Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon [84]
When you told me about the body under the stage, I thought you meant Ernie.
Yeah, they wouldnt have stumbled across him if they hadnt been looking for her. Im sure her body will be next. And Im sorry Rhonda. Sorry I didnt tell you on the phone. I wanted you to hear it from me not some asshole cop.
Rhonda nodded. All those years, we just assumed he was out there somewhere, living another life.
Peter eyed her cautiously, then nodded. So what else did Crowley ask?
He wanted to know what I remembered from that summer. I told him what I could. Im afraid I wasnt much help.
Peter looked at her for a few seconds, then turned away to gaze down the walk and driveway to the road.
So what do you think happened? Rhonda asked. Peter glanced back at her and raised his eyebrows. I mean to Daniel. Crowley said he owed a lot of money to people.
Ronnie, I He cut his eyes away from her and then back again, searching her face for something he didnt seem to find.
I dont know, he said finally, crushing his cigarette butt out on the step, putting the spent butt in the pocket of his shirt. And these words, the way he said them, reminded Rhonda of his usual mantra,I dont remember the words he used to defend himself, to keep himself distant whenever Rhonda asked him some question about the past, like about how Daniel had once dressed as the Easter Bunny.
Tell me about the night we tore down the stage, Rhonda said, a touch of Joe Crowley in her voice.
You know the story, Peter replied.
I used to think I did. Now I wonder if Im missing something.
Tell me what you remember, Peter said.
I came out into the clearing and found you, Lizzy, and Tock. Lizzy was crying. Youd all had some kind of fight. And you said I was just in time to help tear down the stage.
Peter nodded.
We were angry and sad and going too fast. Lizzy was holding a hammer, smashing boards apart. Tock had a crowbar. You were sawing apart the back wall. Rhonda was talking quickly now, almost a recitation. And then, we pulled the back wall down, and you and I, we were under it. The next thing I remember is you dragging me out from under there, pulling off boards, untangling me. There was sheet on top of methe backdrop from the play, the shoreline from Neverland, and I was twisted up in it. I was crying then, definitely crying. And blood was dripping down my face, down into my eyes, and they burned and I thought maybe I was going blind. And you were bleeding too, cut on the forehead by some rusty nail. We had to get tetanus shots, remember? And I thought they were like rabies shots. I thought we had to get a whole bunch in the stomach and I cried again in the emergency room when the nurse told us about the shots. I didnt cry about the stitches. They didnt hurt at all. And you, Im sure you didnt cry. They had us in the same room, but they pulled the curtain to do our stitches, remember? They didnt want us to see. And we had to stay in bed after, to rest for a few days, and our parents were supposed to wake us up every few hours, just to make sure we were okay, that we hadnt slipped into a coma or something.
Peter was silent, staring at Rhonda as he lit his second cigarette. Rhonda leaned over and let herself brush the hair back from his forehead, revealing the thin white line as if she would find her answers there spelled out in a childish cursive:This is what happened .
Am I interrupting? Lizzy stood in the open doorway, peering down at them on the steps.
Rhonda was just telling me about the night we tore down the stage.
Lizzy looked down at Rhonda, smiled, then held out her hand to pull Rhonda up.
Take a walk with me, Ronnie. Rhonda stood up and walked with Lizzy down the steps and out across the gravel driveway, past the two girls playing in the overgrown yard, burying an army man in the dirt; they were so like herself and Lizzy that she shivered.
I have a story to tell you. Lizzys voice was calm and sure of itself. It was a smooth and mellow voice. The voice of lullabies.
Lizzy was