My Name Is...
PART 4
The three of us looked at each other. Finally, Isabel got up to get it. "If that's Valenti..." She opened it, and Maria DeLuca stood in the doorway. Oh, shit.
"Were you invited?" Isabel demanded.
Maria ignored her. "Max, what did you do to Tess today?"
Isabel put her head in her hands.
I rolled my eyes. "Maria, I *told* you already. He didn't do anything."
She glared at me. "Do you think I'm blind? I saw you go down, and I saw him run up to you. And then you were fine. Except that you were covered in blood."
"Ketchup. And I was fine the whole time," I insisted. "I fell because I was startled."
"Yeah?" she challenged, opening her bag which I hadn't even noticed. She pulled out something light blue...crap. "Then *why* does your uniform have a bullet hole and a bloodstain on it?"
There was a hole, all right. And it was covered in dark red. They couldn't have been mistaken for something else, especially if you're Maria DeLuca. I didn't say anything. Luckily, I guess, Isabel decided to take charge.
"Okay, ditz, what's your point?" she challenged. I winced. Maria had valuable information. Maybe Isabel was going the wrong way about this. "There's a rip in Tess' uniform. Maybe it was there beforehand. Maybe she tore it when she fell. Maybe *you* ripped it to make Max confess to something you imagined. And the 'blood?' Ketchup. How many times do you have to hear it for the facts to penetrate your skull?"
"Oooh, dissed by Isabel Evans," Maria snapped, hissing on the "Evans" as if it were an insult. "Don't think too hard--we wouldn't want you to strain your brain." Did I ever mention that Maria and Isabel aren't too fond of each other?
I really wasn't in the mood for a catfight. "Cut it out, you two."
"Well, all I know is--if you don't let me in on this 'secret,' I'm giving this uniform over to the police or the sheriff or something," Maria announced.
"But it's my uniform," I protested.
"And I'm holding it, aren't I?" She pointed out. "By the way, the sheriff is *very* interested in a few details. Like why there's no bullethole in the wall? Oh, yeah, I forgot. It's in this dress."
We had no choice. They had to tell her. Max shot me a worried glance. "Is she going to freak out?"
Maria DeLuca? Freak out? "Yeah. *Hell,* yeah."
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Good-Tess Fic II
Bad-Tess Fic II
Alt.-Tess Fic II
Tess POV Fic II
Kyle and Tess Fic
