The Accident (12 page)

“I was there first thing this morning. Thomas seemed so much better, I decided to come home and rest up for my date with Justin tonight. We were going out to dinner downtown.”

The black dress.

“But Justin decided that wouldn’t be such a hot idea, with Thomas in the hospital. So we’re going over to the Medical Center for a while and we’ll check in on Thomas and Jenny. Then we’re going to Justin’s house. Cappie and Barb and Hilary are coming, too, I think. It’ll be fun.”

“Juliet, did you talk to Sheriff Toomey? What did he say?”

“Oh, Megan, he wasn’t even there. I rushed right over there when I got up this morning. Didn’t even eat breakfast. But he wasn’t there, and his deputy was talking on the phone for hours. If I’d waited, I’d have been late to school, and you told me not to cut any more classes. I went back again after classes, but he wasn’t there then, either.”

He’d been at the hospital.

“Juliet! This is not a simple shoplifting crime we’re talking about! My friends and my family have almost been killed! It
can’t
wait! The only reason I didn’t tell you last night that we had to switch back right away was you let me think Donny would be arrested today. Now you tell me you haven’t even seen the sheriff yet. So nothing has changed, Juliet, nothing at all. You’re … I’m
…
we’re still in as much danger as we always were. Something could happen to you at any minute, and that would be the end of me. You said so yourself.”

Hearing the intensity in her voice brought fear to Juliet’s eyes. She still had one more night and day. “Megan, think a minute. Thomas is in the hospital, and your parents are safe there, too. They’re staying the night, they told me so. And I’ll be safe at Justin’s house. Nothing more is going to happen tonight. I’ll see the sheriff first thing tomorrow, I promise. And by the way, Megan, this should cheer you up. The party is still on.”

“It is?”
Megan asked, surprised.

“Yes. Isn’t that wonderful? Your mom said she wanted to show the whole village that the Logans weren’t going to be intimidated. She said it would do everyone a world of good to have a party. And Thomas would still be in the hospital, asleep, by the time the party started, anyway.”

“
I still can’t believe it,”
Megan said.

“Well, it was your mother’s decision to ‘carry on’ as she said.”

Megan was silent for a minute as Juliet looked into the closet for an outfit for that night.

“Juliet, where did that dress come from? The one right there in the closet? Black, with pink trim?”

“Oh, Megan!” Juliet cried, “you are such a snoop! I bought that dress for you as a surprise, and now you’ve spoiled it.”

“
I
have
a dress.”
Juliet had said the same thing about the hair appointment, that it was for Megan. But Megan hadn’t wanted her hair done any more than she wanted the black dress. Juliet knew the dress wasn’t her type. “
I don’t need another dress.”

“Megan,” Juliet said firmly, “after all the work I’ve done with Justin this week, you’re not going to blow it by showing up at your party in a dress as juvenile as that green one, are you?”

“You said it was pretty. Before, in the mirror, you said it was a great dress.”

Juliet shrugged and began digging through the pile of shoes on the closet floor for a suitable pair. “It’s okay, Megan, but it’s not very … interesting.”

Interesting? She meant sexy.
“Juliet, I’m not wearing that black dress to my party. I’m wearing the one
I
picked out. So you can take that one back tomorrow.”

“Oh, all right. But I think it’s gorgeous, and I think you’re crazy.” Her words drifted off as she unearthed the shoes she wanted and slipped them on.

It’s hard to believe she and my grandmother were friends,
Megan thought.
They aren’t anything alike.

While Juliet was dressing in the white skirt and a royal-blue short-sleeved sweater, Megan remembered Sheriff Toomey’s remark about her grandmother’s house being the only one on the lake forty years ago. Then where had Juliet lived?

“Juliet, where did you live? When you lived here, I mean? Was it on this street?”

Before Juliet could answer, the telephone shrilled.

“Oh, hi, Cappie,” Juliet said when she’d picked up the receiver. “You’re going to be at Justin’s tonight, aren’t you? The only reason my folks are letting me out of the house at night is I’ll be where there are lots of people and two of them, Justin’s parents, are grown-ups.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I guess it’s better than nothing.”

