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.Come on, sweetheart.”She doesn’t buy it.“Josh, you’re being a real asshole tonight.” She’s suddenly coherent.It’s impressive the way Dizzy can go from obnoxious slob to reasonable, clearheaded person in a matter of seconds.“Let’s go,” she says to me.“You drive.” She hiccups.“I just need to get some clothes.” She walks over and puts her hand on the patio door.“Hold on,” Josh says suddenly.“If you’re going, I’m going too.Daphne,” he says kindly, “why don’t you go upstairs and change clothes?” I’m still wearing my suit and that stolen towel.“I’ll show you where you can change.Dizz, go get your clothes.You can change in the bathroom down here.I’ll grab a shirt.”Dizzy smiles broadly.“Thank you, Joshy.I’ll go outside and grab my bag.” She opens the patio door.“Meet you back here when you’re done.”“Thanks,” I tell him.He’s not my type, but he’s not awful.I’ll remember to tell this to Dizzy.I know she desperately wants me to like him.“This way,” Josh says to me, indicating that I should go first.I turn and walk down a long, narrow, dark hallway.“Up the stairs,” Josh tells me.The staircase curves, and at the top step, I look down a row of closed doors.“Which one?” I ask.That’s when everything turns black.chapter 28Help.—Daphne WrightThe rose-patterned carpet of the room reminds me of the guest room in my grandmother’s house.Maybe this is the honeymoon suite, where guests are encouraged to ignore the sprawling size of the house and pretend they are at a tiny country inn.The side of my face is smashed against the carpet, and I can feel a hand pressing hard on the other side.“What are you going to do to me?” I ask.My head feels fuzzy, not unlike that night at the diner.A blinding pain radiates from the left side.“Shut up,” he says, but he’s good-natured about it, like we’re just fooling around.“Please,” I say, and the pressure on the side of my head eases.My vision becomes clearer.I lift my head as much as I can, my neck straining, my hands bound tightly behind my back.“Why are you doing this?” I ask.“We should’ve known this would happen,” he says.“It was predicted.By PROFILE.”“But you aren’t predicted.”“You are so naïve, Daphne.Do you think everyone who was originally on the predicted list is actually still on it? Some of us just had enough money to buy our way off it.”“You’re predicted,” I say, trying it out for size.It makes perfect sense.“But how is that possible?” I say.“Utopia had the list and they—”“You can’t really be this dumb.People will pay to get off the predicted list.And there are a lot of people who are happy to accept the money.”Melissa, I think.Would she do that? Does she know?“Jesse,” I say.“What about Jesse?”“Jesse’s dad wouldn’t pony up the money for him.Sucks, don’t it? My mom did it for me.Richard doesn’t even know.He’s too busy thinking about knots to see that a hundred grand of his money disappeared.”“Where’s Dizzy?” I ask.“She went home.”“No, she wouldn’t leave without me.”Josh laughs.“She would if she thought you left her first.She was disappointed that you left without even saying good-bye.”I strain my whole body, listening.I desperately want to hear sounds from the party, sounds from the house, but there is only silence, as if a layer of snow covers everything.“Don’t even think about screaming,” Josh says, reading my mind.“Nobody is home.The party is over.It’s just the two of us.We have the rest of the night.” Josh sits down on the floor, his back against the bed.I wriggle my hands a little bit.I can’t see, but I think he’s tied them with a bungee cord—the kind you carry in your car.I can feel the hooks on the ends of the cord biting into my skin.If I wiggle, I know I can easily get the cord off.Clearly, Josh didn’t listen to Richard’s knot lessons.This one feels pitiful.“I know all about you,” I bluff.Josh closes his eyes.“That’s your problem,” he says.“You know too much.And you talk too much.I knew you were a problem ever since that night at the diner, when I pushed your head into that window.I should’ve pushed you harder.”“I knew it.I knew you were evil.You might’ve fooled everyone else.But you never fooled me.” That’s not totally true, of course.I didn’t know it was him at all.I just knew I didn’t like him.And then I blamed Nate.“You’ll tell on me,” he says matter-of-factly.I realize that I’m never going to get out of here if I don’t outsmart Josh.“You know, if you let me go, nothing bad will happen to you.Nobody will even have to know.I can keep my mouth shut.”“You’ll tell,” he repeats.“I won’t.I promise.I’ll make sure January never remembers what you did to her.”Josh looks surprised.“You really haven’t figured it out yet, have you?”“What?” I ask warily, trying not to show how worried and perplexed I feel at the fact that my plan to outwit Josh has gone nowhere.He might not be as dumb and simple as I had thought.“I might as well tell you.It’s not like you’ll be able to spread this around or anything.”“Don’t tell me,” I plead, knowing that if he’s ready to tell me some big secret, I’m not getting out of here alive.“Let’s just not talk.What happened between you and January is your business.”“I thought a smart girl like you would’ve figured it out.Maybe you aren’t as brainy as I thought you were.”“I honestly have no idea what you are talking about.”“I didn’t attack January.”“It was Nate?” I ask.“See? You’re innocent.You can let me go.”“Technically, Nate did it.But it was my idea.” His tone changes, becomes more somber.“Poor January.She would’ve been better off not remembering.Why did you go and help her, Daphne?”“Why would you want to hurt January?” It’s basically a rhetorical question.Even caught up in my own fear, I’m aware enough to know that Josh is psycho.Nate might be stupid and mean and criminal, but Josh is crazy.“Oh, silly Daphne,” he says and runs his finger down my cheek.“That haircut is really cute on you.I should’ve gotten a hold of you before Jesse did.”He stretches out beside me, using his folded arms to prop up his head.“He might’ve gotten you, but he didn’t get January, and, oh”—he moans as he rolls onto his stomach—“she was a sweet piece of ass.If that dumb bitch hadn’t gotten pregnant…” He reaches out, and runs his fingers down my breastbone.“She was stringing me along, making me think she was going to have that baby, and then I’d be trapped.We couldn’t have that, could we?” he asks me, letting his hand stop on my stomach
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