The Cheater (14 page)

An owl hooted nearby. Carter heard the flutter of wings. Then she heard a
crack,
like the sound of a twig breaking. Dead leaves shuffling.

Footsteps.

The footsteps came from behind her. She spun toward the noise.

Squinting through the mist, she could hear someone coming, but couldn't see anything.

Out of the shadows stepped Sheila.

She walked deliberately up to Carter, a smoking cigarette in one hand.

“The money,” said Sheila, sticking out her free hand.

Carter began to reach into her pocket. Then she stopped.

“Where's the proof?” she demanded.

Sheila didn't flinch. “First, the money.”

Carter pulled the wad of bills from her pocket and handed it over to Sheila.

Sheila smiled. She took two steps back from Carter and carefully counted the money.

“It's all there,” Carter said impatiently.

“We'll see,” said Sheila.

The money
was
all there, as Carter had said. Sheila smiled and stuffed it into her pocket.

“Now,” said Carter. “What is this proof you have?”

Sheila pulled something out of her pocket and dangled it in front of Carter. It glimmered in the faint light.

“I found this on the floor of Adam's living room—right next to his body,” she said. Her voice was hard and cruel and accusing. She said no more.

It was a gold locket. Carter took it from Sheila's hand. She examined it closely.

With growing horror, Carter recognized the necklace.

She opened it with trembling hands and gasped as she read the inscription.

“For Carter”

“D
an. It's me, Carter.”

“Carter—” She could hear the surprise in his voice.

It was Saturday, the day after she met Sheila in the Fear Street woods. Carter held the necklace between her fingers as she spoke to Dan on the phone. She watched it sparkle in the sunlight that poured through her bedroom window.

“My life is a mess, Dan,” Carter said. “It can't get any worse, no matter what my father finds out about me. There's no point in keeping my secret any longer.”

“Carter, what are you saying?” Dan sounded uncertain, as if he weren't quite sure what she was talking about.

“I'm going to talk to Daddy—today,” Carter said. “I'm going to tell him everything.”

“Are you sure about this, Carter?” said Dan.

Carter's voice was full of resolve. “I'm sure. Don't you think I should do it?”

“You should. Of course you should,” Dan said quickly. “It's the right thing to do. I think you'll feel a lot better.”

“I know I will,” said Carter. “I just hope Daddy doesn't completely lose it. Dan, I need moral support. Somebody to help me get through this. Will you come over today? Daddy has always liked you, and you being here will give me the courage I need to actually go through with this.”

Dan was silent.

“Please?”

“Of course, Carter,” he replied. “I'd be glad to help you. I'll come over whenever you want.”

“Thanks, Dan. Come over after lunch, okay? Daddy's always in a better mood after he's eaten.”

“Okay. See you around two.”

“I'll be here. Dan, thanks for staying with me through all this. It's meant a lot to me—it really has.”

“I'd do anything for you, Carter. You know that.”

Carter was waiting for Dan when the doorbell rang two hours later. She opened the door, took his hand, and pulled him into the house.

“Thank you,” she whispered, squeezing his hand. “Daddy is in the study now,” she said nervously.

“Are you ready?” he asked her.

She nodded.

They walked to the study. The door was closed. Carter knocked gently.

They heard the judge call, “Come in.”

Hesitantly, Carter opened the door. She didn't step into the room, just put her head inside. “Daddy, are you busy?”

“Not really, Carter,” said Judge Phillips. “Come on in.”

Carter nodded to Dan. They stepped into the study and closed the door.

“Hello, Judge Phillips,” said Dan.

Carter cleared her throat. “Um, Daddy, I need to talk to you. I—I have something important to say.” Her voice came out high and shrill.

She glanced up at Dan. Her chin was trembling. He gave her an encouraging smile.

“I've done a terrible thing, Daddy,” Carter stammered. “Actually, I've done a
lot
of terrible things. First of all, about the math achievement test—”

Her voice broke. She swallowed hard. “I'm sorry, Daddy. This isn't easy.”

The judge said nothing. He kept his eyes trained on her and listened.

“I cheated on the math test, Daddy. I mean, I didn't take it over the second time. Someone took it for me.” She paused.

“Who took it for you?” asked the judge.

“Adam Messner. He went to Waynesbridge and pretended to be me. He took the test in my place.”

Carter lowered her eyes to the floor. Her hands were shaking.

The judge frowned severely. His face was hard. “So it was Adam who scored seven hundred thirty on your test, not you?”

Carter nodded. She glanced at Dan. He avoided her eyes.

“That's not the worst of it,” Carter went on. “I have something else to tell you, Daddy. Something much more important.”

The judge sat silently, waiting.

Carter took a deep breath.

“I did it, Daddy. I had no choice. He was blackmailing me.”

The judge stared hard into her eyes. “Carter, you did what?”

“I killed Adam Messner.”

C
arter raised her eyes to Dan. He was staring at her, his mouth open.

But after a long moment, Dan composed himself. He crossed the room and stood in front of the judge's desk.

