All The Pretty Dead Girls (37 page)

Ginny wrote it all down in her notebook, everything Sue had told her, about meeting with Joyce Davenport, going back to her grandparents’ apartment, finding the article about the rape online, and discovering the strange name on the birth certificate.

“I’ve always known somehow that I was
different,
” Sue had said last night, her voice low.

Ginny had just stared at her, not knowing what to say.

“I knew I couldn’t stay in the apartment the rest of the weekend,” Sue continued, oblivious to the expression of shock on Ginny’s face. “I had to get out. I didn’t want to know more. My instinct was just to run away.”

“And so you did,” Ginny said.

Sue nodded. “I wanted to go back to Lebanon. I wanted to see Billy. He was the only one I felt I could trust.”

“And what were you thinking…about your parents?”

Sue gave her an odd smile. “I did an Internet search and came up with any number of Luke Morgensterns. Was I thinking that Satan might be my father? Because some crazy girl who’d seen the Virgin Mary said he was? You bet your life that’s what I was thinking. That my mother was raped by the devil.”

Ginny was speechless, but Sue just laughed.

“And then I decided it was all too crazy, too much like a bad horror movie, for me to even consider. If I said anything to anyone, I was going to wind up in a padded room right next to my mother. So, I decided that I
was
acting crazy. There’s no such thing as Satan, right?”

Sue fell silent.

“I just wanted to get back to Billy.”

“You drove back to Wilbourne that night?”

Sue nodded. “I snuck out of the house. Of course, then the calls started on my cell phone. I never picked it up. Gran and Granpa were frantic. But I made it back to school.”

“Did you see Billy?”

Sue’s face darkened. “Oh, yes. I saw Billy.”

She called him when she was about an hour outside Lebanon.

“Billy?”

“Sue!”

“Billy, I need to see you…”

“I thought I’d never hear from you again! I’d given up!”

“You’re the only one I can talk to, Billy. Please. Will you meet me?”

He’d promised. Enthusiastically. He’d seemed so happy to hear from her.

Even though he still saw Heidi, nearly every day…

Driving back to Lebanon, Sue felt the urge just to give in to her feelings.
Why not? If I want Billy, take him. If it means Heidi croaks, who the hell cares? I don’t know her. Get rid of the bitch so she won’t come around hounding my man anymore…

Dear God,
Sue thought.
Now I sound like Joyce Davenport.

“You have a bright and wonderful future ahead of you,” Joyce had told her.

Sue sensed she might indeed—if she wanted it.

Why am I so afraid? I have powers. I can do things. I shouldn’t be afraid.

Other people should be afraid of me.

She drove directly to town, not even bothering to stop at the college first. Billy promised to meet her at the Yellow Bird.

“Sue,” he’d told her on the phone, “you don’t know how glad I am that you called. I’ve been thinking about you all the time. I really started to like you a lot, Sue, and then you stopped returning my calls…”

“We can be together now, Billy,” she told him. “Meet me at the Bird. I need you. I need to be with you.”

She sat in the booth she always took—the one nearest the front door. Marjorie recognized her, and brought her a vanilla shake without Sue even needing to ask for it. She took a sip and looked out the window, waiting for Billy. The snow was nearly all melted now. A bit of a warming spell had settled over the town after that early snowfall. Water dripped from the roof above. The sidewalks were wet.

For a moment, Sue imagined she was just a girl—just a girl like she’d been when she first came to this place. Innocent. No worries. Just a girl meeting her boyfriend for a shake, and maybe a walk holding hands through town.

Now—what was she?

“Hello, Sue.”

She looked up. It wasn’t Billy.

It was Bernadette deSalis.

“How did you know I was here?” Sue asked bluntly.

The girl smiled. “Just like I think you knew that I’d be here, too.”

“No,” Sue said. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I’m waiting for someone else.”

“He’ll be along.”

Sue eyed her cannily. “How do you know who I’m waiting for?”

“Just like you know certain things, Sue. Please, may I sit down?”

“Go ahead,” Sue said. “There are a few things I’d like to ask you.”

“I imagined you’d want to eventually,” Bernadette said, as she slid into the booth opposite Sue.

“What can I get you, Bernie?” Marjorie asked, approaching the table.

Bernadette smiled up at her. “I’ll have the same thing she’s having, thanks.”

After Marjorie moved away, Sue glared at the girl across from her. Bernadette’s dark hair was pulled tightly away from her face in a ponytail. Her eyes seemed to bulge. “How did you know my mother was alive?” Sue asked.

