Impostor (10 page)

Jealousy burned in my stomach. I knew he was only trying to gather information from them, but I didn’t like it, especially the way Franny half shoved her impressive chest into his face.

Ana leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. “That’s the new guy. He just moved here with his mom. His name is Alec.”

I was glad that Major had decided to let Alec keep his name. That way at least I wouldn’t call him the wrong thing by accident. People seemed to believe his and Summers’s story. Maybe Summers had also seen to it that the police didn’t insist on interviewing me right away.

I crammed the crust of the pizza into my mouth, though I wasn’t even hungry.

“He’s watching you
again
,” Ana said.

I hoped she was talking about Alec. Swallowing the gooey clump, I asked, “Who?”

“Phil. Why can’t he get a grip on himself?”

But when I turned his way, he buried his face in a book.

CHAPTER 11

I
decided to talk to Franny after our last class of the day, but on my way out of the school, I came across none other than Phil, who was waiting in front of the doors.

He straightened the moment he saw me and his face reddened. I stopped, unsure of what to say.

“I’m glad you’re back,” he said, shuffling his feet. He held out a large round tin with a picture of a goose painted on its lid, still staring at the ground.

I took it. “For me?”

“My grandma baked brownies for you.”

“Why?” I burst out, resisting the urge to back away. Was he the secret guy Madison had been seeing? His skin flushed an even deeper red as he glanced up, his watery gaze meeting mine. “Your mother told my grandma you’d be back in school today. You know, neighborly chitchat.”

“You live with your grandma?” I asked. Only after I’d said it did I realize that it might have been an awkward question.

He looked away. “Yeah. I have to go. It’s good to see you, Madison.” Before I could say another word, he hurried over toward the idling school bus. I bet the other kids gave him crap for taking the bus.

I spotted Franny in the parking lot and made a beeline toward her. For once she wasn’t surrounded by her enormous group of friends. I didn’t want them around, least of all Ryan or his replacement girlfriend, bob-haired Chloe. She’d given me the evil eye for most of the day. Maybe she knew that Ryan still carried a torch for Madison.

As I approached the car, Franny pushed the key into her red VW Beetle convertible.

“Hey Franny,” I called out. “Can I talk to you?”

She jerked the key out and opened the door. “Don’t call me that.”

Any sympathy that I might have seen on her face back in biology class had completely disappeared.

“I’m sorry. That’s what Ana called you earlier. I . . . I don’t remember your real name.” I tried to look as apologetic as possible. I needed her on my good side if I wanted to coax information out of her. She eyed me suspiciously over the car door. “So you really don’t remember?” I forced my lips to quiver as if I might burst into tears at any moment, then shook my head. It seemed to work.

Her expression softened a tad but it was still cool. “My name is
Francesca
. And I really need to get home now.”

I took a step forward. “Just a minute, please? I want to ask you about something.”

She tightened her grip on the keys. “What about?”

“I heard a rumor . . . that you saw me with someone a while back, a guy who wasn’t Ryan. Who was it?”

The parking lot hummed with the sound of engines and conversation, and the stench of exhaust lingered in my nose as more people set out to drive away. Ryan leaned against a car on the other side of the parking lot, watching us. Apparently, he still hoped we could talk despite my text message. And maybe he’d get his wish—if Devon didn’t turn up first.

Francesca drummed her fingers lightly on the steering wheel, her face closed off. “Listen, Madison. It was dark, and I didn’t see much.”

The tips of her ears turned pink. Liar. She put the key in the ignition and started the engine. I gripped the edge of her door. “Please, Francesca. I need to know.”

She looked at me, contemplating, and for a moment I was sure she’d tell me but then she shook her head. “Look. If I knew, I would tell you, but I didn’t recognize him. I wasn’t close enough, and it was late. All I know is that the guy was definitely
not
Ryan. That’s all I saw. I can’t help you.” She closed the door and I had no choice but to step back or the tires would have rolled over my toes as she drove off. Ryan started in my direction, a smile building on his face, but then he stopped. Steps crunched on the concrete behind me.