Megan was swept up in a wave of overpowering envy. Maybe a night at Justin’s surrounded by friends was only “better than nothing” to Juliet, but it sounded wonderful to her. She couldn’t wait to be back in that world again,
her
world. Only one more night and one more day …

Megan didn’t remind Juliet that this was her final outing. Why ruin it for her?

Hearing the arrival of her parents downstairs, Megan went to see how her brother was. Juliet could be on the phone for hours.

According to her parents’ conversation, Thomas was doing much better, but Connie still intended to return to the hospital as soon as she’d showered and changed.

The idea of her father being alone in the house until Juliet came home later only made Megan more anxious. Anything could happen.
I can’t keep an eye on both Dad and Juliet when they’re in two different places. Why didn’t Juliet invite everyone over here? She knows how worried I am about the tom-tom drawing.

Megan hurried upstairs, intent on asking Juliet to call everyone and switch the gathering to the lake. That way, her father wouldn’t be in the house alone.

But she was too late. When she entered the room, it was empty. Juliet was gone.

M
EGAN SPENT A LONG
, lonely night, not leaving the house until her father went to bed. Even then, she stayed in the den for a while, waiting for Juliet and thinking.

Only one more day … and then she’d be herself again. Thank goodness nothing had happened to Juliet so far. It was a miracle, really, that she was still okay. And by this time tomorrow night, the whole awful week would be over — nothing more than a horrible memory. If only Sheriff Toomey would arrest Donny — then the horror really would be over.

Tiring of waiting for Juliet, Megan left the house, assured that her father was safe in his bed, and went out to roam the lake.

This is the last time I’ll ever be able to do this, but I won’t miss it at all: I’m not a bird or a bat, and I shouldn’t be flitting around out here with them
—
especially when so much is wrong in my own world.

It was very late when she returned to the house. Juliet was in bed, sound asleep, her clothes in a pile on the floor beside the bed.

Megan was disappointed. And surprised. She hadn’t expected Juliet to be able to sleep at all, knowing that she had only one more day.
If it were me, I’d spend the time until morning walking along the lakefront, maybe with Justin, waiting for the sunrise, squeezing the juice out of every last minute.

Thinking that surprised Megan. It didn’t sound like her. It sounded like … someone who wanted to fill up every minute of life with interesting things, instead of withdrawing from it by living in a dream world.

Maybe that’s because I’m so terrified that I won’t get to do those things ever again. That something will happen to keep me from doing them. Maybe that’s why I feel different.

When morning finally arrived, Megan was torn between a ferocious anxiety on this last day and a tentative sense of relief. It was almost over. Almost.

Juliet went to see the sheriff as promised, and Megan went with her. He wasn’t there. The deputy in charge said he would be back around dinnertime, which seemed to Megan eons away. But there was no choice other than to wait.

I should be getting good at that. But I’m not.

When they returned from running errands, they found Megan’s father up on a ladder on the stone terrace, stringing brightly colored lights above the lakefront lawn.

Since Juliet was safely home, Megan concentrated on keeping an eye on her father. When he climbed down from the ladder to get a glass of iced tea in the house, she followed. Juliet wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room. Megan searched the first floor thoroughly. No Juliet. She hadn’t gone out again, had she?

Anxiously Megan went upstairs and into the bedroom.

Juliet was lying on the bed, her eyes closed, legs straight, arms at her sides. She was wrapped in the white terrycloth robe. The shades were drawn, the room dark, lighted only by a cluster of short, squat candles on a blue metal tray on the nightstand.

Dumbfounded, Megan thought,
What is she doing? What are all these candles for? It looks like a séance. Is she taking a nap on her last day? That doesn’t make any sense.

Candle shadows flickered across Juliet’s face, giving it an eerie yellow-gray glow. She was lying so perfectly still. Not a finger curled, not a muscle twitched, not a lash blinked. Her skin looked smooth and waxen, like the face of a department store mannequin.

Suddenly there was a startled shout from the terrace. It was immediately followed by the sound of shattering glass, a slam that shook the house, and then silence.