“I told you, Sue. I know things the same way you know things.”

“Well, apparently it’s a little different. You’ve seen the Virgin Mary, but my father happens to be Lucifer Morning Star.”

Bernadette laughed. “I guess that means we were destined to meet.” Marjorie placed her shake in front of her. “And share vanilla milk shakes!”

“So you believe I’m the devil’s daughter.”

Bernadette nodded. “The Antichrist,” she said matter-of-factly, taking a sip of her shake.

“This is
crazy
!” Sue’s voice was loud. Several people in the diner turned to look at her.

“Have you ever read the Book of Revelation?” Bernadette kept smiling. “Believe me, Sue, I’m not here to convert you or anything. I’m asking you for a reason.”

“Yes, I’ve read Revelation. For Dr. Marshall’s class, in fact.”

“But not the full version? I suppose not. We can get you a copy…”

Sue laughed. “Who’s we?”

“Father Ortiz and I. You’ve met him.”

Sue nodded. “Yes. He was sitting right where you are.”

Bernadette leaned across the table. “Sue,” she whispered. “We want to help you. It’s not too late—it’s never too late—and you can thwart the plans of those who plan to use you.”

“Who wants to use me?” Sue stared at her. “Why should I trust you any more than I trust someone else?”

“Do you trust Joyce Davenport?”

“As much as I trust you. Which is zero.”

“The seeds of evil are in you, Sue,” Bernadette said, shaking her head. “But it’s through no fault of your own. You can reject your destiny. Even Christ had the ability to refuse his calling. He could have succumbed to temptation and not fulfilled his ordained role. The Antichrist will also have free will…”

“I’m a freshman in college! I’m not the Antichrist!”

A man in the next booth turned and looked at her, made a face, then turned back around.

“This town has a long and ugly history, Sue,” Bernadette told her. “So does the college. And you’re in danger. I want to help you, because it’s not too late to change things. You know the truth about your mother now, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Sue managed to croak the word out.

“Go see her.”

“My mother…”

“Get in your car and go.” Bernadette’s voice was urgent. “Don’t go back to the campus. It’s starting, Sue. You have to get out of town.”

The bell over the door jingled.

Sue looked up.

Billy.

Her heart raced.

She wanted to jump and run to him. She wanted to fold herself into his arms and forget all this madness.

Billy! It was so good to see him again.

A wide smile crossed his handsome face as he spotted her. He beamed.

“I’ll leave the two of you alone,” Bernadette said, standing, taking her shake with her.

“Hey, Bernie,” Billy said as he approached. “What you doing here?”

“Just saying hello to Sue,” she told him as she moved off.

Billy sat down. “Did she upset you?”

“No,” Sue said.

Billy smiled again. “Goddamn, Sue. It is so good to see you. I’ve missed you. I really have.”

She stared at him. “Have you?”

“Of course,” he said. “Have you missed me?”

“Yes,” she admitted, averting her eyes.

“So now we can be together again. That’s what you said, right?”

She had said that. And she’d meant it. She’d wanted it. Needed it.

But it wasn’t right. She cared about Billy. She might even love him. But what kind of relationship could she have with him now?

“I really started to like you, too, Billy,” Sue said, looking again at him, at his soft, kind eyes. “I want you to know that.”

His smile flickered, but didn’t fade. “Don’t say that in the past tense.”

Sue looked away again.

“You said you needed me, Sue. It seemed like something was wrong. Are you okay?”

Her eyes misted with tears. “I’ve found something out about myself, Billy.”

She moved her eyes back to his.

Their gaze locked.

“What, Sue?” he asked. “What did you find out?”

“Look into my eyes, Billy,” she said. “What do you see?”

She could see so much by looking into Billy’s eyes. She could see how much he loved her. She could see how much he had missed her.

And now, she saw how much he feared her.

“What do you see in my eyes, Billy?”

In the booth across from her, Billy stiffened. His face went white.

“What is it, Billy?” Sue asked.

Her voice was calm. She knew the answer to her question.

“Sue,” Billy said in a low voice.

“Tell me what you see, Billy.”

Suddenly, he gasped. He gripped the side of the table, unable to tear his eyes away from what he saw in her face.

“Do you still love me, Billy?” Sue asked.

She no longer recognized the sound of her voice.

Billy let out a sound. He whipped his face away from her eyes, then jumped from the booth. Stumbling across the floor of the diner, he looked back at her.

“You…” His voice trailed off. “You’re not Sue.”

Sue just stared at him.

