Helens-of-Troy (31 page)

“Incense,” she noted, her eyes scanning
down the paper. “I’m pretty sure Helena’s got some in her office.
It’s probably like a stethoscope to a naturopath. But the second
thing, the consecrated ground, that might be a toughie. And is
there anything in particular I need to put the third item, the holy
water, into? Or can I just put it in an empty water bottle? I don’t
know if that will wreck it. Like, what do I do if a plastic number
five container breaks it down into cancerous Satan
particles?”

“Brilliant. You’re mocking me,” Jacey
sighed.

“Well, it’s not like you want to borrow
a pair of earrings,” Ellie tried to reason. “What do you need these
things for anyway? Are you and Stan planning on playing voodoo
warrior or something?”

“Very funny,” Jacey said, her head
shaking with disapproval. She grabbed Ellie by her coat collar and
pulled her within inches of her face. Suddenly, Jacey’s perfect
hair, perfect smile and perfect voice distorted, as if she were
possessed. “Listen to me, Ellie LaRose. Evil lurks. It lurks here
in Troy. We need to take precautions to protect ourselves,” Jacey
insisted, taking her hands off Ellie and placing her fingers on the
silver cross around her own neck instead.

“Jacey?” Ellie questioned, taking a
step back from her.

“Sorry about that,” Jacey replied,
tilting her head in a look-at-me-I’m a cheerleader fashion that
told Ellie that Jacey was her annoying perky self once again.
“Hormones.”

“Jacey, what’s going on?” Ellie asked.
“You just did a total banshee on me.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that
with all these murders, I’m a little on edge.”

That’s right, Ellie remembered. Nan had
said murders, plural. Only they never got around to telling her
about the other one or ones. But Jacey seemed to know all about
them. Interesting, she thought. “But... the incense, consecrated
ground and holy water? What’s up with that? Is your necklace not
doing it for you anymore?”

“It’s like I told your mom, I just feel
better with a few religious things around me. They keep me
grounded,” Jacey replied, fingering her silver cross necklace
lovingly. “My mother gave this to me before she went away. It’s the
last thing she ever gave me, and pretty much all I have left from
my life back in England with her and my father. That’s why I always
wear it.”

“Sorry,” Ellie offered. “I
thought...”

“What?” Jacey laughed. “Did you think I
was a devout little Catholic schoolgirl or summat? All knee socks
and hail Mary’s?”

“Kind of,” Ellie admitted, taking a
closer look at Jacey’s necklace. It was a heavy piece that looked a
little out of place on Jacey’s delicate neck. The ornate edges of
the cross hinted that it might have been an antique passed down
through the generations. It looked like it was pure sterling
silver, as it had begun to tarnish a bit on the bottom. “It’s very
pretty, really.”

“I know Ryan thinks I’m a religious
freak for wearing it, but when Tom starts to pressure me about sex,
I just dangle it in front of him and he backs off pretty quick.
Subject closed.” She looked Ellie straight in the eye. “That’s our
little secret, okay?”

“Okay,” Ellie said. “Do you love
Tom?”

The words were out of her mouth before
she realized what she had been pondering in her head the past few
minutes had been verbalized. If Jacey hadn’t picked up that she had
feelings for Tom before, she probably would now.

The question didn’t seem to faze Jacey.
Or if it did, she wasn’t letting it show.

“I don’t know. I’m kind of messed up
about him,” Jacey replied. “Sometimes I think I do and sometimes I
want to strangle him. He can be a right PBP.”

“PBP?” Ellie asked.

“Pretty-boy prat,” Jacey explained.
“Why? Does our Tommy make you want to girlie wank?” It was her turn
to be blunt.

“Girlie wank?”

“Girlie jerk-off, as Ryan would
say.”

“Oh,” Ellie said, now getting the
reference. “He’s pretty cute. But I don’t know either. You’re
probably not supposed to love someone you’ve known for less than a
week.” She smiled at Jacey. “Wank, maybe though.”

“Too true.” Jacey laughed.

