could have known the ice was that thin! It wasnât our fault.â
âI punched him!â
âYou were provoked, damn it!â
âThose things he said about you. What he did to you. I just couldnât stand there and let the guy get away with it.â
âForget all that â â
âHow can I, Beth? Iâm going to
jail
for this!â
âBut you were only protecting me, Craig â â
âWhen he grabbed for you ⦠I almost thought he was going to pull you in with him. I ⦠dammit, I actually thought for a second youâd be able to pull him out,â he said, punctuating his words with a groan.
âOf course I tried, but he caught me off balance,â she said. âThere was
nothing
I could do â nothing either of us could do. But the only thing thatâs important now is that we get our stories straight. If anyone asks, weâll say we headed upriver toward the turnpike. We werenât there.
Nobody
was there.â
âThey say he was alive for hours out there, you knowâ¦.â
âCraig, we both saw him go in the freezing water. He was probably dead in under a minute.â
âBut Chief Towers said he died of exposure. His body was found on
land
,â he said angrily. âWhat if he
wasnât
dead? What if we could have done something to save him?â There was a pause before Beth finally responded.
âBut you canât save Duncan now. You can only hurt yourself.â
As I listened with my eyes as wide as saucers I was practically in a state of shock. So it was true. Beth wasnât pregnant. Theyâd been freaking out that night because they both had something to do with Duncanâs death! Instinct told me to turn on my heels and get out of there as fast as possible. My Converse All-Stars barely made a sound as I started to back away, but just then, Craig rounded the corner. Our eyes locked, and Iâm quite certain he could detect the look of sheer horror on my face.
âWhat the hell are
you
doing here?â He glared at me.
âCraig, Iâm sorry about Duncan. If you need someone to talk toâ¦.â It was the only thing I could think to say without betraying everything Iâd just overheard. I was standing far enough down the hall at this point that I hoped he didnât suspect Iâd been eavesdropping. Craig paused and gazed at me intently.
âYou should stay away from me, Skye,â he said, before continuing down the hall. My knees felt shaky and I dropped my messenger bag to the floor, letting my shoulders and head sink along with it.
CHAPTER NINE
Present Fears Are Less Than Horrible Imaginings
BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT all of the local media outlets were reporting ad nauseum the âofficialâ details of Duncanâs death. It was even briefly mentioned on CNN during a special report on the rise of alcohol consumption among teens. Apparently, although it hadnât been cited by the police, the prevailing wisdom was that Duncan must have downed one too many before stumbling out into the woods to his death.
Although I carefully avoided watching television or reading the paper during that time, it was pretty pointless, because thatâs all anyone seemed inclined to talk about, including my parents. They wanted to know how much I had to drink that night, how many drinks I thought were âtoo many,â and all sorts of similarly embarrassing and frankly useless questions. I thought about telling them everything, but somehow the words just wouldnât come out. Besides, communication in my family wasnât a strong suit these days. In any case, it was obvious that my mom and dad sensed I was on edge. I couldnât blame them for speculating, but I wasnât about to give them the real reason for my anxiety: that I might very well be an accomplice to murder.
On Friday morning, news crews circled the gym like vultures, awaiting the memorial service scheduled for
Dick;Felix Francis Francis