“What’s going on with you?” Jake asked, putting his arm around Allie’s shoulder. “You look a little rattled.”
“To say the least,” Allie muttered. “Jennifer, posing as Suzanne Jones, is addressing my social studies class, even as we speak.”
Jake promptly tried to scoot toward Allie so that he could get out of the booth. “Move,” he barked at Allie. “Let me out.” His face was already contorted with rage. Allie studied his features, alarmed that he seemed to be purely Eric.
“You’re going to confront her?” Allie asked.
“Since I can’t get away with shooting her. Move!”
“No, stay here.” Allie grabbed the edge of the table with both hands. “You sound like you’re Eric right now. This isn’t a good time for you to see her.”
“That’s not your call,” Jake retorted. He yanked her hands away from the table and shoved his way past.
“Jake!” Daniel said, leaping to his feet. “Wait! I’m coming, too.”
“So am I,” Allie said.
“Me, too,” Melissa said. They climbed out of their booth and scrambled after the guys.
They caught up to Jake just outside the restaurant. “Why didn’t you tell me about this immediately?” Jake snarled over his shoulder at Daniel.
“I wanted us all to discuss it before you forced us to follow your impulsive lead,” he explained.
“You’re not going to barge into the school and drag her out of Mr. Vincent’s classroom, are you?” Allie asked.
“No, I’ll wait by the door for her,” Jake said.
“Have you figured out what you’re going to say?” Allie asked.
“I’m going to demand that she deal only with me. That if she gets within a hundred yards of you or Melissa, I’m blowing her brains out.”
“Oh, my God, Jake!” Allie cried. “You can’t tell her that,” Allie and Melissa said in perfect unison. “You’ll get arrested for threatening her!”
“No, Jake’s right,” Daniel said. “We need to show her that we’re onto her. And that we’re not letting her run your lives.”
A silver Mercedes was backing out of a visitor’s spot fifty yards or so ahead of them. “That’s her now,” Allie said, pointing. Jennifer turned toward the driver’s window and looked right at them, then drove away, ignoring the stop light as she pulled into traffic.
“Why is she doing this!?” Allie cried, stamping her foot. “Why did she taunt me in my class, then speed away?”
“She’s messing with our heads,” Jake growled.
Allie felt so overwhelmed, she sat down on the sidewalk in front of the school. Melissa sat down beside her. “I’ve seen her before,” Melissa said, her voice depicting her surprise. “I had no idea she was Dr. Jones’s wife. Twice she was walking in the park across from the apartment where Dr. Jones took me to convalesce. I remember thinking how carefree she looked, and it made me jealous.”
“And yet she’s as far from ‘carefree’ as anybody can get. She’s a ruthless killer,” Allie stated. “In either Kathleen’s body or Suzanne’s, she drove Dr. Jones’s car and hit my friend Mike Burns.”
“I’m sure that’s true,” Melissa said. “The police told me that someone who looked a lot like me ran a traffic light with a photo-sensor. A detective showed me the photo. I told them it wasn’t me, just someone who happened to look like me. That was before Jake told me I had a sister. So it wasn’t Jennifer-Suzanne who took Dr. Jones’s car, but rather Jennifer in...my sister’s body. They’re going to nab me for both crimes.”
“Not necessarily. The judge believed me when I told him about your sister, Kathleen,” Jake said, still standing next to Daniel on the sidewalk, “thanks to Daniel managing to pull up some FaceBook photos on the Web. And I’m sure Mark’s letter went a long way in clearing you.”
“Jennifer deliberately sped through an intersection with a photo-sensor camera so that she could incriminate you,” Daniel said. “And I’m sure she made certain there was a witness in the hotel when she killed Dr. Jones. We’re fortunate that Jake remembered that Melissa had a sister, or Jennifer could have committed the perfect crime.”
Jake grimaced. “I really screwed up, though, Mellie. I should have filled you in on everything I knew about Melissa’s life the first day.”