“
Unless Tom is your
boyfriend...because then, you know, I wouldn’t do that to you,”
Ellie attested.

“You wouldn’t admit it.”

“No, really,” Ellie insisted. “I
wouldn’t do it.” That would be the ultimate betrayal, Ellie
thought. She had watched enough movies to know that no good ever
came out of stealing your girlfriend’s boyfriend. Friends were
supposed to be loyal. That’s why you called them
friends.

“Ellie,” Jacey began to explain,
“there’s summat you should know. Tom is every girl’s boyfriend. At
least he thinks he is. And tries to be. So, the official answer
from me, is no. He is not my boyfriend. So feel free to do whatever
you want with him.”

Ellie smiled her own perfect smile and
giggled in her own look-at-me-I’m a cheerleader fashion that she
would never admit she had. “Thanks for that. I’m kind of messed up
myself. I want a boyfriend, but I don’t. Do you know what I
mean?”

“Totally,” Jacey agreed. “You should be
able to rent them for a while. Maybe they could come with a video
and popcorn.”

“And no late fees,” Ellie
added.

“And you return them after a
week.”

“But you’d never buy a used one,” Ellie
laughed.

“Ew!” Jacey giggled.

The bonding effort was not lost on
Ellie. It made her feel a little bit better about moving to Troy.
If Jacey could make an effort to be friendly, she thought, maybe it
wouldn’t hurt to try to do the same. Maybe she could cut this
fashion doll standing before her some slack. Maybe Jacey would be
able to help her maneuver through the dating minefield. She seemed
to have some experience at it.

“What’s up with the groping?” Ellie
asked. “Why do they always want to grope you? I’m almost sorry I
have boobs. I wouldn’t mind so much if there was a little
conversation first.”

“Did Tom try to grope you? He did,
didn’t he? That is so his move.” Jacey laughed harder. “Did you
like groping him?”

“I didn’t,” Ellie protested. “I mean, I
didn’t grope him.” Seriously, Ellie wondered, what wasn’t Jacey
getting about the betrayal business? How many times was she going
to have to tell her?

“Why not?” Jacey asked. She saw Ellie’s
face begin to redden. “I’ve hit a nerve there, haven’t I,
El?”

“What do you think about Ryan?” Ellie
asked, changing the subject. She wasn’t ready to share all her
intimate secrets about boys with Jacey. In Ellie’s mind, you shared
those kinds of things with people you had known for a long time and
trusted. Right now, Jacey was neither of those things.

“I don’t really think about Ryan,”
Jacey admitted honestly. “He’s not my type. He's too much of an
action man for my liking. Besides, he always calls me names. Like
Jace-o-matic.”

“I’ve never heard him call you that,”
Ellie offered.

“Have you heard him call me
Spacey-Jacey?”

Ellie suddenly felt a little
guilty.

“Do you think about Ryan?” Jacey asked.
“You know, in that kind of way?”

“He was nice to me, when we walked home
from the game the other night. Nicer than Tom. But he’s not really
my type either,” Ellie replied. “I mean, I like him but... I think
he might be in love with my grandmother.”

Jacey laughed. “That sounds like Ryan.
Do you think he did it?”

“Did what?” Ellie asked.

Jacey’s smile vanished from her face.
It was evident that Ellie was the only person in Troy who hadn’t
heard the news. “They didn’t tell you, did they? He’s in jail. He
was caught last night with Brooke Quinlan’s body in his arms. He
was down at Stillman’s Creek, by Tara’s place. His mother Betty’s
in the psyche ward. That’s why I’m watching Stan.”

Ellie threw her hands up over her
mouth. “Oh my God, no. I guess they forgot to tell me that
part.”

Tears began to well up in Ellie’s eyes.
If Ryan had been found with the body of the little girl down by the
creek, it could only mean one thing. He had believed her about her
dream and he had gone there to check out her story. Part of her
felt vindicated and part of her was horrified. Whatever had
happened to him was partially her fault. “Why didn’t they tell me?”
she wondered aloud.

Jacey reached out for Ellie’s gloved
hand. “I don’t know, Ellie. Maybe they were trying to protect
you.”

