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  “Hello,” Heather said.

  “The party is over,” the smoker responded.

  “Lucy Kleinman?”

  “That’s me,” she said.

  Lucy got up from the chair, a glass in her other hand, and turned to Heather who stopped in the grass and stuck her hands in her pockets. Somehow even though she wanted it she had not expected a confrontation.

  “Who are you?” Lucy asked.

  Heather looked to the swimming pool, then back to Lucy. She took her hands from her pockets. The anger had worn off and for a moment she wanted to run, but she didn’t want to look foolish, not in front of this person.

  “You don’t know me. My name is Heather. I was here with Simon Winters.”

  “You were with that pervert? You’re the person I chased away earlier. Why did you come back?”

  “I’m not sure,” Heather answered.

  “Well, you should leave.”

  “I will. I just, I wanted to see you. I wanted to see what you really look like.”

  “Well, you’ve seen it.” Lucy held out her arms. “Get a good look, but if you don’t leave soon I’m going to go wake up my brother and he’s going to kick your ass out.”

  “I saw you earlier at the party but it just didn’t make sense.”

  “So now you’re dating that pervert huh? Figures he would date someone like you, or should I say, someone like you would date him.”

  Lucy moved closer, took a hit from her joint before tossing it away into the yard. She drank deeply from her glass and walked to a table where she set it down and picked up a beer bottle. She held it up to the light to make sure there were no butts in the liquid.

  “He’s not a pervert,” Heather said.

  “He spied on me. He was masturbating. My brother saw him when his mother caught him. He had his hand down his pants.”

  Lucy downed the beer and moved on to the next bottle where she did the same thing by holding it up before drinking it.

  “You led him on,” Heather said. “You told him about how the neighbors could see you and you had your window open. He was a teenage boy.”

  “I did no such thing.”

  “Well, why did you brother go after him? Why did he antagonize him?”

  “That’s between my brother and Simon.”

  “It’s because of you. Did you tell him to do it?”

  “I don’t like the way you’re speaking to me. Maybe I did encourage him, so what? He got everything he deserved and then he stabbed my brother. He’s lucky he had that knife.”

  “Because what? Because your brother would have done worse? What would he have done?”

  Lucy crossed the distance between them, stopped a foot away. She was clearly drunk, stoned. She swayed a little but steadied herself.

  “He would have humiliated that little pervert. He would have beat the crap out of him, stripped him, and sent him crying to his mother.”

  Heather crossed her arms. She wanted to leave but she wasn’t going to give Lucy the win, not that easily. They were snobs. They didn’t care. She had known people like that her whole life.

  “What kind of freak are you? You dress in black and you hang out with him.”

  “I might be a freak but I’m not some trashy little princess drinking the leftovers of a party. I don’t bully and humiliate people.”

  “Get out of here,” Lucy said.

  “No,” Heather replied.

  Lucy leaned forward and gave a shove to Heather making her step back. Heather uncrossed her arms and readied herself. Lucy shoved again and Heather stepped aside to let her trip over her own feet and fall face forward. She looked down in delight at the sight of Lucy there in the grass. She stepped back and readied herself but Lucy was slow to get up. She got to her knees first, then pushed herself to her feet. She turned on Heather and balled her fist.

  “I don’t want to fight you,” Heather said.

  “Then get the hell out of here.”

  Somehow Heather felt like she had defeated Lucy by that simple act. She was going to leave but not make it easy for Lucy. She began to step past her, close enough to raise goosebumps on her flesh, and for a moment she thought she had gotten past when she felt a hand in her hair. Heather let out a moan as she stopped and turned to her assailant. Lucy continued to pull.

  “I got you now bitch,” Lucy said.

  Heather grunted and grabbed back at her attacker, got her by the sides. She tried to pull, then push her until she got leverage and she shoved. Lucy fell back and hit the ground with a handful of Heather’s hair. Heather stood and grabbed at her head. Lucy laughed.

  There was enough space between them that Heather could have gotten away but she had a renewed anger, not just at Lucy for what she did to Simon, but anger about everyone like her, all those girls who used to tease her. She waited for Lucy to begin to stand and then she rushed the girl. She began to deliver blow after blow onto her back until she realized it wasn’t doing much harm so she grabbed at her hair just like what Lucy had done to her. She felt Lucy grab at her leg but she had her outmatched, but not by much. Lucy couldn’t move her.

  They were at a stalemate. Heather wanted so bad to end it, knock her out with some punch, cripple her with some move. She eased a little and Lucy stood, grabbed hold of her hair. They pulled at each other but neither could get the action they wanted.

  “Let go of me,” Heather said.

  “No, you let go of me,” Lucy said.

  Heather pushed and moved her a few inches, but it was no use. They couldn’t be separated. That’s when she saw the pool and how Lucy’s back was to it. Heather pushed with all she could muster and Lucy gave, was almost lifted off her feet, right to the edge, and then over it. Heather thought for one moment that she had won but then she felt the pull and lost her balance as well.