“What was that about?” Devon appeared at my side. Francesca’s car vanished around the corner.

“We were just talking.”

He narrowed his eyes at Ryan. Before he could ask any more questions, I trudged over to his car. We both got inside but Devon hesitated, his hand on the key in the ignition. “Don’t believe everything Francesca tells you; she likes to gossip.”

If she had told me
anything
, I could have followed his advice, but as it was I was just as clueless as before. Why was it so difficult to find out who the other guy was? When I’d started my preparations for the mission, I’d thought Madison’s life looked easy, but now it seemed as if there were countless trap doors just waiting for me to fall into them.

The car slipped out of the parking lot with a stutter and we pulled onto the main street.

“Do you know anything about some other guy I’d been dating?”

Devon almost steered the car into oncoming traffic. His fingers curled around the steering wheel. “Why?”

He clenched his jaw. He wasn’t giving anything away. “Because I need to know what really happened and I can’t remember. Was I dating someone else after Ryan?”

“No, you didn’t have another boyfriend.” The way he worded it made me think that maybe there was more to the situation. Why would nobody tell me anything? Devon probably wanted to protect his sister, but didn’t he realize that keeping secrets would only make it easier for the murderer to prevail? As I glanced over at Devon, my stomach dropped. My heart drummed in my chest as countless questions swirled in my brain. There were so many secrets to expose, and who knew how much time I had before the killer tried to finish what he started?

“You know, what if something happens to me because you won’t tell me?”

He winced. “I’m trying to protect you, Maddy. I’m really trying but you have to let me.”

We pulled into the driveway and I knew the conversation was over. Linda was already waiting in the doorway. Had she even left that spot?

That night, we all ate dinner as a family again. It seemed to be a daily ritual. After dinner, Ronald came into my room. He lingered in the doorway, his hands fumbling with a little red package.

“When you were little, only five, we gave you a necklace for Christmas and you’ve worn it ever since. Until . . .” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He never finished his sentence, but of course I knew what he was talking about. He held out the little packet and I took it with shaking hands. I opened the lid to find a golden necklace with a rose pendant. I brushed my fingertip across the delicate chain.

“Let me.” Ronald took the necklace out with trembling fingers and fastened it around my throat. The gold felt cool against my breastbone.

“Thanks.” My voice came out raspy and shaky. I’d never received such a lovely gift before.

Don’t get emotionally involved
. Major’s stern face accompanied the words in my head. But as a lump formed in my throat, I realized it was too late to heed his warning.

I wrapped my arms around Ronald and he kissed the top of my head. Why couldn’t my dad have been more like him?

“Umm, Dad? Can I ask you a question?”

He smiled. “You just did.”

“Phil Faulkner. Do you know him?”

“Of course, he lives down the street with his grandmother. You and Devon used to play with him when you were younger but over time you drifted apart. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him around in a long time.”

“Thanks,” I said. He ruffled my hair. I had a feeling Madison might have hated it if someone ruined her hair like that, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

Long after he left, I still stood there, clutching the little gold pendant.

Sometimes glimpses of the past flashed in my mind. A time when my brother and father had lived with my mother and me. A time of laughter and happiness. I couldn’t even say if they were memories or figments of my imagination.

I closed the door and turned the lock. Madison’s face stared back at me from the mirror on the door. I shut my eyes, though it wasn’t necessary for the shift. The familiar rippling washed over me. Bones lengthened. Sinews stretched. Face reshaped. But there was a tentativeness to the shift that shouldn’t have been there, like the stutter of an old engine before it starts to purr.

The sensation died down, and I risked a look at my reflection. And it was all wrong. I’d tried so many times to shift into my dad in order to see his face, to hear his voice and help me remember, but it was a useless struggle. The data had been washed away, as faded and distorted as my memories in years gone by.