Billy let out a whimper. Sue saw the utter terror in his eyes.

So she was right.

Billy ran out the door. Marjorie looked after him, shaking her head, apparently concluding it was a lovers’ squabble.

But Sue knew differently.

She lowered her head, and began to cry.

Bernadette was back, standing beside her.

“Leave town,” she whispered. “Get out while you can. Go to see your mother. There is still time.”

Sue just sat there crying, the enormity of the horror settling around her.

“Your mother,” Bernadette repeated. “Go see your mother.”

“So I got back into my car,” Sue said, draining her wineglass and holding it out for Ginny to refill, “but I didn’t leave town. Not right away.”

“What did you do?”

“I went to the campus. Just what Bernadette warned me against doing.”

“Why?”

“Because now I had some sense of my power. I wasn’t afraid. I just wanted answers.”

“Who did you want to see on campus?” Ginny asked.

“Who else? Dean Gregory.”

Sue rang the doorbell at the dean’s house.

This is where they killed Tish Lewis.

Sue knew it the moment her finger had touched the bell.

They killed Tish—but I condemned her to die.

The horror and the guilt and the shame sank deep into Sue’s soul.

“Hello, Sue.”

It was Mrs. Gregory, dressed in a red robe.

“Is the dean in?”

It was a weekend. Sue expected that Gregory would be at home, rather than at the office.

But he was out, his wife explained. “Would you like to wait for him?” Mrs. Gregory asked.

“Yes, thank you.”

Mrs. Gregory stepped aside so that Sue could enter. “Did you have a nice holiday in New York?”

“Yes,” Sue lied. She was certain that her grandparents had called Gregory to report she’d left abruptly.
He’s out looking for me,
Sue realized.
I’ve got them all in a tizzy.

“You’re back on campus earlier than expected,” Mrs. Gregory said. Sue realized the woman was nervous.

“Yes,” Sue said, maintaining the charade. “I came back early to study for my finals.”

“What a good student you are, Sue. Here, why don’t you wait in the parlor? I’ll call Ted on his cell phone…”

And rustle up his goons to overpower me…

“Mrs. Gregory, wait,” Sue said. “I just have a quick question for you. Did you know my mother?”

“Your mother?” Mousy Mona’s face blanched. Her shaky hand went to a button on her blouse, which she twiddled anxiously. “Oh, no, I’m afraid we weren’t yet on campus then…”

“But you were involved, weren’t you? You must have been.”

Mrs. Gregory smiled nervously. “Involved in what, dear?”

“The cult of Revelation. The movement to bring about the end times. You must have been. Otherwise, your husband wouldn’t have been named dean.”

Mrs. Gregory fell silent.

“Was it worth it, Mona?” Sue asked, drawing close to the woman, almost menacingly. “What it did to your sons?”

In a flash, looking into Mrs. Gregory’s eyes, Sue had seen the tragedy of the two Gregory boys. One was now dead—an overdose in just the last couple of days—though she didn’t think Mona knew about that part yet.

“My sons,” Mrs. Gregory said. Then she began to cry.

“What will you get when it’s all done?” Sue asked, so close to Mona that she could see the whites of her eyes. “What have they promised you? Certainly, your husband isn’t content with just staying dean of some backwoods women’s college.”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Sue could see she’d get nowhere with Mrs. Gregory, who just stood there bawling her eyes out. She knew now it had been a mistake to come here. She could get trapped. Gregory would keep her—

“Tell your husband I’m not going to play the game the way he intended,” Sue said, moving away from Mona toward the door. “I have a few ideas of my own.”

“You can’t leave,” Mona managed to say.

“Watch me.”

“No!” Mrs. Gregory’s arm darted out, her hand gripping Sue around her wrist. “If I let you go, they’ll punish me.”

“Let go of me!”

Sue felt something rising inside of her—something that seemed to fill her brain and her body like water filling a glass. A force pushed into the very back of her mind. Powerful. It felt thrilling.

It felt
good
.

The power rose within her, and Sue’s vision was tinted with red. Her entire body was tingling, the hairs on her arms standing up, and it felt good, so good, like nothing she’d ever felt before in her life.
This is who I am,
she thought.
This is who I am meant to be
. A smile played across her lips as Mrs. Gregory’s tears suddenly turned to blood.

Sue wrenched her arm free.

And then the dean’s wife was sailing through the air, smashing against the opposite wall with a horrible thud. For a moment, she stared at Sue, her face covered in blood. “You cannot escape who you are…” she said, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped down, lifeless, to the floor.