She searched his eyes. “I wish I could believe that, Jake. But you can’t be sure you’ll feel that way once all of our time together is gone from your memory.”
“Yes, I can. I know things that mere one-body people don’t.” He smiled at her so winningly that she couldn’t help but smile, and to believe his every word.
She hugged him. He lifted her and swung her in a circle. “I love you, Allie. I’ve always loved you, and I always will.”
“I love you, too.”
They shared a wonderful, passionate kiss. We can be this way for the rest of our lives. Two people who’d found each other. Just like every other couple in love. Her phone rang. Breathless, she broke off the kiss.
“It’s Daniel,” she said, as Jake was still giving her butterfly kisses on her neck.
“Hey, Allie,” Daniel said over the phone. His voice was somber. “I’m at the police station. I brought Melissa here for the lineup.”
“What do you mean?” Allie cried. “It’s not even seven thirty! How could the police possibly be doing a lineup this early?”
Jake abruptly stopped nuzzling her.
“The witness has a flight to catch. Melissa was already on the phone with an officer when I went to talk to her about the change in our breakfast plans. He’d told her she’d be in and out of here before school started.”
“But we were right next door in the restaurant,” Allie snapped. “Why did you take Melissa to the police station without telling us?”
“She insisted. She figured that was the best way to get the police to focus on McBitch. She knew she was innocent, so she was confident that being in a lineup would get the heat off all of us.”
“Well, get her out of there, Daniel! If she’s in a lineup, it’s going to be a disaster! Jake and I figured out a couple of minutes ago that Jennifer shifted her mind into Melissa’s sister, Kathleen. Jake says they look alike.”
In her peripheral vision, she saw Jake grab his head in alarm.
“I wish like hell we’d known that twenty minutes ago! They let me watch the lineup. They were all skinny teenage blondes. But the witness identified Melissa without hesitation. They arrested her on the spot.”
Chapter 17
After a heated debate, Allie and Jake agreed that there was nothing Allie could do to help with Melissa’s predicament. Jake went ahead and dropped her off at school, then headed to the police station to join Daniel, intending to post bail for her as soon as possible.
During lunch at the cafeteria, Allie filled in Fiona on Melissa’s predicament. “Can we get a collection together and bail Melissa out of jail?” Fiona promptly suggested. “It’s not like she has a family to help her. So...maybe we could form our own makeshift family.”
Allie’s eyes misted. She was touched by Fiona’s big heart, but she also felt bad about herself. However deeply she wished she felt otherwise, Melissa’s presence within her small circle of friends made Allie feel expendable. “That’s already underway. Between them, Daniel and Jake have earned quite a lot of money. They’ll post her bail. Since Melissa’s a juvenile, and with Daniel’s dad being a bid-deal lawyer, Jake was confident she’d have a speedy hearing.”
“Good,” Fiona replied. “I’m sure they’ll get their money back as soon as you guys find her sister.”
“If we ever do. She could be anyplace, and it might be difficult to convince the police that Kathleen Cooper had a motive to kill Dr. Jones. Not to mention that we now know there are two freaking Jennifer McGavins out there. Our challenge is twice as difficult now, and it already felt impossible.”
“Well, soon you’ll have two Ellie Montgomerys teamed up against her. Plus Daniel, Jake, and me.” Fiona grinned. “I like our odds.”
Daniel had made a similar observation. Allie sighed and met Fiona’s gaze. “That’s really sweet of you to include yourself in our...motley crew.” She reached across the table and touched her hand. “Your friendship means more to me than I can say, Fiona. Truly. But...it’s really important for you to stay out of this mess. I don’t want you to get hurt. Jennifer could kill both me and Melissa. I know it sounds shallow, but if that happens, I need to know that somebody who knew me is going to survive me. Does that make sense?”
Fiona grimaced but nodded. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Fiona began after a painful pause, “but it’d help if Daniel could blend in at Albany Central. That way you could keep going to classes, but you’d have another confidant nearby, right?”
“Sure,” Allie replied, half-heartedly. Daniel’s blending in was the least of their problems.
