She yanked at the Flexible Flyer sled with rusty runners hanging from its hook on the wall and sat down on it. Did she really want to open this trunk? Did she really want to look at the pictures she’d taken that day so long ago? What would the pictures prove? Nothing. Only that Jeff King was on the zip line a few feet from Cady. That, as far as she could remember, was the last picture she’d taken. She’d dropped the camera when Andy shouted to her to start throwing rocks because she was the one with the best pitching arm.

She was the one who hit Jeff King in the head, killing him. She was the one who hit Cady in the middle of the back. Not that she meant to hit Jeff. Her aim had been off when Jeff collapsed against Cady; otherwise, the rock would have gotten him on the shoulder. There was no point in lying to herself any longer.

She’d always been jealous of Cady. She’d just wanted to scare her, to make herself feel good that day. Jealous because Pete liked Cady better than he liked her. Even Andy liked Cady. Boomer Ward liked her, too, she could tell. Jeff picked on her because, in his own cockeyed way, he’d liked her, too. The devil was in her that day.

Guilty as sin.

She bolted off the Flexible Flyer and raced down the steps to the bathroom, where she lost everything she’d consumed earlier at the bakery.

She wished she could just lie down and die.

12

They were waiting for her just the way they waited earlier, only this time they were on Lola’s terrace. A pitcher of ice-cold lemonade and a plate of warm cookies sat in the middle of the table off to the side of Lola’s chaise lounge. The cookies were Anthony’s contribution, the lemonade, Mandy’s. Lola just indulged.

Cady kicked off her sandals as she ran out to the terrace. “Wait till you hear! Just wait till you hear! Oh, this is so nice,” she said, as Anthony rolled out the retractable awning to shade the third-floor terrace so that Lola wouldn’t be sitting in the direct sun.

“Don’t keep us in suspense, child, tell us. Anthony, pour this darling girl some lemonade. The cookies are still warm. They’re your favorite, peanut butter.”

“I bought you some duct tape, Anthony. I had to buy something at the hardware store. I think I met a new friend in Marie Lattimer. Her father owns the hardware. She said we were snowflakes together in a school play. I can’t remember that. Anyway, everyone in town knows about the movie. Everyone in town knows Cyrus King scotched the sale. Boomer paid for my baked goods and coffee at the bakery because I forgot my purse. Amy was there stuffing her face with pastries. Boomer and I have another date tomorrow. He forked over eighteen bucks for my dress,” Cady said breathlessly. She gulped at the tart lemonade, then added four sugar packets, to Mandy’s chagrin.