“My Mom and Nan, they were mad at me
for not telling them about the vampire that was in my stupid dream,
and then they go and not tell me about Ryan. I hate them right now.
I hate the Helens.” She turned and pulled Jacey by her pea-coat
collar to within inches of her own face. “Ryan did not do this. I
know it.”

“Ellie, let go!”

She released Jacey. “Sorry.
Hormones.”

“Did they tell you about Kevin Clark?”
Jacey asked, taking her own step back from Ellie.

“Who?”

“He hangs around with Stan Lachey. The
one who’s had a few too many bacon butties.” She translated by
using her hand to indicate a large belly.

Ellie remembered the pudgy kid who was
with them on Halloween night. His name was Kevin. “I think I know
who you mean. What about him?”

“He was found at Tara’s place,” Jacey
told her. “I gave her a ride home last night, but I left her at the
end of the driveway, thank God. When she went around to the back of
her house she found her dad under an old fridge and there was
Kevin, stuffed inside it.”

“What?” Ellie asked, unable to fully
comprehend what Jacey had just told her.

“I know, it’s horrid,” Jacey shuddered.
Her eyes were like saucers as she told Ellie the rest of the story
she had heard from Tara. “I don’t know whether Ryan is innocent, or
if he killed one of them or both of them or what. He might be a
mass murderer,” she concluded.

“I can’t believe Kevin is dead too,”
Ellie replied, shaking her head in disbelief. “Ryan didn’t do it.
He couldn’t have.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jacey asked
her. “He gets pretty rough out there on the football field. Maybe
he finally snapped.”

“I just know it in my heart,” Ellie
tried to explain without going into great detail.

“But isn’t that like the love thing?”
Jacey asked. “Can you really know it in your heart if you’ve only
known him less than a week?”

Ellie remained silent. If Jacey had
known Ryan a lot longer than a week, and she had doubts, could she
really be Ryan’s judge and jury based on what she saw in her own
crazy nightmare?

“Did you say you dreamt about a
vampire?” Jacey asked.

“Just forget it,” Ellie said. “Can we
just forget the whole thing...Ryan and Tom and the dream and the
church, and go inside? I’ll help you watch Stan. I’m freezing out
here.”

“Look, if you don’t want to talk about
it right now, that’s okay, but I won’t forget it,” Jacey said.
“I’ll help you with your little problem if you want me
to.”

“How can you help me, Jacey?” Ellie
said with exasperation. “I don’t even know what the hell I’m
dealing with.”

Jacey put her arm around Ellie’s
shoulder and looked directly into her eyes. “I can help you because
I had a weird dream myself last night. I dreamt I had to go to
church today and get three things...”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Helena went up to the third floor and
knocked gently on Helen’s closed bedroom door. She needed to try
and smooth things over to keep peace in her household. She knew
full well that Helen’s stubbornness would prevent her from being
the one to initiate the healing process herself.

“Come in,” she heard Helen answer from
behind the door.

“Were you sleeping?” Helena asked,
poking her head around to try to get a feel for Helen’s mood before
she entered the room.

“It’s hard to sleep in the day with
these damn flowers on the wall,” Helen answered. She knew it was
only in her imagination, but when she had a headache, the six-inch
peonies seemed to grow bigger with every throb of her head. “Would
you be terribly upset if, while I’m at the home renovation store
getting you a new door and a set of coffee mugs, I took a look at
their wallpaper selection as well?”

“Does that mean you’re planning on
staying for a while?” Helena asked, noting that Helen was out of
bed and busy unpacking her suitcase.

“It means I might be thinking about
it,” Helen replied. She took some socks and placed them in the top
drawer of the big oak dresser in the room. Ever since she was a
child, Helen had reserved the top drawer for her socks. Helen liked
routine.

Helena stood by the edge of the bed and
adjusted her robe. “It’s draughty in here. I never noticed that
before. I suppose you should pick up some window sealer while
you’re out. If you think you can carry a tube of silicone,
wallpaper, mugs… and a door, that is.”