Free Legacy of Lies by Elizabeth Chandler Page B

body?” I said, looking at Sophie like she was crazy.
    “Well, yes and no,” she replied. “Your body would be back where you left it. But if your grandmother were psychically aware, she’d have seen an apparition of you that looked like your body.”
    I kept quiet.
    “I’m making you uncomfortable,” Sophie observed. She stuck the vacuum cleaner plug in a wall socket. “This is all I have left to do. Thanks for stopping by.” She waited for me to leave, her finger on the trigger of the machine.
    “Have you seen
Sheer Blue?”
I asked.
    “The movie?” she replied. “No.”
    “Want to go?”
    She looked surprised, then smiled. “Didn’t scare you away, huh?”
    “Not yet.”
    “How about Thursday night?” she suggested. “We’re off school Friday.”
    “Great.”
    The vacuum roared to life and I left. As I walked up High Street, I wondered to myself what secrets were casting shadows long enough to reach into my dreams.

nine

 
    When I arrived home that afternoon, I found my grandmother sitting in the kitchen, idly watching her housekeeper fix dinner. Grandmother’s skin was so pale it seemed translucent, her hands clasped but in constant motion, as if she couldn’t keep them warm.
    “Are you okay?” I asked, quickly setting down my purse. “Has something happened, Grandmother?”
    She didn’t reply.
    I glanced over at Nancy. “What’s wrong?”
    “Don’t know. She won’t say,” Nancy replied, then shoved a runny casserole into the oven. “I’ve tried all afternoon to get her to see the doctor. No use wasting your breath-she won’t go. She’s been spooky ever since I found that little clock.”
    “You found the clock?” I asked, my mouth dry.
    “Now, don’t
you
get funny on me.”
    “Where was it?”
    “On the hall table, behind the silk flowers.”
    I pulled a chair up close to Grandmother and sat down. “How are you feeling?”
    “Fine.”
    “You don’t look it. I want to call your doctor.”
    “I forbid you,” she said.
    Nancy gave me an l-told-you-so look.
    “As you know, Grandmother, I don’t always listen.”
    “You may call, but I won’t go.”
    I stood up. “Matt should be home soon. He’ll know what to do.”
    Nancy shook her head. “He called and Mrs. Barnes told him he could stay at Alex’s.” The woman sounded exasperated. “She could have told me earlier. All the time I put into that casserole, and her with no appetite and you a vegetarian.”
    “I eat meat,” I said.
    “Take it out when the buzzer goes off,” Nancy went on. “You can dig around for the peas.”
    I didn’t correct her a second time, just waited for her to leave, hoping Grandmother would talk to me then. But as soon as Nancy was gone, Grandmother retreated to her room. I followed her upstairs and told her I would check on her in an hour.
    “You will not,” she said, then closed the door. I heard the lock click.
    I ate alone in the kitchen that evening, glad to be away from the gory deer in the dining room. Afterward, I went to the library to see the antiqueclock. I weighed it in my hands and ran my fingers over its cold metal surfaces, hoping they would remember what my mind did not: Was this the first time I’d held it? Could I have moved it before I went to the rose-papered room? I set the clock down gently, knowing no more than I did before.
    At ten o’clock Matt still hadn’t come back from Alex’s. I found the number and called to tell Matt the situation. He said he’d check on Grandmother when he got home. I went to bed, leaving my bedroom door cracked, knowing I wouldn’t sleep.
    Twenty minutes later Matt knocked softly on Grandmother’s door, calling to her. The door creaked open. I slipped out of bed and went to the entrance of my room. Though I couldn’t make out Matt’s words, I knew from his tone he was asking questions.
    Grandmother was upset and either forgot I was in the next room or didn’t care. She spoke loudly. “I have brought it on myself,