“We’re ridiculously unlucky that Melissa happened to have a sister who could be her twin,” Allie countered. “And that Mark Jones didn’t know to warn us about Jennifer having taken Kathleen, as well as Melissa. That Jake didn’t manage to destroy my memory chip six months ago. That any of us were ever targeted by her in the first place.” She groaned in frustration. “This whole thing just makes me crazy.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Melissa said.
She and Allie exchanged glances and probably shared the identical thought that, for once, knowing ‘exactly’ how someone else feels wasn’t an exaggeration.
“Let’s get back to the hotel, Daniel,” Jake said. “I need you to talk to Li Chen about producing a prototype of the mind transducer chip.”
Allie held out a hand, and he helped her get to her feet. “You’re on schedule with both functions of the design?” Allie asked, once again worried that Jake wasn’t being straight with her about her “pressure-switch” solution.
“Who’s Li Chen?” Melissa asked, getting to her feet on her own power.
“A genius microchip designer,” Daniel replied.
“Daniel and I have been exchanging notes and schematics every day,” Jake said.
“School’s going to be over soon,” Allie said, glancing at the time on her cellphone. “I’m going to head home.”
“Wait. Since we really can’t know what Jennifer’s going to do next, we should all stick together,” Jake said.
“I have to go home, Jake,” Allie said. “I’m all packed up and ready to leave on a minute’s notice, but right now, my parents will freak out and then track us down at the Benton.”
“Take Mellie with you,” Jake said. “If the four of us can’t stick together, we’re still better off in pairs.”
Realizing that she now wanted Mellie’s company, Allie quickly agreed. Jake and Daniel made vague plans to call Allie later, and the two of them left, Allie declining an offer of a ride home; her mother would be all the more anxious if she were to watch Allie emerge from Daniel’s or Jake’s cars. Allie felt a pang, regretting that she was still sneaking around behind her parents’ backs. She and Melissa glanced at each other when they were left alone on the sidewalk in front of school.
“Is your mom picking you up soon?” Mellie asked.
“Maybe. She doesn’t normally, but she was pretty freaked out this morning.”
Mellie nodded.
Searching for a reasonably bland topic, Allie said, “It’s going to be really strange for you when you see Melissa’s sister, Kathleen, for the first time. Assuming you ever meet her.”
“Will it be? I think it’ll be like meeting anyone else’s sister. Except that I now know in advance that she’s actually my arch enemy. I’m caught off guard every time I see my own reflection.”
“I remember how that felt. It wore off after three or four months.” Allie felt awkward just standing there, so she slipped her arms through her backpack and started heading toward her house. Mellie fell into step beside her. “Now I know better than to put much stock in a person’s physical appearance.”
Mellie snorted. “Ironic that you feel that way, considering your boyfriend and your close friend Daniel are two of the best-looking guys on the planet.”
“Yeah. That is ironic. Jake wasn’t what you’d consider handsome when he was in his own body. Even so, if we’d gotten together back then, I’d have found him to be the hottest guy ever.”
“Yeah,” Mellie said with a small smile. “I remember him. The time I interviewed at the Alzheimer’s and Brain Trauma Center in Washington.”
“Oh, right. Of course. I sometimes lose track of what happened before versus after my brain patt
erns were stolen.”
“He had beautiful blue eyes.”
Allie grimaced a little at Mellie’s wistful tone of voice. Now he has beautiful dark brown eyes. Plus brooding, movie-star looks and an athlete’s body. “Jake says that Eric Sterling was a real jerk.”
“I think Melissa might have had her problems, too,” Mellie said. “I’m getting these weird dreams sometimes that might even be a memory. Something about a fire. I have awful scars on my stomach and my back. I’ll show you.”
Allie started to say “no, thanks,” but Mellie checked for passing cars and quickly lifted her top a few inches. Allie gasped and averted her eyes.
“I know. It’s really ugly,” Mellie said, quickly lowering her tee-shirt again.
“No, it’s not as bad as all that. It just caught me off guard.” Allie decided that was an honest answer. Certainly, though, Mellie was never going to want to wear a bikini in public.
