Read Bet Your Life for Free Online Page B

when there was a tap on the door. Petra peered in. “Jess? Is it OK for us to come in? Beth wants to talk to you.”
    “Of course.” I put the book down and sat on the edge of the bed. I assumed she wanted to know what I’d seen. Mentally, I started to edit it. Less blood and bruising. No mention of Dan being creepy. I’d just downplay everything and try to sound reassuring.
    Beth trailed in after my cousin, her little face puckered with woe. I marveled again at the fact that there was absolutely no resemblance between her and her half-brother. Even if she lost the glasses, she would still be sweet rather than stunning, her coloring mousy, her demeanor Don’t look at me . Seb was more Why aren’t you looking at me? She was a couple of inches shorter than Petra and very much a child in the way she dressed. Today’s top had a pink cat on it and her hair was in two long plaits.
    “How are you doing, Beth?”
    “I’m fine.” Her voice was a whisper.
    “How is Seb?”
    “In intensive care. Mum brought me home. She said there was no point in us hanging around.” Beth sat down on the edge of a chair. “I’m so worried about him.”
    “I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Not that I knew one way or the other, but I wasn’t going to say that. “Intensive care just means he’s getting the best possible treatment.”
    “He’s still unconscious. They might have to operate if the pressure gets too high in his brain.”
    “I’m so sorry, Beth.”
    “I mean, he’s not always the easiest person to live with, but he doesn’t deserve this.” She pulled her sleeves down over her hands and added, very quietly, so I almost missed it, “Or maybe he does.”
    Petra cleared her throat. “Beth wanted to ask you a favor.”
    “What is it?” I looked from Beth to Petra, waiting for one of them to tell me. It was Petra who spoke again.
    “She knows about what you did—finding out about Freya. She wants you to do the same for Seb. Tell her what really happened.”
    “Me? But the police—”
    “The police say it was a car accident.” Beth shook her head. “How is that even possible? Petra said you saw him.”
    “Just for a minute. And it was dark.” I was frowning. There was absolutely no way that Seb had got his injuries from being hit by a car.
    Beth was thinking the same way. “Did you see the bruises? The marks on his arms? I can’t believe they think I’m that stupid.”
    “There was glass on the road. It could have come from a car. Sometimes people get injured in odd ways, and—”
    She cut me off. “Did you know he was only wearing underwear when he got to the hospital? No socks, even. Just his boxers.”
    “Where were his clothes?”
    Beth shrugged. “No one knows.”
    “That was some car accident,” Petra said, and I was inclined to agree.
    “What do your parents think, Beth?”
    “Mum says I shouldn’t worry about it. Seb has never got on with her since he moved in with us, so she’s not upset about him being injured, really. She’s worried about Dad. He’s like a zombie. They said at the hospital it was shock. Inspector Henderson was talking to him about Seb and he was just staring into space, not answering. It was so embarrassing.”
    I hated to disappoint the two girls. “Look, I know I found out what happened to Freya, but that was just luck. I mean, I managed to trick people into telling me how she died, basically, because I look like she did and they didn’t know me. That’s not going to happen again.”
    Beth was looking stubborn. “Petra told me what a difference it made to the family to find out the truth.”
    “Yeah, and I’m glad I did it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to set myself up as Port Sentinel’s answer to Nancy Drew. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know where to start. I don’t know Seb. I’ve barely had a conversation with him. I don’t know his friends, for the most part, and I definitely don’t know his enemies.”
    “You know Ryan,” Petra pointed