'He went to the principal the next morning and demanded that Jilly be expelled. He also went to the police.'
'And what did they do?'
'Nothing,' she said. 'The chief of police was a close friend of my grandmother's, and he wasn't going to do anything that would upset her. Besides, it was one girl's word against the other's. Jilly, of course, denied the incident. My grandmother and Jilly were called into the principal's office that afternoon. Grandmother made Carrie go with them.'
'Was Jilly expelled?'
'No,' she said, scoffing at the notion. 'Did I mention that the principal was a man? His name was Mr. Bennett, and he was a very unhappily married man. His wife was a cold woman and very difficult to get along with, or so Carrie wrote.'
'What happened?' John Paul asked, bringing her back to the story.
'Carrie watched Jilly seduce Bennett. Jilly became hysterical. Lots of tears flowing, but it was all a calculated act. The principal rushed over to the sofa where Jilly was and sat down beside her. He put his arm around her to comfort her, but it was Jilly's
body language that… fascinated Carrie… and Bennett's reaction.'
She shook her head. 'Have you ever seen a woman move like a cat? Carrie said Jilly was like that. When Bennett put his arm around her, she rubbed up against him in an obscene way.'
'What did your grandmother do?'
'She was as clueless as ever, according to Carrie. She'd gone out to the front desk to get Jilly a glass of water, but even if she
had stayed, she wouldn't have noticed anything because she didn't want to notice. Carrie wrote that Jilly was clinging to Bennett while she cried. She had her head on his shoulder, but she looked up at Carrie, who was standing behind the principal, and Jilly
had this Cheshire cat smile on her face. When it was over, Bennett threatened to suspend Heather for making up the lie.'
'Jeez.'
'Like I said, Jilly had a way with men. Some of them became obsessed with her. They would call at all hours of the day and
night. Every once in a while, Carrie would sneak upstairs into Grandmother Lola's bedroom and listen in on the extension. She wrote that the men cried and pleaded, and after Jilly hung up, she could hear her laughing. Oh, how she loved the power she had. She loved manipulating, and she used sex to get what she wanted. Her specialty was destroying married men. I'll bet you can guess who one of those men was,' she said.
'Bennett.'
'Yes.'
'My God,' he said. 'And all this was going on while she was in high school?' Before Avery could answer, he asked,
'What happened to Heather?'
'She didn't go to homecoming, and Jilly was crowned queen, but that wasn't enough for Jilly. Heather had upset her, and so
she had to be punished. Jilly tormented her. A month passed, and just as Heather was beginning to think Jilly had moved on, she came home from school one day and went up to her room. She had this old teddy bear she kept on her bed. Someone had poured acid all over it. That someone, of course, was Jilly.'
John Paul rubbed his jaw and waited until Avery continued.
'Carrie heard about it at school the next day. She went to see Heather's father. He had to stay home with his daughter because she was so distraught, and Carrie told him Jilly wouldn't stop going after Heather and that he needed to get his daughter out of town and not tell anyone where she had gone. Heather was close to a nervous breakdown. She was seeing a therapist,' she explained. 'And the therapist thought it would be good for Heather to get away from Sheldon Beach. She left during Christmas vacation and didn't come back.'
'Did it ever end?'
'Oh, no,' she said. 'Heather's father filed another report with the police two months later. He said that someone was stealing his mail. One Saturday afternoon, he happened to look outside and saw Jilly opening his mailbox. She was looking for letters from Heather so she could find out where she was.'
'She doesn't give up, does she?'
'No, she doesn't. She never had sex with any of the boys in her high school. All her friends believed she was sweet and wholesome. Carrie heard a couple of rumors about Jilly, but not from anyone at school. Heather was the one who was
ostracized, not Jilly. She was that good at being bad.'
She stood and stretched her arms above her head. 'Do you want something to drink?'
After the story she'd just told him, hard liquor sounded good to him, but he settled on a Diet Coke instead. She got herself a
bottle of Evian water and handed him his soda.
He opened the can, took a swig, and asked, 'Did your grandparents try to get her some help when she was little, or did they
know then that something was wrong with her?'
'Grandfather left when Carrie and Jilly were little girls, and Grandmother Lola lived in what Carrie called a fantasyland. She
had an excuse for every atrocity Jilly committed.'
'When did Jilly get pregnant with you?' he asked. 'Her senior year. Carrie thought her pregnancy saved Heather because Jilly
had other things to think about. Jilly tried to get an abortion, but the doctor wouldn't do it because she was too far along. She
gave birth and left town three days later. And that was the last entry in the diary,' she added.
'Leaving me behind was the last straw for Grandmother. She dragged all of Jilly's things out to the curb for the trash collector. When she was packing up her things from the closet, she found a shoe box full of mail from Heather's house, and guess what
else she found?' 'The acid.'
Avery nodded. 'The beaker was only half full, but it would have been more than enough to kill Heather. I think Jilly didn't
forget about that girl. I think she was biding her time.'
A clap of thunder jarred her. She flinched in reaction, then got up and walked to the window to look out. Dark angry clouds loomed overhead. Lightning sliced across the sky, and then there was another booming blast of thunder.
She didn't turn around as she said, 'Carrie didn't think Jilly was very smart. She used her body to get what she wanted. She's obviously become more devious and clever over the years. Carrie said there wasn't a man alive who was immune to her charms.'
'Do you believe that?'
'Skarrett obviously became obsessed with her, and look where he ended up. When I was five years old, Jilly and Skarrett came to the house. Jilly told Grandmother she had to pay to keep me. Fortunately, Carrie was home. She told Jilly she didn't have any legal rights to me and pushed her out the door. It was a horrible fight, but Skarrett kept his distance… then. Jilly kept screaming, 'You're dead, Carrie. You're dead.' '
'Where were you while all this was going on?'
She turned around and looked at him. 'I don't remember any of it, but Carrie told me she found me hiding under my bed. After they left, Carrie promised me they would never come back.'
She took a gulp of her water, put the lid back on, and stared down at her hand. There was a deep indentation in her palm from where she'd been gripping the bottle cap.
'But they did come back, didn't they?'
'Yes.'
He watched her closely as she closed her eyes and told him what had happened on February
