Kisses and Lies by Lauren Henderson Read Free Book Online Page B

trying it out. “Okay, here I go!”
    She runs toward the edge of the pool, jumps up, tucks up, and in that precise moment a voice booms out from nowhere, bouncing round the tiles and marble so loudly that Taylor’s tuck somersault goes completely haywire.
    “Are you in the pool?” the voice says.
    Taylor throws out her arms wide, I don’t know why, but it completely stops her spin, and she lands facedown in the pool, her arms splayed wide and her knees still tucked up to her chest. I laugh so hard I double up. The expression of total shock when she comes up again makes me laugh even harder. And I don’t even feel bad about laughing at her. After all, not a minute ago she was lecturing me about needing to cheer up.
    “Are you in the pool?”
    “Aaaah!” Taylor gasps for breath, coughing out water. To my shame, this is somehow even more funny than the belly flop. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen Taylor be anything but in complete physical control of herself.
    “Are you in the pool?” the voice asks again.
    “Who the hell are you?!” Taylor shouts back. Her face is bright red: she’s literally livid.
    “It’s Lizzie!”
    “Stop screaming at us!” Taylor yells.
    “Sorry, it’s the intercom! It makes everything sound really loud! I’m coming down!”
    Lizzie bursts through the door a few minutes later, all excited. I bet Lucia would have smelled drink on her breath.
    “Hey!” she says, beaming. “Are you enjoying the pool? Isn’t it great? And what about that scene in the club! Wasn’t it crazy? Plum had a complete meltdown! I was scared, but it was really exciting, too! And how did your top-secret mission go? Did you find everything out?”
    “Not really,” I say, sighing. “It turned out to be much more complicated than we realized.”
    “Oh, that’s a shame!” Lizzie actually looks disappointed on our behalf. “I know, why don’t I make some popcorn? And we can have cocoa with mint Baileys and marshmallows in it? That’s my favorite!” She claps her hands in glee, like a little girl. “I’ll go and start the popcorn machine. Meet you in my living room. Take the lift to the third floor and turn left, all the way down the corridor. Ooh, this is going to be so much fun!”
    “I never thought these words would come out of my mouth,” Taylor says as the door bangs shut behind Lizzie, “but I gotta say, sometimes being Lizzie’s friend seems like a really good deal.”
    Naturally, the pool changing room is well stocked with fluffy toweling robes and assorted spa-type slippers, so ten minutes later we’re curled up in front of a roaring fire in Lizzie’s sitting room, mugs of hot, minty, and slightly alcoholic cocoa in our hands, a bowl of popcorn between us, and the very comforting popping sound of another batch cooking up in the machine. This is the life.
    Or it would be, if I weren’t feeling, very strongly, that tight little knot inside my stomach, which is the perpetual reminder I have of Dan’s death. That knot’s always with me, but sometimes I don’t feel it as much as others. Right now, it’s like a stone in my stomach, hard and cold, because I’m so disappointed about tonight.
    But also, I’m really enjoying this coziness, and my cocoa is so delicious it’s competing with the tight knot for attention. It’s weird feeling torn like this.
    That’s another reason I’m so keen to solve Dan’s murder. I want to be able to feel just one feeling at a time. I want to get rid of the stone in my stomach.
    “I feel like we’re in a ski resort in Colorado,” Taylor comments, blowing on her drink.
    “It’s cozy, isn’t it?” Lizzie beams. “Sometimes I make my cocoa and take it into the Jacuzzi to watch TV. That’s lovely too, though you can’t see the fire. So what was the problem tonight?” she continues, so happy to feel she’s at the center of something that her eyes are shining like headlights.
    Here’s the thing: we can’t tell Lizzie anything important, as