Twisted (7 page)

Gail nodded. “I know. But think about how he'd feel if he thought I was going to win, and I didn't.”

“That's impossible.” Brett hugged her a little tighter. “I'll make sure you win, Gail. You can count on me.”

“I know you will. But I just don't want to tempt fate, that's all. You never know what'll happen for sure, until the last vote is counted. And I certainly don't want to risk disappointing my dad. I'm all he has left, now that Mom is gone.”

“I understand. And I guess you're right.” Brett smiled down at her. “You're a really good daughter, Gail. I think it's wonderful that you're so concerned about your dad's feelings.”

Gail nodded. It certainly wouldn't do to tell Brett that her dad didn't care what she did as long as the house was clean. “Well . . . I might not be the best daughter in the world, but I try to be. We have to . . . uh . . . stick together as a family. You know what I mean?”

“Sure I do. I've got to run, Gail. The guys are waiting for me. You're going to cheerleader practice, aren't you?”

“Uh . . . sure I am!”

“Then I'll see you after we're through, down at the Hungry Burger. And don't forget to apologize to Jessica and Michele. The sooner you do it, the easier it'll be, and it'll make you feel a whole lot better.”

“Right.” Gail nodded and smiled, but she felt more like frowning. Now she'd have to go to cheerleader practice. And she'd have to apologize to Jessica and Michele. She'd have to be nice to Brett and all her other classmates until the contest was over. The whole thing left a bitter taste in Gail's mouth, but she would do it. It was worth almost anything to be Valentine's Day Queen.

B
rett frowned as he paged through the copies of Hamilton High's yearbooks. Something about Gail's sudden transformation had made him suspicious, and he'd come up to the library to do some research to find out if she had been telling the truth.

He'd added up the numbers and figured out which yearbooks he should check. And when he hadn't found Gail's parents' names, he'd gone back to check five years earlier and five years later. The football teams were all pictured in the yearbooks, but Gail's father, Howard Baxter, hadn't been in any of the pictures. And although Brett didn't know Mrs. Baxter's maiden name, he hadn't been able to find any girl named Elizabeth who had been crowned as Homecoming Queen.

Brett closed the last yearbook and placed it back on the library shelf. Now he knew the truth. Gail wanted to be the Valentine's Day Queen so badly, she'd lied to him. And that made him furious !

What should he do? Brett sat at the table and drummed his fingers impatiently on its wooden surface. He had to do something. That card Gail had received from Cat had said it all. A queen should be kind, faithful and true, and Gail didn't deserve to be queen.

The halls were silent and deserted when Cat prepared to slip the third Valentine card through the vent in Gail's locker. He knew she'd have to come back to get her coat, and she'd see it then. Naturally, she'd go running down to the Hungry Burger, but she would never get there. Cat's plan was foolproof. He'd worked it all out very carefully, and Gail would never see any of her friends again.

Some instinct stopped him, and Cat hesitated, the card in his hand. He was sure that Gail had apologized to Michele and Jessica, and it was possible that one or both of the girls would come up to Gail's locker with her. If Gail found the third card in their presence, she would never start out for the Hungry Burger alone.

Cat gazed down the empty corridor. Of course he couldn't see Karen, but he knew that she was there. She had stopped him from dropping the card in Gail's locker. “You've got to tell me, Karen. Where shall I put the card?”

No answer came from the silent halls, or the empty classrooms. But a cold breeze swirled around Cat's feet, and suddenly he knew exactly what to do.

“I'll do it, Karen. I'll do it right now.” Cat was smiling as he put on his parka and boots. “She won't be queen, I promise you that.”

 

For a brief moment, when Gail was spinning the dial on her combination lock, she wished she'd asked Jessica and Michele to come upstairs with her to get her coat. They were friends again, now that she'd apologized, and she didn't want to be all alone in the hallway if there was another Valentine card from Cat. But when she pulled open the door to her locker and peeked inside, Gail gave a deep sigh of relief. There was nothing on the floor. No distinctive red envelope had been slipped through the vent of her locker today.

Even though she knew she was being silly, Gail jumped as she heard a soft noise behind her. It was a sort of muffled click, and it sounded as if someone had closed a door to one of the classrooms. Perhaps one of the teachers was working late.