Juliet sat bolt upright, wide awake, and jumped from the bed. “What was that?”

Megan flew to the terrace, with Juliet right behind her.

The ladder had fallen. The upper half of it had thrust itself through the big picture window Megan’s father had installed less than a month ago. He was lying on his back in the midst of shards and slivers and chunks of glass. A gash on his cheek bled profusely, and his hands and sandaled feet were measled with red. But he was conscious and seemed more abashed than pained.

“Dad,” Juliet scolded, rushing over to help him up, “you shouldn’t be up on the ladder in sandals. It’s dangerous.”

“No kidding.” He got up very carefully. “But … it wasn’t my fault. The ladder just … tipped right over.”.

A pensive Megan watched from a distance as Juliet helped Tom Logan douse his wounds with antiseptic and bandage those that needed it. Megan couldn’t help feeling that something very weird was going on. Had Juliet really been asleep when that ladder fell? She hadn’t looked asleep. People didn’t look like that when they were sleeping. They looked relaxed. Sometimes their mouths hung open and their bodies got all loose, as if their bones had been removed.

But Juliet had been as stiff and rigid as a piece of wood. Like … a statue or a slab of cardboard. Like … there was no one in there.

She said she could leave my body any time. When she left before, it was to look through Donny’s locker. What was she doing this time when she left? When the ladder fell? Where did she go? Someplace far away? Or … only as far as the terrace?

Worry and suspicion began to gnaw at Megan. Wasn’t it just a bit too coincidental that the ladder had fallen at the exact moment when Juliet didn’t seem to be in Megan’s body?

But that was crazy. Juliet had no reason to harm Megan’s father. Why would she?

She wouldn’t.

I’m being ridiculous. It’s all this tension, trying to get through this last day.

But the worries wouldn’t go away. Megan watched Juliet wash her father’s wounds with a soft rag.
Juliet was never worried about something happening to her,
Megan thought.
I worried about that all by myself. And I thought that was because she couldn’t be hurt physically. Because she had already lost her life and had nothing to lose.

Then Megan thought of something else.
She can leave my body so easily. She can go anywhere, do anything, without leaving a trace. No fingerprints. No one can see or hear her. There would never be any witnesses because Juliet would be invisible.

Megan thought about the night of her mother’s accident. Juliet had been with Justin in the den, watching a movie. Megan had watched movies with Justin more than once. He became completely lost in them. Several times, Megan had left to get popcorn and drinks, and he’d never even noticed her absence. It would only have taken Juliet a second to leave Megan’s body and dart out to the dock to attack her mother. Justin wouldn’t even have noticed that the girl beside him was as quiet and motionless as a doll.

Maybe Juliet knew all along that no disaster would befall her because … because she
is
the disaster.
Think about it,
Megan told herself.
Makes sense, right?

No. No! Juliet couldn’t have done those things. It’s not possible.

Juliet helping Megan’s father made a nice picture: the loving daughter taking care of an injured parent with tenderness.

Was it fake? Had Juliet herself
caused
those wounds?

No, she couldn’t have,
Megan realized.
She couldn’t have done any of it, for one very good reason. She had waited too long for this one short week of life. She would never have deliberately set out to wreak havoc on her precious seven days.

But look at her! Think, Megan, think! Does she look like someone whose time is almost up? Is she nervous? Depressed? Is there a look of dread in those eyes?

No. Not at all. Juliet is as calm and peaceful as the lake at night.

Juliet finished her nursing duties and, warning Tom Logan to “stay away from ladders,” ran lightly up the stairs.

The dark, devilish thought, once born, became relentless. It crept up on Megan steadily, like the big, black, hairy spider of her dream. It circled around her, teasing, taunting, wrapping her in its web.

The dress. The black dress with the pink cummerbund. The hair appointment.

They hadn’t been intended for Megan. They had been intended for Juliet.

Because Juliet had never meant to have only one short week. She had never planned to give back Megan’s life.

She was going to keep it for herself.

Juliet was going to have her birthday party after all.

Juliet had tricked her! Right from the beginning …