  They both hit the water and let go of each other before bobbing to the surface and flailing their arms in desperation. Lucy was the first to steady herself.

  “You bitch,” she said before swimming to Heather.

  Heather grabbed hold of her as Lucy began to push her under the water. She felt water go into her nose, down her throat. She thought for a moment that it was over as she sunk to the floor but then she felt it against her feet and she pushed back up. Lucy grabbed at her as she gasped for breath and laughed. It was like a game.

  Heather felt her hands and she struck out as hard as she could, hit Lucy in the face. Lucy cried out and began to retreat but Heather was right after her. When Lucy reached the wall she tried to pull herself up. Heather grabbed hold of her jeans and pulled her back into the water. She hit with a splash and Heather was on her. Heather expected more of a struggle but Lucy sunk like a stone.

  Heather’s head above water she clung to the wall and watched for Lucy to come back up but she didn’t. Heather looked around for help but no one was there. As much as she feared Lucy was tricking her she feared the possible outcome that she wasn’t more. She dove for Lucy, down into the water. She grabbed hold of her lifeless body and pulled it back to the surface and to the wall. Lucy didn’t resist, even when she pushed her out of the pool. Heather pulled herself out, moved to Lucy’s side, rolled her onto her back and began CPR. It wasn’t working. It didn’t seem to work. She beat Lucy’s chest but nothing happened.

  The reality began to sink in about what had happened. It couldn’t be proven who started the fight. It couldn’t be proven who did anything. If Lucy survived it would be oner person’s word against the other. She got to her feet and looked around again to see if there was anyone to help, if there were any witnesses. She thought about just leaving her there, walking away, and trying to figure out how to make it that she had never been there but her mind was blank until she remembered Simon’s mother. She looked to the house and remembered there was a kitchen right there. She walked to the door with her head low. She made sure no one was inside before she entered and retrieved a knife. She walked back to Lucy, knelt down beside the body. She clasped the knife with bo
th hands, the point down, and raised it above her head.

  One quick swing and she stuck the knife between the ribs. Lucy was dead. There was no movement. Her body didn’t vanish. It was there. Heather wiped the handle clean with the bottom of her shirt before she rolled the body away and back into the pool. She watched as it floated to the surface, a cloud of blood slowly formed around it. She looked around one last time before she turned and walked away. The morning air suddenly cold against her body, she shivered as she walked that path back to her house.

  Everything was how she left it. She stripped down in the laundry room and put her clothes in the drier after she emptied her pockets. She turned on the machine and put the contents of her pockets in the garbage. She found some fresh clothes and got dressed, was ready to find Simon and go to sleep when she thought about how everything wet could be evidence. She took everything out of the trash, put it in a separate bag, and carried that out to her neighbor’s trash can. She put the bag inside, tried to make sure no one saw her, and closed the lid.

  Chapter 31 - Secret Room

  Heather pressed her phone to her ear. She listened for a moment before she made a pained, agonized face and turned away from Simon.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” Simon asked.

  “Oh my god,” she said. “Yeah, yeah, I can’t believe it. No, he’s right here. He’s at my place. Why? Of course, no I understand.”

  She ended the call and turned back to Simon who sat confused and worried as he stared back at her.

  “Is it your father?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “That was Kevin on the phone. He said he responded to a police call on the scanner they have in the office at the newspaper. It’s Lucy Kleinman. She was found dead about an hour ago. She was stabbed to death. They just found her at her home. The police are there. He’s hanging around to see what he can find out but it doesn’t look good.”

  “Oh my god,” Simon said. “It must have happened after the party, or maybe during the party. Oh god, what are people going to say?”

  Simon was stunned by the sentence. There was no evidence and yet he realized people would make some kind of connection. They would think the worst. His family and his past, it was all right there to be used against him. At the very least it meant the police would be around eventually to question him. Maybe they would arrest him, take him to the police station for questioning. He’d need a lawyer. He didn’t have a lawyer. They’d lock him up and wait. They’d hold him, sweat him, question him, and he’d have to endure it. He thought about his escape plan and the cash he had saved. He could buy a lawyer, a good one, better than the public defender he had previously but it would wipe him out. There would be no more escape plan.

  The escape plan, he thought. He wanted to use it now. He wanted to grab the cash, grab Heather, pack a few bags and be gone. He wanted to run. Oh god, he thought, mother would still be here. What if they got to her? She’d confess to anything in her condition, especially if she thought he had done it. She’d try to save him. It would be easy for the police to work her, use her, and make her confess. There were real consequences now. This was actually happening. What do I do?

  “It’s okay Simon. I can tell them you were here with me. We were in bed together all night. We came back, got into bed, and that’s it. We haven’t been apart since.”

  “There was the time you were in the bathroom,” he said.

  “It doesn’t matter. No one has to know about that,” she said. “As long as we stick together everything will be fine.”

  He smiled. It was that easy. Surely they’d believe her. He had an alibi. But what about his mother? She had been left alone in her house all night long. She didn’t have an alibi. She had no one. Hell, she could have even done it. Had she followed him there that night like so many years before and waited until the party was over. Was it some kind of revenge?