“It’s strange that I don’t have any scars on my limbs, face, or neck. It’s almost like I was wrapped around my waist in a burning towel, or a small blanket. I remember having my blouse in flames. Feeling the burns.”
“That must have been terrible.”
“But it also could be a false memory,” Mellie said. “My mind could be playing tricks on me, due to the stress all of us are under. By all rights, we should all be basket cases by now.”
“We need to ask Jake if he knows what happened with you and fire,” Allie suggested. “Do you have any memories of your sister yet? Of Melissa’s sister, I mean?”
“No. I keep thinking it’d possibly help us be able to locate her if I did. But maybe not, considering that she’s really Jennifer McGavin now...posing as Kathleen.”
Mellie hesitated as Allie started to continue walking toward her house. “I’m going to catch the bus to my hotel.”
“No, Mellie. Jake’s right. There’s safety in numbers. And, frankly, I could use the company. Please come to my house with me. You can meet my parents. You’ll like one another.”
Mellie smiled at her. “That’s a nice offer. Thank you.”
“Maybe, once all of this is over, you and I can live like sisters. In a weird sense, we kind of are twin sisters.”
“Let’s just say that we’re sisters in spirit,” Mellie suggested. “I just hope you won’t be visiting me in jail.”
“That makes two of us.”
They walked half a block in silence. “The living-as-sisters thing would never work, Allie,” Mellie said. “Jake and I are attracted to each other. And I know that’s really Eric and Melissa. And I know that neither of us will ever make a move...act on our impulses. But it hurts even so.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Allie said. “But I’m not surprised.”
They walked in companionable silence for another block. “I just don’t know if I can do this,” Mellie said. “Any of this. When they put me in that godforsaken prison cell this morning, I started praying for God to kill me on the spot. I truly didn’t want to be alive.”
“I remember feeling that way when Mom and Grammy were killed. But life gets better. You adjust. You’ll see.”
Mellie nodded. She put her arm around Allie’s shoulders, and Allie did the same. They walked a few steps that way. But Allie’s heart wavered from feeling less lonely, to thinking about the ease that Jennifer had shown while she was playing Suzanne Anderson-Jones to the classroom. Allie couldn’t quite battle the niggling fear that she had been right all along; that Jennifer had managed to put part of her sick, manipulative persona into Mellie. If so, Allie was going to pay dearly for feeling such a strong connection with her now.
“In the long run, I’m more expendable than you are,” Mellie stated solemnly. “If one of us winds up getting locked away in jail or, well, killed, you’re the one who knows Jennifer McGavin. You have the stronger will to live. And, the more my consciousness starts becoming Melissa, I’m likely to have a soft spot in my heart for Kathleen, even though she’s Jennifer. Or, worse case, Jake’s wrong that my mind won’t pick up Jennifer’s personality if Jennifer downloaded her own memories just prior to Elony’s. Then I’ll start to become a third Jennifer.”
“I’m sorry I ever brought up that possibility.”
“If it does happen, I want you to promise me something.”
Allie winced, already knowing what Mellie would say.
“Promise me that you’ll kill me,” Mellie said firmly.
Chapter 19
“It’s such a treat to get to know one of Alexis’s new friends,” Allie’s mother said during dinner that evening.
“Yeah,” her father agreed, swallowing a big bite of his lamb burger. “Alexis has known Fiona her whole life. Do you know Fiona, too?” he asked Mellie.
“I do. She’s great. Everyone loves Fiona.”
“How come we’re just meeting you for the first time?” he asked.
“Actually, Melissa and I met in the ER, when Mike broke his leg,” Allie’s mom told him.
Allie realized just then that they were on thin ice, as Mellie replied honestly, “I only started at Albany Central two months ago.”
“You used to date Jake Greyland,” her mother blurted out.
Allie grimaced. Her mom had figured out the connection. Next she was going to want to keep her and Mellie separated.
“Um, yes, we met in Chicago,” she replied.
“What brought you to Albany?” her dad asked.