“So how ‘bout I invite him to the prom? It’ll give him a good excuse to be hanging out on school grounds. Considering he’s my new boyfriend who is clearly smitten with me.”
Allie chuckled a little. “By all means. Knock yourself out. But keep in mind that there’s zero chance we’ll actually be going to the prom on Saturday. More likely, we’ll be in some lab in Brooklyn, duking it out with Jennifer McGavin.”
“If that turns out to be the case, the last thing I’m going to care about is the stupid prom,” Fiona said. “But since there isn’t anything else I can do to help, I can take this one bullet for you.” She put her hand over her heart and looked to the heavens. “For your sake, I am willing to hang out with the young god who’s your boyfriend’s best friend.”
“And I truly appreciate your sacrifice.”
“Don’t mention it.” She grinned and swept up her cellphone. “I’m calling him now.”
“He’s probably still in the courthouse and won’t be able to—”
“Hi, Daniel. This is Fiona, Allie’s friend. Wanna be my date for the prom on Saturday?” She giggled at whatever Daniel said in reply. After a pause, she said, “Yeah, that’s what Allie said, too. Jilt me if you must. I can take it. But in the meantime, you can hang out on the school campus tomorrow at lunchtime and afterschool. Jake can be here, too. We can claim we’re debating how to coordinate our corsages.” After another pause, she gave Allie a thumbs up and said to Daniel, “Oh, it’s my pleasure. Later.” She sighed happily as she lowered her phone. “Best dream date I’ll never actually have.” The bell rang, and Fiona hopped to her feet. “See you in social studies.”
Allie smiled at Fiona as she took a seat in her final-period social studies class. Mr. Vincent, their teacher, wasn’t in the room yet, which was unusual, so the volume of chattering in the room was all but deafening.
She recognized Fiona’s “Hey” as intended for her, so she turned and leaned closer. “I changed my mind about the prom,” Fiona said. “Mike’s on crutches...or I should say ‘crutch’ singular because of his arm cast, but he’s coming back to school tomorrow, so he and I—”
“Hush,” the teacher’s authoritative voice demanded from the doorway. Allie turned around in her chair, then, after a couple of seconds, nearly choked when she recognized the pretty young woman entering the classroom a step behind Mr. Vincent. It was Susanne Anderson-Jones.
This was only the second time Allie had seen Suzanne Anderson-Jones. The first sighting occurred when they had crossed paths some five months ago at a hospital in Washington. Allie was accompanying a nurse as they wheeled Jake out of the hospital. While they were waiting for Daniel to drive up to the door, Dr. Mark Jones was pushing a wheelchair, occupied by his future wife, Suzanne, who’d miraculously emerged from a coma. Then and now, it was Jennifer McGavin’s haughty smile as she met Allie’s gaze that gave away Suzanne’s true identity.
Instantly terrified, Allie turned and caught Fiona’s eye, and whispered, “It’s Jennifer!”
“I have a special treat for all of you today,” Mr. Vincent announced. “It’s my honor to introduce Ms. Anderson-Jones.” Allie forced herself to rotate in her chair and face Jennifer. She was so scared, it was all she could do to stay motionless, trying not to whimper. “Ms. Jones will soon be Dr. Jones. She is a former social-studies teacher herself, from a school in an impoverished area of Washington, D.C. But when she emerged fro
m a life-threatening coma several months ago, she realized she wanted to be a brain surgeon. She’s now a rising star in medical school at Columbia University. She is here in Albany under extremely challenging circumstances, yet she asked if she could address my class in particular, because she learned about one of your fellow students who has had a similar experience to her own.”
Allie could feel all the heads of her classmates turning toward her. Cheeks burning, she stared straight ahead, not meeting anyone’s eyes.
“Ms. Anderson-Jones has a lot to teach us all about the effects of alienation and bullying in our society,” her teacher continued. He gave Jennifer a deferential nod, said, “So, welcome to our classroom,” and led the class in a polite applause.
Allie felt frozen in place. All she could do was stare straight ahead, at the back of the girl’s head seated in front of her.
