Kill You Last Read Free

abroad after college.
    Mom smiled. Then the commercials ended and the news came back on. She turned up the volume, as if needing to fill the emptiness left by Dad.
    Later in my room, video chatting with Roman, I talked about almost winding up in Gabriel’s arms that day.
    She sighed disapprovingly. “What do you see in him? I mean, yes, he’s gorgeous, but you know that deep down he’s totally shallow.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Uh, hello? The Christmas party?” she said. Every Christmas, Dad had a party in the studio. My friends loved to come because he would take pictures of them posing like models. “All Gabriel could talk about was his car and his apartment and how he made so much money gambling and knew all these famous people. He was so full of himself.”
    “I think he just does that when he’s feeling insecure,” I said, trying to defend him. “If you’d seen him today, you’d have a different opinion. He was funny and charming and relaxed. And it really did feel like he was attracted to me. I keep wondering if maybe working with my father is what’s holding him back. Couldn’t that be it?”
    “Shouldn’t it be the opposite?” Roman asked. “I mean, don’t guys always want to marry the boss’s daughter?”
    “What if he’s worried that if he breaks up with the boss’s daughter he’ll have a problem with the boss?”
    Instead of answering the question, Roman said, “What about Chris Clarke? Harvard, Yale, and Princeton all want him. This time next year, you could be sitting in Harvard Stadium watching him play Yale.”
    “He’s interesting, too,” I allowed.
    “So?”
    “So all he ever does is smile and wave. If he’s really serious, why doesn’t he do something?”
    “Maybe he’s shy. Maybe he’s waiting to see if you’re interested.”
    “I always wave and smile back,” I said. “What else am I supposed to do? Accidentally bump into him and drop my books?”
    “Oh God, no. That is so middle school. Why can’t you just walk up to him and say hi?”
    “I guess I could.”
    “Could?” Roman echoed.
    “Okay, okay. I guess I will .”
    “Hmmm.” When Roman made that humming sound, she wanted you to believe that she was thinking about what you’d just said. But it was really her way of taking a moment so that when she changed the topic it wouldn’t feel abrupt. “Did you show your dad that e-mail?”
    “Yes. He didn’t think it was any big deal. But things were weird there anyway.” I told her about the detectives and the two missing girls.
    “Seriously?” Roman’s interest perked up.
    “They’re probably just runaways.”
    “Or it could have something to do with those bodies they found on the south shore of Long Island a few years ago.”
    I’d heard about that case. For a while the police had suspected two serial murderers were at work. “But they were mostly prostitutes.”
    “And your point is?” Roman asked.
    “Why now, after all that time? Doesn’t it make more sense that they’re just runaways?”
    She hummed for a moment. “Okay, ask your dad if they went for their head shots together or came in separately.”
    “What difference does it make?”
    “Because if they went together, maybe they’re friends and ran away together, right? But if they went separately, then it could be something else.”
    “Roman, come on—”
    “Oh, please, please ? This could be really exciting.”
    “To you.”
    “Just ask him if they came in together or separately.”
    “He’s at work.”
    “It’s a five-second phone call. Come on, please? I’ll be your friend for life.”
    “You’re already my friend for life.”
    “Then in the next life, too.”
    I gave in. The truth was, Roman’s interest had piqued my curiosity, too. Since we were video chatting, I picked up my BlackBerry and called Dad, who answered on the second ring. “
    Hey, hon, what’s up?”
    I asked him about the girls.
    “Why do you want to know?” Dad asked.
    “I was telling