The Locker (21 page)

She was lying there … stuffed inside the trunk
…
blood on her face … wet and muddy … lying there with her eyes closed and
—

“Marlee! Where are you!”

He was getting closer.

With a ragged sob I fought my way through the trees, slipping, falling, staggering up again, on again.

He'll leave me in here
—
here in these woods
—
and no one will ever find me again
—
just like they'll never find Suellen
—
because I'll be dead, too, and I'm the only one who knows
—

“Marlee!”

“Oh, God, no—”

I didn't see the gaping hole in front of me.

In the terrifying darkness I didn't see how the ground suddenly dropped off and disappeared—not till it was too late and I was tumbling headfirst down the hill. For several seconds I lay there, too stunned to move, but my will forced me up again, and I turned in helpless circles, trying to get my bearings, trying to find my way out.

Moonlight trickled down into the ravine.

I thought I saw a break through the trees, and I stumbled toward it.

“No, Marlee,” Tyler said behind me. “You're not going anywhere.”

I screamed, and then I screamed again. He clamped one hand over my mouth and jerked me backward, pressing me tight against him so I couldn't move.

“Stop it!” he hissed. “What the hell is the
matter
with you!” He spun me around to face him.

She was lying there in the trunk … but she was still breathing … She looked like she was dead … but
…
she was still alive
—

“Marlee!”

He was shaking me—hard. I flopped like a rag doll in his grip, and I looked up into his face, and there were scratches over his cheeks and blood on his forehead, and his eyes were gleaming and wild—

“What's the matter with you, dammit? What's going—”

“You killed her!” I screamed then, my voice shrill with hysteria. I saw the dark pools of his eyes and the open circle of his mouth. “She was in your trunk! She looked like she was dead, but she was still alive! What did you do with her? Where did you take her!”

“My God,” Tyler murmured.

I felt his hands slide down my arms. He took a step away from me, and he stumbled, dropping something onto the ground. For one long moment he stared down at the tire iron, and then he ran one hand slowly through his hair.

“You—” He was having trouble talking. His words sounded choked and tight. “You—think—that I—”

“I
saw
her, Tyler! Suellen was in your trunk just before she died! You hurt her, and then you took her somewhere else to kill her! Where is she, Tyler!
Where!
”

But he was still staring at me, and his eyes were wild in the moonlight, and his face was drained white, and he kept stepping back, stepping back …

“My car?” he repeated numbly. “
My
car?”

My eyes filled up. I stared at him through a mist of tears and felt my heart breaking.

“Oh, Tyler,” I whispered. “Why did you do it?”

His legs seemed to give out then; he sat down hard on the ground. He lowered his head between his hands. It took several minutes for him to look up at me.

“Marlee,” he said slowly, but his voice was strong again—strong and calm and even. “Marlee, I didn't even have my car that day.”

Roaring … roaring and rushing through my head …

“What … what did you say?” I mumbled.

“I was out of town when Suellen disappeared. I was with my folks that weekend, and we were out of town. I didn't even use my car.”

My eyes never left his face. He looked beaten and exhausted …

And hurt.

“You thought …” He took a deep breath. “You thought …”

“Who had your car that weekend, Tyler?” I mumbled.

His face looked strained. He looked like he was trying not to cry.

“Hey!” a voice shouted through the woods. “Tyler! Marlee! Where are you guys?”

Tyler leapt to his feet.

I felt his arms go around me and yank me back against him as something crashed through the trees and underbrush down the side of the hill.

“Come on, you two!” another voice yelled. “Are you okay? Why don't you answer!”

I could feel Tyler's heart against my back. It was pounding out of control.

“Shit,” he whispered.

The next minute two faces broke through the shadows, ghostly and deathly white in the glow of a lantern.

“There you are!” the first voice called. “Thank God!”

But I couldn't answer.

I couldn't speak … I couldn't even move.

All I could do was stare as that lantern swung high in the darkness, stare at the face of the person who held it.

I saw the familiar features … features hideously distorted now by the pale, hazy lantern light …

And I knew then what Suellen had seen in the very last second before she died.

24

Y
ou!” I gasped, and the night spun around me, sick and dizzy and twisted. “
You
killed her!”

Jimmy Frank lifted the lantern high beside his head. His eyes glittered fiendishly, and his smile was like ice. I was hardly even conscious of Tyler stepping in front of me.

“What are you talking about, Marlee?” Jimmy Frank said calmly. “You must be hallucinating again.”

But I wasn't listening to him—didn't hear him—my mind was spinning so fast, I felt sick to my stomach, images—feelings—slamming me from every side—and I clutched my head, trying to hang on to my sanity.

“You killed her,” I choked, “you
killed
her—”

“Oh, for Christ's sake.” Jimmy Frank sighed. “Do we have to stand here and listen to this all night? I don't know what the hell she's—”

“She was in the car”—I was babbling now and couldn't stop—”in the car, with her eyes closed. But—but she wasn't dead. Not yet—”

They were all staring at me. Noreen's mouth had dropped open and her arms were up, as though she could somehow stop the flow of words gushing out of me. I could see her, but it didn't make any difference—the pictures were flashing so fast, so furious in my mind, that I couldn't have stopped them no matter what I did.

“She wasn't dead—she only
seemed
dead because she wasn't moving. You took her somewhere—dark … cold … I see her lying there with her eyes shut. I see her lying there, and something's falling on her. Rain? Snow? No … dirt! Dirt and rocks and mud! Someone's—someone's throwing them—there's a shovel—”

“Jimmy Frank,” Noreen whimpered, and he turned on her.

