The Follower by Kate Doughty (ebook reader with built in dictionary TXT) 📕

the sheriff. “No, sir,” he says. Rudy sees his father’s fist clench and knows that, to him, moving out would be the ultimate sign of defeat. If the Coles are too afraid to spend the renovation period in the Tremont house, how on earth will they be able to convince another family to move here full-time? “We’ll stay here. We’re hoping to have an offer soon. We don’t want to imply that the house is . . . unsafe for residents.”

Officer Perry gives an exaggerated sigh. Rudy fights the urge to remind his parents that this police report would be public record.

The sheriff and his deputy nod and file out after taking a few more photographs.

Five p.m. comes and goes. There are no calls. No offers on the house.

There are officers stationed around the house all evening.

Rudy finally has the chance to sit down and check out the responses to Amber’s tell-all. He feels his stomach knot up as he reads the top comments. They are even worse than he’d expected them to be.

Shameful.

Liars.

To vandalize your own house for views—I mean, how desperate are you?

So little support from the Cole Patrol. Rudy forces himself to keep reading. Maybe there are some supportive comments lower down.

And there are:

You tell ’em, Amber #NotYourBeautyStandard

Fake or not, great to see a curvy girl front and center. #NYBS

Of course, for every positive comment about Amber’s body there are ten calling her fat, lazy, and selfish, but Amber doesn’t seem to care. Rudy watches his sister light up as she reads, and he finds himself feeling glad that at least something positive is coming from this.

Then, Amber freezes.

“What’s wrong?” Rudy asks, mind snapping to the follower. But Amber shakes her head.

“We’ve hit . . . one million,” she says in disbelief. Rudy doesn’t know how to react. They had anticipated celebrating this moment and all it meant for their account, for their careers, but . . . that doesn’t feel right anymore. It just feels so . . . hollow. Then Amber lets out a little squeak, shaking her head, and turns the phone to Rudy.

It’s not the follower; just some fan. But that doesn’t stop the comment from getting several thousand likes and replies.

One million subscribers! How about a Cecily Cole reveal?

Rudy tightens his jaw. “Don’t answer it.”

Amber nods. “I won’t. I don’t want to do a million-subscriber special, either.” She sounds so exhausted. “At least the sponsors should be happy about these numbers, right?” It’s clear she’s anything but excited. Rudy can hear his own weariness echoed in his voice.

“I hope so,” he says. “We need it.”

Even Mom’s reaction is a little subdued. When they tell her, she doesn’t cheer like she once would have, but she does seem genuinely pleased. “That’s wonderful news! And it’ll help so much with engagement, plus we can leverage it to get more sponsors . . .” She trails off. “I know things are bad right now, but you’ve worked hard for this. You should be proud of yourselves—all of you.”

Amber nods and forces a smile. Rudy doesn’t answer.

Fortunately, Mom agrees that the timing isn’t right to do a million-subscriber special. So Amber posts a generic thank-you message.

The next morning, Rudy and his sisters gather in the bathroom to prepare for the hair dye photo shoot. Rudy sits on the sink and films Amber—and Cecily from the wrists down—as her hair is divided into careful sections and painted with different colors of dye to achieve an ombré effect.

Cecily sets the timer on her phone for thirty minutes, and Rudy shuts the camera off. Now is a perfect time to take a break from filming and talk to his sisters.

“How did they get in without triggering our alarms?” he asks as he sets the camera aside. “Do you think that Steve—”

“Alex isn’t the voice on the tape,” Amber says, cutting him off. “Oh my god—with everything happening with Steve, and Dad, I forgot—”

Rudy snaps to her. “What?”

She details what she’d learned from Kendra at the open house: That Alex Grable was the shooting star. That Kendra had confirmed that Alex and her mom were live-in caretakers for Frank Glenarm. That Frank had a small daughter. Alex’s young cousin.

Once there was a shooting star

But she won’t be here for long—

He’d thought that the voice on the tape was a distorted, messed-up version of a teenage girl’s—but what if it wasn’t?

Flying and falling and gone

“So the person on the tape . . .”

“Was talking about Alex,” Amber confirms. She swallows. “Was talking about . . . killing her.”

Rudy locks eyes with his sisters. Something clicks; all the pieces fall into place. After so many weeks of searching, everything suddenly makes sense.

“What if—what if the cousin, the daughter—what if she’s Reena? The name on the doll?” Cecily asks.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Amber says.

Rudy starts to pace. Cecily stares at him, wide-eyed, in the mirror. His mind is moving too fast to keep up with his mouth, but he tries to explain it anyway: “So Reena and her parents live in this house. The car crash happens, and Alex and her family move in. Reena—breaks, or something—and kills Alex and her mom. The people who replaced her parents in this house. Years, years after, Evan moves in here and she kills him, too. And now us . . .”

“Why Evan?” Amber asks. “Why not his parents?”

“Maybe—she didn’t want to kill him,” Rudy starts slowly, thinking of the follower’s messages. “Maybe she just wanted to scare him enough to leave. To get out of the house.” He shivers.

Amber thinks. “So you’re saying that the antipsychotics . . .”

“Were hers.” Rudy says. He swallows. He can picture it: A happy family, living in this house. Together. And then the tragedy that changed everything, leaving Reena behind—motherless, and with a bedbound father. So the Grables came into the Tremont house to take care of Reena and, in the eyes of a young girl, replaced her parents.

And Alex Grable replaced her.

Maybe Reena broke in