As she walked down the hallway, carrying her boots, Gail peeked into the classrooms. They were all deserted. The sound she'd heard must have been caused by the cold draft she'd felt seeping down the corridor. Even though the school was well insulated and heated in the winter, the cold air still seeped under the doors and around the windows on very cold days like this.

It was snowing when Gail pushed open the outside door, and she was glad she'd remembered her boots. The snow had stopped during seventh period, but it was falling again now. As she went down the steps to the sidewalk, Gail noticed a set of boot prints in the snow. Someone had just left the school. It couldn't have been Michele and Jessica because there was only one set of footprints.

Gail giggled as something funny occurred to her, something she could never tell anyone else. It was mean, but it was funny, and she laughed as she hurried down the walkway to the parking lot. Jessica and Michele had been incredibly clumsy in cheerleader practice. If the boot prints had belonged to them, each pair would have had two left feet!

It didn't take long to reach her car. Gail had come to school early this morning and chosen a covered spot very close to the building, and her windshield was free of ice. She stuck her key in the lock, and then she frowned. Her car was unlocked, and she distinctly remembered locking it this morning.

Gail stepped back, and wondered if she should open the door. Someone had been in her car. She was sure of it. Or was she? Perhaps she'd only thought she'd locked it. The locks on her old Plymouth Valiant never worked well in the winter.

An icy wind blew around the corner, and Gail made up her mind. She'd open the door, peek inside, and check to see if anything was missing. If it was, she'd walk back to the telephone at the school entrance and call the police.

Gail used her mitten to open the door. She'd seen enough cop movies on television, and if there were prints, she didn't want to smudge them. But when she looked inside, everything seemed to be untouched. Her library books were piled in the passenger seat, exactly where she had left them. And her extra parka was folded very neatly in the backseat.

Convinced that she'd been imagining things, Gail slid into the driver's seat. She started the car, made sure it was idling properly, and stared out at the snowy parking lot, waiting for it to warm up enough to drive. No sense turning on the heater yet. If the car wasn't warm enough, it would just blow cold, frigid air out of the vents.

While she was waiting, Gail turned on the radio. WROQ was playing a soft, dreamy song, and she smiled as she thought of how she'd look dancing with Brett. He was tall and handsome, and she was tiny, blond and pretty. They'd look like Prince Charming and Cinderella at the Valentine's Day Dance. There would be photographs of them together. They always took pictures at the big dances for the school yearbook. And since the Valentine's Day Dance was a new tradition, they might just send out a photographer from the paper.

She would wear a beautiful white dress, like a bride. White was one of her very best colors. Of course, she hadn't saved enough money for a new dress, but she knew where her dad hid his stash. He'd never suspect her of taking it. He'd just think he'd blown it at some bar. And if he asked where she'd gotten the money for her dress, she'd lie and tell him that she'd earned it babysitting.

The car was warm now, and Gail flicked on the heater. She took off her mittens, tossed them on the passenger seat, and then saw it, the small gift-wrapped package that had been placed on the cracked vinyl seat cushion. It was beautifully wrapped in pink foil paper, tied with a silver bow. And under the package was a red envelope addressed to her.

Gail laughed out loud, she was so pleased. Brett must have come out here after basketball practice and left this gift in her car. It was almost enough to make her reconsider dumping him after the dance was over, but not quite. Brett wasn't right for her. She needed someone older, with much more money. There was no way she wanted to settle down and stay in Clearwater forever!

There was a smile on Gail's face as she opened the package. But her smile faded fast as she caught sight of the contents. Nestled inside, on a cushion of red velvet, was a half-heart necklace, just like the one that Tanya had received. The necklace was pretty, and normally Gail would have been delighted, but not now, not after what had happened to Tanya. If this was Brett's idea of a joke, he was sick!

Gail was so angry, her hands were shaking as she tore open the card. Maybe Brett thought this whole thing was funny, but she didn't! She was already planning out what she'd say when she confronted him at the Hungry Burger, when she caught sight of what was inside the envelope, and let out a gasp of fright.