  People would think that. They would start the accusations again. It would be in the newspaper. The newspaper was already there. Even if it was Kevin, though he wasn’t sure he could be trusted, he didn’t have any real power. He didn’t own the paper and he wasn’t the editor. No, it would all happen again.

  “Please,” she said.

  She moved to him and took hold of his hand, hugged him. They embraced for a long time until their bodies felt like one and it hurt to pull away from each other.

  “We can figure this out. We don’t have anything to worry about.”

  A thought occurred to him.

  “We have to go to my place. We have to be there when the police come.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because we have to give my mother an alibi,” he said.

  She retreated and looked at him cynically. She hated the idea. It could have been his mother, after all the woman had attacked her with a knife. No, she didn’t want to go back there. The woman might attack her again, kill her, maybe even Simon if he got in the way. No, the woman had to fend for herself even if it meant the police arrested her.

  “Please,” he said. “I have to help her. She doesn’t have anyone.”

  “Do you think she did it?” she asked.

  He clenched his jaw and squinted his eyes as if he blocked the notion from her, repelled it. It was one thing to think it himself but to have her ask... no, there was no reason, no sense to it. How could she be suspicious? It couldn’t be real.

  “No,” he said. “But you know the rumors about my family. Everyone knows about me. I’m worried they’d get her to confess though. She can be manipulated.”

  “And she attacked me with a knife,” Heather said. “She cut me across the forehead. I still have the stitches.”

  “That’s because she caught us on the couch. We shouldn’t have been doing that there, but it won’t happen again. She’s locked in her room most of the time.”

  “What about last night?”

  “No, I promise. I couldn’t lock her in her room but she didn’t leave the house.”

  “How do you know? How do you really know?”

  “I don’t,” he said. “But please, it will be okay. I’ll protect you. I just have to make sure she is fine.”

  “We check on her but we can’t stay there,” she said.

  They left her house in agreement. The drive along the familiar roads was easy as they made their way to Simon’s home. They parked behind Conrad’s car and got out. Simon looked around for a moment before leading the way inside the house. He went for the stairs immediately. Heather followed behind him and lingered in the foyer before drifting into the parlor.

  Upstairs, Simon pulled his key from his pocket as he approached his mother’s door. He looked back and forth before unlocking it and opening the door. He stepped inside to find his mother face down on her bed and the television on at a low volume. He stepped past her to turn it off but paused when he saw her eyes were open. He motioned for her to be quiet and walked out of the room. He closed and locked the door. He moved to Conrad’s door, listened for any movement but when there was none he left it and headed back downstairs. He found Heather and stepped into the room.

  “She’s okay,” he said.

  “We can’t stay here. We should go back to my place.”

  “Can we take my mother?”

  Heather looked away.

  “I can’t,” she said. “She has to stay here.”

  “But who knows what’s going to happen? Lucy is dead and I’m the prime suspect. At the very least there will be newspapers and reporters on the front lawn.”

  “She can deal with it,” Heather said.

  “She wouldn’t know what to do,” he said.

  “Well, I can’t deal with her, not after what happened last time. She attacked me Simon, she cut my forehead. She could have killed me.”

  There seemed to be more that she wanted to say but she stopped and looked over Simon’s shoulder to where Conrad stood in a pair of jeans, a shirt in his hands. He walked to the doorway and stopped. He pulled on his shirt.

&n
bsp; “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Lucy Kleinman, the girl whose party we were at last night, is dead. The police are at her house now.”

  “And we’re worried they might come here next,” Simon said.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because Simon stabbed her brother eight years ago and he was there at the party last night. She saw him and kicked us out.”

  “We should get out of here,” Conrad said, “like right now.”

  “Where are we going to go?” Simon asked.

  “My place,” Heather said.

  “Sounds good to me,” Conrad replied. He turned and dashed up the stairs.

  “And we have to take my mother,” Simon said.

  Heather got to her feet and walked past him out of the room and down the hallway to the kitchen. Simon followed after her. She moved to the counter, picked up a large kitchen, the same one that had been used on her. She turned on Simon with the point in his direction.

  “Fine but this stays in my possession,” she said.

  “Whatever you want,” Simon said.

  There was a moment of ease between them. It felt as if the tension of the world had dissipated for just a moment before they heard noises at the front of the house. There was the sound of sirens and cars, screeching tires. Simon turned and ran back to the front of the house. He stepped to a window, pushed a curtain aside and looked out.

  “What is it?” Heather asked.

  “I’m not sure,” he said.

  There in the drive behind his car and Conrad’s car was another followed by two police cars with their lights on. The doors to the first car opened. The doors of the police cars opened. His stomach tightened. He heard Conrad running down the stairs, his shoes squeaked on the floor.

  “It’s the cops,” he said.

  “We see that,” Heather said. “But what’s going on?”

  Simon squinted and watched as the dust cleared. He saw the driver of the first car and recognized him. It was Lucy’s brother Josh. He was headed back to the police. They were arguing.