Confessions: The Private School Murders by James Patterson Read Free Book Online Page A

and went back to my workstation. “Lena Watkins,” I said. “Age about sixteen, lived on the Upper West Side, died last month of a gunshot wound.”
    Hugo bent over the keyboard and tapped a few keys. He knew how to hack into the NYPD computer system and get out without getting caught. It was a skill that could come in handy.
    Hugo read, “ ‘Lena Watkins, Ninety-Second and Amsterdam, gunshot to the temple at close range.’ Sound right?”
    I nodded. “Witnesses?”
    “No. Uh, her mother said Lena had been depressed. She was found dead with a gun in her hand, so…”
    “They think suicide,” I finished. “Send that page to me, okay, Hugo? I’ll go over the rest myself.”
    My computer beeped, and I settled in to read. The first oddity that caught my eye was the fact that the gun was unregistered. An unregistered gun was a pretty weird thing for a wealthy sixteen-year-old Manhattanite to have in her possession.
    “Lena
was
on antidepressants, but her parents said the pills were working,” I said to Hugo. “Not only that, but she never talked about killing herself. She had been down but was coming out of it, and it says here that she didn’t leave a suicide note. Which is kind of odd.”
    “If I offed myself, I’d leave a note,” Hugo said, glancing at my father’s charts on the walls. “Unlike
some
people.”
    “Tell me about it,” I replied, facing him. “Also, get this: Lena had put a down payment on a new car and had gotten accepted early to Smith College. This doesn’t really add up to suicidal depression. Not as I see it.”
    I turned back to the computer, but I could feel Hugo’s eyes still on me.
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “You know I kind of idolize your ability to multitask, Tandy. But why don’t you try saving Matthew before you go figuring out a whole mess of other murders? I mean, at least Matty’s still alive.”
    I glanced at him sharply, feeling a thump of guilt and sorrow.
    “Please?” he added, looking, for the first time in a long time, like a regular little boy.
    Hugo looked up to Matthew the way I’d adored Katherine, so I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth—that Matthew himself thought he might be guilty. And that I had to focus on as many things as possible right now just to keep myself from focusing on
that
.
    “Hey, I can do both,” I said gently. “I promise.”
    Hugo rolled his eyes and started rummaging through a file drawer at the bottom of a cabinet. “Whatever.”
    Then, out of nowhere, he suddenly fell back and screamed.
    “Tandy!” he shouted, scuttling back on his hands and feet like a crab, a look of sheer terror on his face. “Run!”

13
    Hugo knocked over the computer stand,
which crashed to the floor. I was already running to my brother’s side, but something stopped me cold. It was oily and slick and was pouring onto the floor in a slithering black tube. Suddenly it stopped and reared up, a good twelve inches off the floor.
    The thing unfurled a hood at the back of its neck. Hugo flinched. It was a snake. A cobra, to be more precise. And this cobra was pissed off.
    “Don’t. Move,” I said through my teeth.
    I knew a lot about snakes. For instance, I knew that any movement was guaranteed to agitate the cobra. I also knew that if it struck Hugo, neurotoxins would likely kill him before an antivenom could be found.
    “Tannnnnnndy!”
he cried.
“Help meeeeeee!”
    “I’m
thinking
,” I replied, my heart slamming against my ribs. “Just don’t move.”
    “You said that already,” he replied.
    The snake began to sway. A very bad sign. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and called Jacob. He answered on the first ring. I tried to stay calm, but my voice was in its highest register.
    “Jacob, there’s a snake in the apartment. A venomous snake.”
    “Where are you?” Jacob was all business. The cobra eyed Hugo like he was a piece of meat.
    “In my office.”
    I heard fumbling. The sound of a door opening. “Your