It was another Valentine card from Cat! And the poem inside was identical to the one that he'd sent Tanya! It said,
Violets are blue, roses are red. An unworthy queen is better off dead.

Gail didn't stop to think. She just ripped the card in half and threw it out the window. Then she put her car in gear and screeched out of the parking lot, swerving on the ice as she reached out to push the locks down on the doors. Cat had been here, right here in her car! And it was clear that he intended to kill her!

Gail's first instinct was to drive straight home, but she quickly reconsidered. Her father wasn't there, and she would be all alone. She needed people around her, people who could protect her from Cat.

She stopped at the stop sign on Fourth and Oak, just as the song on the radio ended, and Crazy Mark Hannah came on to announce another. “WROQ presents their daily Oldie but Goodie. Here's one you haven't heard in awhile, ‘Moonshadow' by Cat Stevens.”

As the familiar song started to play, Gail's eyes widened. And then she began to shake so violently, she could barely grip the wheel. Cat Stevens. Brett's last name was Stevens. Was it just a strange coincidence, or could Brett be Cat?

Suddenly it all clicked in place. Brett had told her how upset he was when Tanya hadn't asked him to the dance. What if he'd suspected that Tanya had found a new boyfriend? And what if he'd been so jealous that he'd killed her?!

Gail shook her head. No, that couldn't be true. She'd received the same threats from Cat, and Brett had no reason to be upset with her. Unless . . .

A frightened whimper formed deep in her throat, and Gail swallowed hard to hold it in. She would not give way to terror. And then she whispered the answer to her own question. “Brett found out I was lying!”

Brett hated liars. He'd said that once, when they were all gathered around the lunch table. Gail could remember his exact words . . . now, when it was too late.

They had been talking about Jerry Connors and the stolen car the police had found parked in the alley behind his parents' garage. Jerry had sworn that he hadn't known the car was there. And he'd claimed he had nothing to do with the theft, right up until the moment the police had found his fingerprints all over the steering wheel.

“I don't understand why he didn't tell the truth.”
Brett had sounded angry as he'd gazed around the table.
“They gave him plenty of chances to confess, and they would have gone easy on him if he'd just admitted he'd made a mistake. But Jerry lied, and liars always get in trouble. If a person's done something wrong, he should be brave enough to admit it. Lying is the coward's way out!”

They had all nodded. But then Amy had spoken up. Amy was always the one to ask the philosophical questions.
“Which do you think is worse, Brett? Lying about stealing something. Or the stealing, itself?”

“Lying. At least that's the way I look at it. I hate it when a person lies to me. It means they don't trust me enough to tell me the truth.”

But how had Brett found out that she'd lied? Gail mentally reviewed what she'd told him. She'd said her mother was dead, and all her friends knew never to mention her mother. She was safe on that count. But then she'd said that her mother had been Homecoming Queen. And she'd given her mother's first name. And she'd also claimed that her father had been the captain of the football team.

Gail shuddered. Brett had probably gone up to the library to look at the old school yearbooks. And when he hadn't found a picture of her father or her mother, he'd known that she had lied to him.

But would he threaten her for a little white lie like that? Gail's mind spun in terrified circles. Everyone knew that Cat was crazy. His little poems were the work of a certified lunatic. And if Brett was Cat, he was definitely crazy enough to kill her.

A car honked behind her, and Gail almost jumped out of her skin. As she swiveled around to see who it was, she half-expected to see Brett glaring at her. But it wasn't Brett. It was only a red-haired lady with two small children in the backseat.

The lady rolled down her window and shouted something that Gail couldn't hear. Since she was no threat, Gail rolled her window down, too.

“What's the matter?” The lady looked concerned. “Are you in trouble?”

Gail almost said yes, until she realized that the lady was referring to car trouble. After all, she'd been parked at the stop sign for the past five minutes. “No. I . . . I'm okay.”

Gail pulled away from the stop sign and drove down the street, even though she wasn't quite sure where to go, or what to do. Someone had threatened to kill her, and she was almost sure she knew who it was. What should a person do in a situation like that?

The police. The minute Gail thought of it, she turned on Fifth Street and headed toward the highway. The sheriff's department had handled everything when Tanya had died, and they would protect her from Cat.