“Coincidence. My mom got a job here. At the Benton Inn.”
Allie noticed her mother’s furrowed brow, and knew it meant that she was trying to figure out why Mellie’s mother would want to uproot her family for a job at the really ordinary Benton. Allie needed to change subjects, and keep her mom away from realizing that Mellie shared Elony’s mind. “Melissa’s also an excellent French student.”
“That reminds me,” her father said. “Did anybody hear anything more about that shooting at the Marriott?”
Allie didn’t know how her father got from French to a shooting, but Mellie’s involvement in the murder was bound to get reported in tomorrow’s newspaper, and tonight’s evening news. It would be best for her and Mellie to be out of the house whenever her parents heard about that. They would immediately try to separate the two of them.
“I heard it was some doctor visiting from New York City,” Mellie said.
“Thanks so much for dinner, Mom. Melissa and I are going to her place to study for our tests now.”
“Yes, thank so much, Mrs. Bixby,” Mellie said.
“Dad, can we borrow your car?”
“Sure thing, sweetpea,” her father said.
“No, you can’t. You’re still grounded,” her mother said.
“Mom, I need to study with Melissa. I left my French book at school.”
“Right, and I have to work desk duty for my mom, starting in thirty minutes,” Mellie said. “Which is why we have to study there, in the lobby of the Benton.”
“I’ll get the car back here by eleven,” Allie said.
Her father had already pulled his keys out of his pocket, but was holding them in his palm as he awaited a decision from his wife. Allie could see the worry on her mother’s face; she knew something was up.
“Dad?” Allie pleaded.
“It’s just studying,” he said, still holding his wife’s gaze. “With a new friend.”
Who, in tomorrow’s paper if not the eleven o’clock news, would be named as a suspect for Dr. Jones’s murder.
Her dad handed her the keys. “Be back by eleven,” her mother said sternly.
“Hey,” Jake said, smiling at both of them as he opened the door to his room. Allie wasn’t sure if she was just seeing things from her own fears, but she felt as though Jake was forcing himself to keep his gaze on her, not on Mellie.
As they entered, Daniel was working on his laptop with his vision glued to the screen. He was centered on Jake’s bed, leaning against the backrest with his legs out straight. He glanced up at them, gave
them a grin and said, “Hello, ladies,” then returned his vision to his screen, muttering, “I’m consulting with Li Chen on the design. Don’t mind me.”
“We won’t bug you,” Allie replied.
He blindly held up a hand to acknowledge her.
“Jake?” Mellie said. “Do you know anything about my having been in a fire?”
He nodded. “You were ten. Your house caught on fire.”
“How did it catch fire?”
“You...set it.”
“When I was ten? I was still playing with matches at age ten?”
“That’s what you were in juvie for. We met in an outreach program for troubled teens, after we both served our time.”
“Melissa was an arsonist?”
“They wouldn’t put a ten-year old in jail for arson,” Allie said. “Melissa must have had a chemical imbalance or something.”
“She was fourteen when they arrested her,” Jake explained. “Her parents had convinced the authorities that the first fire was an accident. She told me she dreamed about fire. That she found it intoxicating and irresistible.”
“Oh, my God,” Mellie cried. “I deserve to go to jail.”
“No, you don’t,” Allie said. “You’re Elony, not Melissa.”
Mellie grimaced, unimpressed. “What did Eric do that caused him to be incarcerated?”
“Armed robbery.”
“Oh, great,” Mellie moaned. “It’s just like the officers said when they were taunting me, trying to make me confess. We’re the next Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Not really.” He set his jaw. He cast a sheepish look at Allie. “Eric paid for his crimes. He was truly determined to stay on the straight and narrow. He was a runaway because he was being coerced into committing another robbery by the ringleader in his community. His plan was to get his GED and get a decent job, then to ask Melissa to marry him.”
“In other words, Eric was truly trying to turn his life around, whereas I’m in the body of an incorrigible arsonist,” Mellie cried.
Mind Echoes (Book 2 in the Body Shifters Trilogy) Page 14