“Judge Phillips,” he said, “you can help Carter, right? I mean, she's your daughter. You can deal with it, right? She won't have to go to jail, will she?”

The judge's face went slack. He remained silent. All the light faded from his eyes.

“I'm sure Carter didn't mean to do it, sir,” Dan said, panic in his voice. “It could have been self-defense, right? Maybe it's not really murder.”

The judge shook his head. “The courts will decide that. At her trial.”

“No!” cried Dan. “Judge Phillips, you have to help her. You're a judge. You can do something. You can get them to go easy on her!”

“She took a life,” said the judge. “That is a
terrible crime. So Carter must pay. She's my daughter, and I love her, but I won't use my influence in any way.”

He paused. Then he sighed heavily. Carter waited to see what would happen next.

“There's no point in putting it off,” the judge went on. “I'm sorry, Carter. I have to do this. I have no choice.”

He picked up the telephone and started to dial the police.

Dan pressed his hand on the phone, cutting off the call. “Wait,” he said. “I can't let you do this.”

The judge set down the receiver. He raised his eyes to Dan.

“Carter didn't kill Adam,” Dan said heatedly.

“What do you mean?” said the judge. “She says she did it. She just admitted it.”

“No,” Dan said. “She didn't do it. I don't know why she says she did.”

“Well?” Carter's father demanded. “Then who did it?”

Dan cleared his throat. “I did.”

With a loud sob, Carter ran to Dan and flung her arms around him. Dan pulled away gently and sank into the leather armchair.

“What's all this about? Please explain, Dan,” the judge asked softly.

“I—I killed him,” Dan said.

“Start at the beginning. Please,” Judge Phillips said, folding his hands on the desktop.

“Adam was driving Carter crazy,” Dan began. “He was blackmailing her, taking terrible advantage of her. He was holding this cheating thing over her head, threatening her with it every day. He was ruining her life. I hated to see her so miserable.”

Dan stared at the floor. “I was worried about her too. Worried about her and me. I was afraid that Adam would get so tangled up in Carter's life that eventually he'd take her away from me. I know that's what he wanted.”

Carter felt her face grow hot. It had almost happened that way.

“I begged Carter not to give Adam any more money. I begged her to stay away from him. But she was afraid of him, with good reason. And money was the only thing that kept him quiet.

“I thought that if I talked to Adam, maybe I could get him to stop bothering her. I had to try, anyway. So I drove to Fear Street, to his house that Saturday to see him.

“When I got there, I saw Carter's car pulling away. She had just been there. I knew she must have given him more money. I was so upset.

“I parked around the corner, so Carter wouldn't see me. I waited until she was out of sight. Then I walked up to Adam's house and rang the bell.

“I had no idea what I was going to do or say. All I knew was I was furious with him. He was ruining Carter's future—and mine too. Because I always thought Carter and I would be together.”

He swallowed hard and looked at Carter. She sat across from him now, listening. She gave him an encouraging nod.

“Anyway, I had a feeling Adam wouldn't be very happy to see me, and he wasn't. I pushed my way into the house. I told him to stop blackmailing Carter and leave her alone. I told him not to bother her again.

“He grinned at me. He acted calm, but I could tell there was rage bottled up inside him. It was slowly coming to the surface.

“He said, ‘Don't tell me what to do. I've got a good thing going with Carter right now—if you know what I mean. And it isn't going to end until I'm ready to end it. So run on back to your country club, kid.'

“That's when I really started to lose it. I felt so terrible for you, Carter. I was so sorry that you'd gotten mixed up with this creep.

“Then things got crazy. Out of control. I said, Today is the last you'll ever see of her, do you understand me? From now on you'll leave her alone!'

“He pulled away from me and took a few steps backward. He opened a drawer and pulled out a gun. He pointed it at me. I couldn't believe it.

“I never expected him to have a gun. I—I didn't think. I jumped him and wrestled him for the gun.

“There was a loud pop, and suddenly Adam grabbed his stomach and doubled over. His body—it crumpled to the floor.

“I glanced down. I was holding the gun in my hand. Somehow, it had gone off.

“When I turned to Adam, he was lying in a pool of blood. There was a big hole in his chest, and the blood was spouting up from it. Blood was everywhere.

“I—I freaked out. I just dropped the gun and ran.”

Dan put his head in his hands and held it for a moment. Neither Carter nor her father moved. The room was silent except for the flapping of the window curtains. Outside, Carter could hear the drone of a lawn mower.

Dan lifted his head. He took a deep breath and went on.

“I was so panicky, I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't know where to go, or what to do. Somehow I found myself here. Some instinct told me I had to see you, Carter.

“But no one was home. So I waited. You didn't come home until after dark. I was going to tell you what had happened, Carter. I really was.

“But then the police came. I thought they came for me, but instead they questioned you. I was sure my fingerprints were all over that gun. But I guess after that struggle, they were probably so smeared up the police couldn't identify them.”

He paused. Swallowed.

“And then you handed me an alibi, Carter,” he said. “You didn't want the police to know about you and Adam, so you said you were studying with
me all day. You had no idea that I'd been to see him too. You had no idea that you were protecting me.