“Shut up!” he raged. “Just shut up!”

“A shovel,” I raced on, my throat tightening, my blood pumping furiously as my heart screamed and screamed—
Suellen's terror
—
Suellen's pain
—
Suellen's aloneness
—

“She was lying there, and the dirt was falling … my God … my God …”

“Jimmy Frank, you promised!” Noreen shrieked.

“Shut up!” he yelled again.

“You put her somewhere—” I grabbed my stomach, trying not to be sick. “You thought she was dead … you thought she was dead, but she wasn't.…”

Even in the lantern light I could see the color draining from Jimmy Frank's face. He clutched the lantern tightly and fell back a step as if he'd been hit.

“You're lying,” he hissed. “She
was
dead—I checked her myself—there wasn't a pulse—”

“My God,” I sobbed, “you
buried
her! She was still alive, and
you buried her!
”

“You're crazy!” He laughed, a hoarse, choked sound. “What—are you two really going to stand here and listen to this crap? I can't believe I'm hearing it! Some total outsider comes in and—”

“You were the last one she saw when she died!” I was sobbing now, sobbing and shouting at him. “It was
your
face she saw through the falling dirt,
your
face looking down at her as she clawed through the mud and panicked and struggled for air—”

“
No!
” Noreen shrieked. “You said you'd take care of it! You said
I
killed her—but—but—she wasn't even dead—”

“Noreen—” Jimmy Frank took a threatening step toward the girl, but she stood her ground, still screaming at him.

“You said you'd take care of it! You said I'd never have to worry about what happened!”

“Noreen,” he snarled, “shut
up!
”

“You let me believe I did it!” she cried. “All this time—I thought I'd go crazy—you said she hit her head and she was dead! But you must have known she was still alive, and you let me believe I killed her—”

“
Shut up!
”

“It was an accident.…” Noreen was sobbing uncontrollably now. “I didn't mean to push her! I picked her up after school on my way to Tyler's cabin, and she told me she had proof that Jimmy Frank was breaking into the summer homes on the river! She threatened to tell on him—”

“Noreen—you're crazy!” Jimmy Frank shouted, but she rushed on.

“When we got to the cabin, I was so upset with her and I begged her not to tell on him, but she just laughed at me and started walking away! So I tried to grab her and make her stop, but she slipped and fell! She rolled down the hill and hit her head on the way down—and she was caught in the tree roots and hanging facedown in the water.…”

Noreen's voice trailed away. Her head lowered slowly to her chest, and when she finally spoke again, it was like she'd gone into some kind of a trance.

“I thought Suellen was dead. She wasn't moving … there was blood coming out of her nose … from her mouth …”

Noreen stopped. She took a deep shaky breath. Her whole body sagged, but still she didn't look up.

“Jimmy Frank showed up then—he was doing some work on the cabin. And when he got there and I told him what she'd threatened to say about him—”

“Don't listen to her,” Jimmy Frank broke in. “
She's
the one who killed Suellen, not me. She pushed her down the hill! You heard her admit it! And then she hid the body so no one would ever know—”

“You swore!” Noreen's head snapped up, her voice trembling. “You swore you'd take care of it! ‘Leave it to me, Noreen—no one will ever know what happened'—isn't that right? You knew Tyler was out of town and I was borrowing his car, so you had me drive
your
truck home, and you used Tyler's Chevy to take Suellen's body. You said it'd be easier to hide her in a trunk than in the back of the pickup—but really, you just wanted
Tyler
to look suspicious instead of you! And you said if anyone ever found out about the robberies, you'd fix it so Tyler would go to jail with the rest of us.”

Tyler seemed dazed. He was staring at Noreen with this horrible look of pain on his face, and when he finally spoke, I could barely hear him.

“Noreen,” he murmured. “Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you—”

“Because I was so
scared!
” she screamed at him. “Because I wanted you to get the scholarship, and I didn't want anything to spoil it! This way you never knew—and even if anyone asked you, you wouldn't have had to lie!”

“Oh, Noreen,” he whispered. “I'm so sorry.…”

And suddenly Noreen began to laugh. She grabbed fistfuls of hair in her hands, and she threw back her head, and she laughed and laughed. It was an unearthly sound, and I felt cold to my very soul.

“You said no one would ever find out!” She turned to Jimmy Frank, and she was gasping for breath, laughing … laughing … “And I really—
really
—thought you'd
have
to love me now, 'cause we were in this together! You never expected Marlee to come along—”

Jimmy Frank slapped her. She fell back from the blow, fixed him with a long, silent stare, and then crumpled to her knees.

“Oh, God,” she whimpered, “what have I done”

Tyler started toward her when there was a sudden rustle in the underbrush. Jimmy Frank spun around, and to my horror, I saw Dobkin scramble out of the woods, his face desperate with fear.

“Marlee!” he yelled. “Marlee, where are you?”

“Dobkin!” I screamed. “Go back to the car!
Run!
”

I think somehow he knew, even before Tyler and I both lunged for him. I saw him bolt for the trees, but Jimmy Frank snatched him back before Dobkin had gone even two feet.

“Not so fast, little guy,” Jimmy Frank said softly. “I've got plans for you.”

I never saw where the gun came from.

One minute Dobkin was kicking and twisting, and the next he was frozen still with Jimmy Frank's pistol against his skull.