Before Jennifer/Suzanne could begin speaking, Mr. Vincent barked, “Fiona! Give me your cellphone!”
Allie looked backed and realized that Fiona had been texting someone. Undoubtedly it was Jake or Daniel, who she was warning about Jennifer’s appearance. “Sorry,” Fiona said. “It was urgent.”
“No, it’s okay,” Jennifer said to Mr. Vincent, touching his shoulder as he started to march toward Fiona. “This is actually an excellent opening for my discussion.” She gave Fiona a beatific smile. “Fiona, would you please send a text to another student in the class?”
Without hesitation, she typed something into her phone. Allie’s phone vibrated. Allie winced, wishing Fiona had chosen someone else. Suzanne was scanning the room. Not knowing what else to do, Allie grabbed her phone and looked at her texts. The message read: Daniel’s coming.
Allie could feel Jennifer’s eyes on her. Despite her fear, which was so intense she felt as though she was going to vomit, she forced herself to meet Jennifer’s gaze. “Are you the student Fiona texted?” Jennifer asked in a breezy voice.
Allie nodded.
“What’s your name?”
She cleared her throat. “Alexis.”
“Aha, so you must be Alexis Bixby. I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Allie managed. Her temper was starting to rise. She glared at Jennifer. In her peripheral vision, she could see that Mr. Vincent was taken aback by Allie’s demeanor. Even so, Allie was not going to give Jennifer the satisfaction of knowing that she’d forced Allie to be nice.
“That communication between you and Fiona,” Jennifer continued, “took all of two or three seconds, yes? And only because you hesitated before glancing at your screen. How many words was it?”
“I wrote ‘I’m in hot water,’ Fiona interrupted. “Four words.”
Jennifer laughed and gave Fiona a charming wink. “You’re not really in any trouble.”
Several students chuckled.
“So, Fiona,” Jennifer continued, “let’s say that it took you twice the amount of time to text that message as it does to say the same thing aloud. But that’s a reasonable trade off, right? Sacrificing a little time to text on your phone instead of to speak out loud?”
A couple of kids muttered their assent, and one said, “Plus it’s more private. Nobody overhears a text.”
“True, albeit today’s discussion is withstanding,” Jennifer replied. “But let’s think about what texting means to stroke victims. Brain damage like mine can often render a patient unable to speak. When I was in a coma, I could hear and comprehend what the doctors and nurses were saying about me. I was completely incapable of responding. My greatest fear then was—”
She stopped as Daniel barged through the door. He must have already been on campus to get here that quickly, Allie realized. His hair was slicked back, but he was wearing loafers, jeans, and a fire-engine red T-shirt.
“Oh, jeez,” he said. “I was supposed to meet Fiona here after class. I must have screwed up the times.”
“Are you a student at Albany Central?” Mr. Vincent asked.
“No, but I’ll be transferring next year.” Daniel was twenty-four, but he could more or less pass for a high school student. “I was hoping Fiona could take me on a tour.” He gave Jennifer a polite smile. “I’m sorry I interrupted your lecture, ma’am. I just—” He broke off as he pretended that he was just noticing Allie for the first time. “Alexis? Are you feeling all right?”
“No, I feel sick to my stomach. This topic is hitting me too close to the bone. Plus, I have a horrible headache. I think I need to go to the nurse.”
Mr. Vincent grimaced and nodded. “I’m sorry, Alexis. I’ll write you a hall pass,” he scribbled on the pink pad on top of his desk.
“I’m so sorry, Alexis,” Jennifer said in her fake compassionate voice. “If you don’t mind getting medical advice from a mere student of medicine, you should ask the nurse to let you sit quietly and concentrate on breathing deeply. Then take some sips of water. Even without a history of concussions, we all need to take care to drink much more water daily, especially during these summer months.”
Allie couldn’t bring herself to thank Jennifer. She allowed Daniel to take her arm and usher her from the room.
“Take care, Alexis,” Jennifer said as they reached the door. “I hope to see you again someday.”
“Me, too,” Allie said over her shoulder.
They strode down the hall. “You shouldn’t have done this, Daniel,” Allie said under her breath. “Now she knows exactly what you look like. Your hair isn’t even all that greasy anymore.”
