Whispers From the Grave (3 page)

He must have said something funny because Mom was laughing. Her thick black hair fell into her eyes, and she brushed it aside and playfully punched him in the arm, oblivious to the fact that someone was standing outside peering in at her. Never mind it was
me! Anyone
could stand outside and stare in at us, and we wouldn’t even know!

I felt a prickle of fear, remembering the footsteps on the beach. If someone
had
followed me, they might still be out there, lurking in the bushes!

My parents’ jaws dropped when I charged through the kitchen door. I followed their eyes and saw the blood dripping off my hand.

“Oh my God!” Mom cried. “What happened?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I said. “Did you know a girl was murdered on the beach?” It was the wrong thing to say. She immediately assumed someone had just been killed and
I
had narrowly escaped the same fate.

I set her straight as she cleaned my wound. “I wouldn’t believe everything that crazy old man tells you, Jenna. He’s quite elderly—over a hundred years old. Most likely his mind is going. I haven’t heard about a murder.”

“But we just moved here. It wouldn’t have gotten much coverage in the news in Salem,” I pointed out.

“Aunt Ashley would have phoned us if someone had been murdered. The only murder I ever heard about around here happened years ago. And it wasn’t a girl.”

“That’s right,” Dad said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “About twenty years ago a fisherman snagged his line on a skeleton in Crab Cave. The thing had been down there for years. It had a bullet through its skull. The police never figured out who it was, but they could tell it was a male around forty without teeth.”

“That’s probably what Mr. Edwards was thinking of,” Mom added as Dad disappeared into his study.

“He didn’t mention any cave,” I said. “He said a
girl.
He said she was killed on the
beach
!”

“I’m sure he was mistaken. But Mr. Edwards is right about one thing. You shouldn’t be running around after dark,” she said, turning away to put a stack of dishes in the cupboard.

“Mom, do you know who Rita Mills was?”

For an instant my mother seemed to freeze. I couldn’t see her face, because she was turned away from me. Her shoulders tensed, drawing the fabric of her pink blouse taut against her back. She carefully pushed the stack of dishes onto the shelf and turned to face me. “I don’t know a Rita,” she said distractedly. “Is she a neighbor of ours?”

“I found her picture in the attic. I think she’s one of your ancestors. Mom, she looks just like
me
!”

“How interesting. At least we know you look like someone in the family,” she teased, and tugged on a strand of my hair.

“Seriously. Isn’t it kind of weird I look so much like her?”

Before she could answer, the kitchen phone rang and a handsome face appeared on the large video screen. It was Kyle Mettley! I smoothed my hair back before I clicked the button so he could see me on his phone too.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey yourself,” I answered, my heart thumping crazily. What was Kyle Mettley doing calling
me
?

“I heard we’re both going to be working for Dr. Grady. I was wondering if you’d like a ride to the lab tomorrow.”

So that’s why Suki was so excited! She had asked her uncle to hire Kyle. I could see why she was so crazy about him. He had strong, masculine features and a dazzling smile that lit up his sexy green eyes.

“Sure. I could use a ride,” I said, trying to sound casual.

“Marla Rindler, Josey Bells, Mike Willoby, and Karen Stokes all got hired.”

It was an exclusive bunch! Suki had asked her uncle to hire the most popular kids at school. She clearly saw this as her chance to join the golden group.

“Suki Grady is going to be there too,” I said.

“She’s Grady’s niece,” he said. “He
had
to ask her. There’s always one spard at every party.”

“Oh,” I teased. “So you think this is going to be a party? I thought it was
work
!”
"

“It’s a party if
I’m
there,” he said cockily.

Just then the screen split as another call came through. Suki’s face filled the left half of the screen, and I felt a twinge of guilt at seeing her eyes shining so happily. She’d die if she knew Kyle had called her a spard.

“Sorry, Kyle. There’s someone on the other line,” I said, and put our audio connection on hold.

“Oh, Jenna! Where have you
been
?
”
Suki squealed. “I called you three times! Wait till you hear! Kyle is going to be at the lab tomorrow. Uncle Terry hired him to work with us!”

