Four

Elizabeth gave a groan and rolled over when the alarm jangled on Monday morning at seven-thirty sharp. Just a few more minutes, she pleaded with herself. She’d been dreaming about Todd. The two of them were in the darkroom at school, developing pictures of a beautiful lake. Then he had his arms around her and was kissing her.…

When she opened her eyes to peer at the clock again, it was five after eight. She had exactly half an hour to get dressed, eat breakfast, and dash off to school. Yawning, she crawled reluctantly from the warm cocoon of her blankets.

I rose from the warmth of my dreams to the chill dawn of reality, she made a mental note to write in her journal.

She remembered the tourist-guide test, the reason she was so exhausted. She’d been up half the night studying. The other half was spent worrying about Jessica.

Jessica! Suddenly wide awake, Elizabeth sprinted through the bathroom joining the girls’ bedrooms. She groaned when she saw that her sister’s bed hadn’t been slept in. As she sank down on the bedspread, her stomach executed a slow cartwheel of fear. What if something really terrible had happened to Jessica? What if she’d gotten into an accident? Imprinted in her mind like ugly graffiti were the skid marks left by Scott’s tires when he’d squealed away from the curb.

Reason reasserted itself like a splash of cold water. No, she thought, if Jessica had been in an accident they would have heard by now. Her dear sister, Elizabeth was suddenly quite sure, had merely decided she was having too good a time to come home. That would be just like her. She was selfish enough to forget all about Elizabeth and the trouble she was getting them both into. She’d probably even forgotten all about the test.

Well, this is one mess Jessie can find her way out of all on her own! Elizabeth fumed inwardly.

She sighed, realizing in the same instant what an impossible situation Jessica had placed her in. At this point Elizabeth was in just as deep as her sister. She knew her parents would be angry and upset—and rightfully so—if they knew she’d kept silent about Jessica’s whereabouts or the fact that she hadn’t come home last night. They’d gone out to dinner and a movie and had assumed Jessica had returned from Cara’s while they were away and that she was already asleep. Otherwise, good old dependable Elizabeth would have said something. Right?

Wrong, wrong, wrong. In the bathroom Elizabeth splashed warm water on her face. How does Jessica always manage to get you into these situations? she asked the puffy-eyed girl in the mirror. Maybe Enid was right. Maybe she should just let her sister sink or swim the next time. If anyone deserved it, Jessica did. The trouble was that Elizabeth could never seem to stay mad at her for very long. And she couldn’t bear just to stand by and do nothing when someone needed her help—especially when that someone was her own sister.

“I should have ‘Welcome’ tattooed across my chest,” she sputtered in disgust through a froth of toothpaste foam.

She was just stepping from the shower when Alice Wakefield called up the stairs that breakfast was ready. “You girls had better hurry up, or you’ll be late for school!”

Elizabeth’s heart sank at her mother’s cheery tone.

“Coming!” she yelled, hoping her mother wouldn’t notice that only one of them had answered.

She slid into a pair of old jeans worn to velvety softness and yanked a long-sleeved T-shirt over her head. Quickly she combed her wet hair and secured it with a tortoiseshell clip on either side. She was jamming her feet into a pair of mocassins when the phone rang, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin.

“I’ll get it!” she called down to her mother as she dashed to answer the upstairs extension.

“Thank God, Lizzie, I was hoping it would be you!” The panic-filled voice shot out from the receiver.

Jessica. Just as she’d suspected. Elizabeth clutched the phone to her mouth and spoke in an indignant whisper.

“Where on earth are you? Do you have any idea—”

Jessica cut her off with a noisy sigh. “Listen, it’s a long story. I’ll fill you in on the details later. Does Mom know I’m not there?”

“Not yet, but she’s about to find out. Jess, we’re supposed to be leaving for school in less than fifteen minutes. How do you expect—”

“Please, Lizzie, you’ve got to help me!” Jessica’s voice wavered on the edge of tears. “You can’t imagine what I’ve been through. I—I just don’t think I could take it if Mom and Dad found out on top of everything else.…”

“What about the test?” Elizabeth demanded.

“I can still make the test if you’ll help me. Oh, Liz, I know you can. You’re the best sister in the whole world. And I’d do the same for you. Honestly I would.”

Elizabeth sighed, more out of exasperation than sympathy. “Yeah, right. But just what do you expect me to do? I’m not a magician, you know. I can’t be two people at once. Mom’s going to know when you don’t come downstairs for breakfast!”

“Oh, I just know you’ll think of something,” Jessica cooed in her silkiest, melted-butter voice. “You’re so smart, Liz.”

“If I’m so smart, how come I always get stuck cleaning up your messes?”

“I’ll make it up to you. Honest, I will. Just help me out this one time, and I’ll never ask another favor of you as long as I live. Scout’s honor.”

“You dropped out of girl scouts, remember?”

“Listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll explain everything when I see you. Oh, and thanks a million!”

Elizabeth realized as she hung up that she still didn’t have the slightest idea where her sister was or what catastrophic thing had happened to her. And why was Jessica thanking her when she hadn’t even promised to help?

Today I strangled my twin sister, she mentally scribbled in her journal.

No good. She would have to wait until later to strangle Jessica. Right now she had to find a way of getting them both out of this mess.

“Girls!” Alice Wakefield’s voice had taken on an impatient edge.

Elizabeth hesitated at the top of the stairs. In her panicked state, she’d drawn a complete blank. What was she going to tell her mother? Like a transmission clicking automatically into second gear, she reverted to an old trick she’d used since childhood on those rare occasions when she needed to find a quick way out of a sticky situation: She imagined she was Jessica.

What would Jessica have pulled out of her bag of magic tricks? She had few of Elizabeth’s scruples, so it was usually a case of “anything goes.”

Suddenly Elizabeth knew exactly what she had to do. The thought made her positively dizzy, but she could see no other way out. Taking a deep breath, she started slowly down the stairs.