“That ship sailed days ago. She knew who I was well enough to steal my gun.”
Allie hadn’t thought about that. “It’s maddening listening to her,” Allie grumbled. “She had the whole class spellbound, just by buddying up to them. By drawing them in with BS about text messaging. I’ll bet she did the same thing when she was talking to the police...sweet-talked them into thinking she was a grieving widow, who’d been wronged by her philandering husband.”
“How the hell did she arrange to speak at the school when her husband was shot to death two days ago?”
“She claimed she wanted to address the class because of me. She probably also fed my principal some story about needing to stay productive and to humanize the victim by putting a face on the victim’s grieving widow.”
“Huh,” Daniel said. “You’re probably right. Now that I think about it, it’s almost more surprising that she didn’t address the entire student body.”
“Our auditorium is in use by the graduating students who are practicing their speeches. Besides, Jennifer wanted to deliver a personal message to me. She’s telling me that she can get in my face whenever she wants.”
“We can get in her face, too,” Daniel said, but Allie could sense that he realized his statement was merely empty bravado.
“Did you get Melissa out of jail?” Allie asked as they left the building, crumbling her teacher’s hall pass. “Did it cost your entire bankroll?”
“Not quite. A lot of it went to Melissa’s fake mom at the hotel. We paid her off to come with us and promise to the court that she would keep an eye on her.”
“You bribed someone to lie for you in a court of law,” Allie said, shaking her head, unable to shake her bone-deep fear. “We’re all going to get jailed while Jennifer gets away with murder. Again.”
This was so much worse than last winter, when she’d first vowed to make Jennifer pay for her crimes. Back then, Allie hadn’t grasped what she was getting into. Furthermore, at the time she had little to live for. She hadn’t minded risking her life back then. Now she wanted to live more than ever, if only because Jennifer McGavin was the worst scourge she’d ever met, and she knew that Jennifer was determined to see Elony Montgomery dead.
Chapter 18
“Where’s Melissa right now?” Allie asked Daniel.
“With Jake. At the pizza place. We were having a late lunch. They’re expecting us.”
Allie was surprised, and a little hurt, that Jake hadn’t texted that he was already back with Me
lissa. “So Jake already knows Jennifer’s here?” And yet Daniel was the one who rode to my rescue.
Daniel winced. “Not exactly. He was placing his order at the counter right when Fiona texted me, so I just told him we had a ‘situation,’ and that I’d be bringing you back with me in a few minutes.”
Daniel opened the restaurant door for her while she was still pondering his explanation. She spotted Jake and Melissa with their gazes locked in an intense conversation. As Allie neared, she could see that Melissa had been crying. Perhaps Jake had been too concerned about Melissa to be distracted by Allie’s “situation.” It had been Fiona’s decision to contact Daniel instead of Jake, she reminded herself.
“Hi,” Allie said, immediately focusing her full attention on Melissa as well. She sat next to Jake in the booth. “I’m so sorry about what you’ve been through. I can’t believe the police arrested you.”
“I can,” Melissa said. “I was with the victim shortly before he was killed. I live at the hotel where the owner of a gun that’s presumed to be the murder weapon was stolen. I was in possession of a large check the victim wrote to me, and I was misidentified in a lineup as the killer.”
“I’m the one who really screwed us,” Jake said. “I didn’t warn you guys that Melissa’s sister looks so much like her.”
“As if you could have known that Jennifer was going to shift her mind into my sister,” Melissa said, rolling her eyes. She sighed, looking miserable. Allie couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. “I think I’m going to wind up spending the rest of my life in jail.”
“We won’t let that happen,” Allie said.
It was easy to read the cynicism in Melissa’s expression. “One good thing,” Melissa said, “the principal is allowing me to skip my finals. Instead, they’re averaging out my grades from Melissa’s school in West Virginia and here. She’s a lousy student. But it hardly matters. I doubt that my fellow inmates will ever ask me what my GPA was.”
Mind Echoes (Book 2 in the Body Shifters Trilogy) Page 13