“That’s great,” I said. “I’m on the other line, can we talk about this tomorrow?”

What would she think if she knew her image was pressed against Kyle’s on my phone’s video screen? It was probably the closest she’d ever come to snuggling up to him.

“What do you think I should wear tomorrow?” she asked.

Kyle was fidgeting impatiently, obviously tired of being on hold.

“Wear your pink puff-suit. It looks really nice on you,” I added kindly and punched the button so Kyle’s gorgeous face filled the entire screen once again.

We flirted for another minute and then someone from the lab phoned for Dad, interrupting my call again.

I wanted to continue my conversation with Mom about the old photo, but Dad said she’d gone to bed with a headache. It was only 7 p.m. I had the oddest feeling she was avoiding me. She had seemed almost frightened when asked about my resemblance to Rita. And there was no mistaking the relief on her face when Kyle’s call interrupted our talk.

Was it my imagination, or was my mother hiding something from me?

4

Upstairs in my room I sat by my antique dresser,
held Rita’s photograph next to my face, and stared into the mirror. I was struck again by the resemblance. She was laughing, so I laughed too. Dimples—just like hers—appeared in my cheeks. My eyes squinted and became the same half-moons as Rita’s. Were hers the same ocean-sky gray? The black-and-white photograph couldn’t tell me.

“I wish I knew you, Rita,” I whispered. I went to my window, an old-fashioned bay window complete with a seat, and gazed into the night. The moon was high and cast a silvery path across the black water. I leaned against a fat cushion and opened Rita’s diary.

I first noticed Benjamin Grand in History class. He sits across the aisle from me and always has something wonderfully rebellious to say to Mr. Frink. We
all hate Mr. Frink because he’s boring and cruel
—
the worst possible traits in a teacher!

Anyway, Mr. Frink was picking on Sue Mitchell. She’s this slow girl who always forgets to bring her book to class. (I think it’s because she can
^‘
t remember her locker combination.) Mr. Frink really loves to make her squirm. He always makes her stand up and give the class a complete report on how she managed to not bring her book. She gets really embarrassed and her face turns bright pink and everyone knows she’/s trying really hard not to cry. Well, right in the middle of this harassment, Ben interrupted! He said, “Mr. Frink, I forgot my book too. Would you like me to explain to the class how this terrible oversight happened?”

He was being sarcastic, of course, so everyone laughed
—
except Mr. Frink. (Mr. Frink hates Ben because he has long hair.) So then Ben launched into this HILARIOUS long story that didn’t have anything to do with his history book. Finally Mr. Frink (who was turning as pink as Sue) barked, “Would you get to the point, Mr. Grand?” But then the bell rang and everybody got up and charged out the door!

I thought it was really nice of Ben to get Sue off the hook like that. I smiled at him as we headed down the hall, and we ended up walking together to the cafeteria. I fell in love with him over lunch. As I mentioned earlier, it was Ben’s eyes that did me in. They are fringed with long, black lashes, and so blue they’re nearly white
—
like bleached-out denim. But it’s not the color of his eyes or his eyelashes that makes them so
b
eautiful. It is what’s inside those eyes. Does that make sense?

It was as if she was talking directly to me. So I answered her. “Yes, Rita, it
does
make sense! I wish I could meet someone like your Ben.”

And then I remembered he broke her heart! The ink was slightly smeared, so I knew she was still crying as she wrote. I felt for her.
Maybe they’ll get back together,
I thought and was tempted to flip to the end of the diary to see what had happened. Instead, I kept reading.

We ate lunch together, but I couldn’t taste my food. I honestly don’t know if I ate anything. All I could think of was Ben
—
although I was distracted by April making faces at me from the next table. She kept raising her eyebrows and winking at me, as if to say, “Right on!” It was so embarrassing, I could have killed her! Luckily, I don’t think Ben noticed.

It started with that lunch, and soon it was every lunch. Each afternoon after school, Ben gave me a ride home in his big clunky car and we’d sit on the beach and talk for hours or hang out at my house listening to my Beatles albums.

