“I liked Kira,” Serena said. “Everybody did.”
“I wish I’d known her,” said Jamie.
“Me too.” He sobered for a moment, then said, “I wanted you to come to this party with us. Next year,” he promised.
If I’m still here . . .
They left a few moments later, and Jamie coaxed the twins to come out of their rooms and play some board games with her. Like his father before him, Oliver was very quick at the Memory Game, the same box game from twenty years earlier, Jamie was pretty sure. They spread out the cards on the coffee table. It was such a déjà vu experience that Jamie felt a cold frisson slide down her spine.
Her phone rang, and she saw it was Cooper.
“You’re not going to talk on the phone, are you?” Oliver complained, throwing himself on the couch as if he couldn’t bear the idea one more second.
“Just for a minute.” She walked into the kitchen so the kids wouldn’t overhear her and answered, “Hey there.”
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Pretty good. The kids are about ready for bed and—”
“No!” Oliver yelled from the living room, and Anika giggled and called, “No!” as well.
“Well, maybe not just yet,” Jamie allowed.
She and Cooper chatted for a few more minutes and then he said, “I’ll call again later, maybe stop by.”
“Good.” They’d agreed earlier to keep in touch. Since the attack on Marissa, they’d both ramped up their efforts to make sure everything and everyone was safe and sound while babysitting at the Ryersons.
It took another hour and a half before the twins were ready for bed. When Jamie finally put them down in their separate bedrooms, Anika immediately ran to Oliver’s, the room where they’d holed up with Marissa. Teddy had warned her that six nights out of seven, this was their preferred sleeping arrangement, before and after the attack, so she just let it happen.
Once the twins were down, Jamie turned on the television, mindlessly flipping through the channels. There were a number of classic horror films available.
“Perfect,” she muttered sarcastically.
Cooper called again at about nine o’clock to check in and told her he was on his way to see Bette Kearns. “She wanted me to come by yesterday. She says she has something she wants to talk about. When I’m done there I’ll text you.”
Remembering Bette’s vow to date Cooper, Jamie said, “Hmmm,” in a skeptical voice.
He laughed. “It’s not like that.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she said, adding more seriously, “Let me know how she’s doing.”
“Will do.”
* * *
Cooper clicked off with a smile on his face. Dumb as it was, it made him feel good that Jamie had shown the slightest blip of jealousy. However, the smile slowly disappeared as he neared the Kearns’ house. The drama Phil and Bette seemed to thrive on made him tired. He didn’t even know why he was here. Bette could as easily talk to him on the phone as in person.
Phil actually was the one who answered the door when Cooper knocked, and he braced himself for another go-round with the two of them. His eyes automatically traveled to where Bette’s blood had stained the carpet. Now there was a hole through the carpet and pad where that section had been cut away.
“Bette’s in here,” Phil said, walking into the family room, where they watched TV. As soon as Bette saw Cooper, she switched off the set. There was a bandage down the side of her neck and over her shoulder.
“Cooper,” she said, struggling up from her lounge chair.
“Don’t get up,” he said.
“No, I want to show you something.”
She led him back toward the living room, with its missing piece of carpet. She went to stand in front of a mirror in the shape of a sun, its rays separate shards of reflective glass.
Bette said, “She stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. It gave me enough time to call for help.”
“She?”
“Phil thinks it was Eric, and Eric thinks it was Phil, but I’ve thought about it and thought about it, and I think it was a woman who attacked me. She was big, but she had a lot of ski gear on. She looked in this mirror. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
* * *
When Jamie heard a car pull into the driveway at the back of the house, she was immediately on alert. That wasn’t Cooper’s engine. She’d made a point to memorize the sound of it.
She immediately looked around for a weapon. Her heart raced, beating erratically.
The knife drawer.
She ran toward the kitchen, then stopped. No. She just couldn’t do it.
She ran back to the living room and looked around for something else, just in case. She thought about yanking out the nearest lamp and using it as a bludgeon when she heard the key in the lock followed by Teddy’s voice, then Serena’s, announcing their return.
Relief made her weak.
When they entered the living room, Teddy had taken off his mask. He tossed it on the coffee table as Serena unbuttoned her coat. Jamie said a bit shakily, “You’re both back early.”
Teddy slid a look at his sister, who shrugged and said, “I wanted to come home.”
“How was it?” Teddy asked Jamie, inclining his head toward the twins’ bedrooms.
“Fine. They’re sleeping in the same room, as you said they might.”
He nodded deeply. “It’s been a long time since you babysat for some Ryerson twins.”
Jamie grimaced. “I’ve always felt kind of guilty for having Emma take my place.”
Serena pulled off the goggles and said coolly, “So, it’s really your fault.”
Jamie was taken aback by that and Teddy whipped his head around. “Well, I didn’t attack her,” she said slowly.
“Oh, I know. Dad did,” Serena said.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Serena. That’s not true. You know that’s not true.” Teddy turned to Jamie. “Serena always says that. She keeps
