into place on the other side. I leaned my head on the door and stood there for a few minutes. There was no point in escaping that would make me look guilty, so I packed everything up and laid on my bed and pulled out my phone. I scrolled through all the news feeds to try and find some sort of clue that could help the investigation. I racked my brain for all the secret meanings behind them all. The first one was telling me that I was going to die. Then there were the messages in the lipstick cap: the first of them told me about how the second one was hidden, and the second one was referring to the Gala when the original message was written and Levi was there as well as the X agent that wrote the message. Shotguns and roses must've meant the laundromat murder because Madeline Roberts was killed with a shotgun and roses were left at the crime scene. The message left at the laundromat was simple: I wasn't in my motel room at the planned time of the murder. The creepy musical note one was only a dramatic farewell that made headlines as Theodore wanted it to. Last but not least, there was the garage door one which I replied to. It threatened Levi's reputation as the "nice celebrity" by comparing him to a devil and me to an angel. But, the last slide of the frightening slideshow had another message which matched the note Levi received. "TIME TO CLIP YOUR WINGS AND FALL." Something was going to happen soon. The messages corresponded to events and this one made me feel queasy. I was locked in a room with only a locked window as an escape route as well as an entry point. It was nearing dark and I had only been in the room for ten minutes. This would make me look extra guilty but I had to do it. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the door then started banging my fists against it. 'Come here, please!' I shouted. 'I need to tell you something!' No answer. 'It's important. I promise... please.' I slid to the ground with my back against the wall and rested my hands and head between my knees. 'We're leaving,' Matthew yelled from downstairs. 'Someone is watching you for the next two days and they're under strict orders not to communicate with you. They'll deliver food and water at eight in the morning, one in the afternoon and six at night.'