The first time Ben kissed me, we were on the beach. Our lips fit together as if they were designed to kiss each other. I snuggled against his jean jacket and got lost in the wonderful warm circle of his arms. I would have stayed that way forever, but Jim and his friend Chuck were spying on us from the cliff above. They threw globs of wet seaweed on us and some of it slid
d
own the back of my shirt! Why did God invent little brothers?

Well, diary, I’m not going to tell you about every kiss. There were so many over the last weeks. They were the most blissful weeks of my life. But then April told me I should have some kind of a commitment from Ben. She said that if I was always available to spend time with him, he would lose interest. You see, Ben went camping with his friend Shane Murdock without telling me first. He left me hanging with no plans for the weekend! April slept over Saturday night, and when I griped about Ben’s camping trip, she told me to “play hard to get.
”

When I saw Ben on Monday I acted totally bored and disinterested. He looked shocked at first and then he got irritated. I ate lunch with April and he ate with his friends. We ended up not talking all week.

I was hoping we’d make up on Friday. There was a kegger on the beach
—
that’s Ben’s favorite kind of party because he loves beer. But Ben didn’t ask me, so April and I went together. (We told Mom we were going to the movies.) When I saw Ben my heart stopped for a moment! He was sitting on a log with a
b
unch of his friends. But he turned away from me and drank his beer. I got a big cup of beer (which I hate!) and kind of sipped on it, waiting around for Ben to look my way.

When I looked up, a blonde I’d never seen before came out of nowhere and swooped down on Ben! I was about twenty yards from them so I couldn’t
see her clearly. But I did notice the tight sweater she had
on. She stood next to him, one hand on her hip, and the other on Ben’s shoulder! I was fuming!

April whispered, “You don’t need him, Rita.” But she was wrong. I do need him! Ben and “Tight Sweater” walked down the beach together and disappeared around the bend. Tears started to bubble up and sting my eyes. But it would have been humiliating to cry in front of people because they’d know Ben had hurt me. So I just started guzzling beer! At first I had a hard time choking it down. It’s so bitter! But my second and third beer went down easier.

Well, Diary, April says I made an ass of myself. I started laughing too loud and flirting with all of Ben’s friends. Shane tried to get me to sit down and eat some potato chips. (That was the only food left.) I think he was worried I was going to do something crazy. He was right. I set off down the beach to find Ben and that tramp!

April followed me, egging me on. “You tell him, Rita,” she said. “Tell him he can’t treat you like this.”

She didn’t know it, but it wasn’t Ben I was going to tell off. I was looking for “Tight Sweater,” and when I found her I was going to let her have it!

I rounded the bend and came face-to-face with her. It was pretty dark by then, so I couldn’t see her very well. But I could tell she was shocked because her mouth popped open and she turned away.

“Hey, chick!” I said, sounding tougher than I knew I could. “Where's Ben?”

She didn’t answer me, so I shouted, “Where’s Ben?”

“What’s it to you?” she said all bitchy-like. Well, there was something in her tone that really made me mad. I grabbed her arm and swung her around to face me. But she wouldn’t look at me. She kept turning her face away. Finally, she said, “Ben doesn
’t
care about you!
”

That did it. I hauled off and smacked her across the face. I can still hear the sound it made (a very satisfying crack) as my open palm crashed against her cheek. She cried out and lurched into the bushes. By then a crowd had gathered. And I think the guys were disappointed that she didn’t fight back. (It was the most exciting thing that happened at that party all night.)

Diary, I hope you’re not too shocked by my violence. It shocked me a little. Yet, it also made me feel cleansed.

I don’t know what happened to Ben that night. April and I got home way after the movie was supposed to have ended. I threw up in the front yard. Mom came out and caught me and knew I was drunk and that I’d lied about the movie. So now I’m grounded!

I wanted to keep reading, but the lights flickered and went out. There are some real drawbacks to living in an old house with old-fashioned electricity and antiquated plumbing! I climbed into bed and fell asleep, dreaming of Rita.

In the morning I sat at my maple dresser and pulled a brush through my long, wavy brown hair. When I fished in the drawer for my makeup, I couldn’t find my Midnight Mist eyelid shadower.
Suki!
She’d managed to steal from me again.