Whatever I’d turned into resembled a badly done figure from Madame Tussauds. Skin waxen, eyes blank, my face generic and indistinct. I let the rippling sensation wash over me. Within seconds I was back in my own body.

I peeked through the gaps in the shades, but no one was there. At least, no one I could see. Maybe the stranger I’d seen outside my window before was the same person Francesca had seen Madison with?

As I stretched out on the mattress the ache in my muscles was close to unbearable. My body was tired from days of pretending. Glancing at the door, I made sure the lights were already out in the hall. Madison’s nightgown fit snuggly around my chest. Falling asleep in anything but Madison’s body was a risk, I knew. But I was so, so tired and my body needed the rest. Clutching the pendant, I closed my eyes.

Just a few minutes.

• • •

I woke to the sound of hammering. Blearily I looked around, searching for the source of the noise until I saw the shadow behind the window shades. I swung my legs out of bed, untangled them from the blanket, and gripped the edge of the nightstand. Someone was in front of my window.

Panic wormed its way through my body.

“Open the damn window. I’m freezing my ass off.”

Alec.

I padded over to the window and pulled up the shade, trying to calm my pounding heart. The frame was warped, but with Alec’s strength it was easy for him to pry it open and slip inside.

It was dark in the room but the gray of his eyes and the white of his teeth still shone in the dim light. “What are you doing here?” I whispered.

His eyes wandered over me. I wrapped my arms around my chest as I remembered the skimpy nightgown I was wearing. The last time alone in a room with him had ended in a debacle. I wasn’t keen on a repeat performance.

“Shouldn’t you be Madison?”

I hurried past him to check my reflection in the mirror. Even in the dark I could see that my hair was definitely not blond. I’d forgotten to change back to Madison before checking the window. That could have ended badly. “Shit.”

He came up behind me and touched my shoulder, his fingertips soft against my skin. Even with the space between us, I could feel his warmth against my back. I wanted to lean against his chest, wanted him to wrap his arms around me. He didn’t say anything, his face shrouded by shadows, but he didn’t remove his hand. His warm breath ghosted over my neck, raising the tiny hairs on it.
Kiss me
, I thought.

But then he stepped back and pulled something from his jeans pocket. “I came to give you this.” He handed me a small cell phone and a Taser. “E-mail isn’t a good way to communicate. It’s not fast enough, and it isn’t safe on someone else’s computer. We must be able to reach you at any time. And I want you to keep the Taser with you no matter what.”

I slipped the phone under my pillow and the Taser into my backpack. I’d have to find a better place for it.

“Do you know what time it is?” Alec asked. I could hear a smirk in his voice.

I scanned the room for the clock. Eleven fifty. No wonder I was tired.

“Major’s furious.”

“What? Why?”

Alec raised his eyebrows.

I slapped my palm against my forehead. “Oh, shit. I forgot about the meeting.” Ronald’s gift had clearly distracted me even more than I’d realized.

“Yeah, I thought as much. Major wasn’t happy but I told him there wasn’t anything substantial to tell, so it didn’t matter.”

“Thanks.” The mission had just started and already I was screwing up.

“Don’t worry.”

“So did you find anything?” We asked at the same time. I smiled and so did he, but he quickly stepped over to the window, bringing some distance between us.

“You start,” I said, my smile gone.

“Nothing interesting. Just talk. That guy, Ryan, has been watching you a lot. It seems Madison had some kind of an affair with someone else, but no one seems to know who. Francesca and the second victim, Kristen, spread rumors about it in school.”

“That’s what I heard too. I tried to find out who it is but nobody wants to tell. I think Devon knows but he’s keeping it a secret.”

“Maybe you can pry it out of him.”

“I’ll do my best. What about Ryan?”

“What about him? He doesn’t like me. Probably thinks I’m competition.” That made him grin.

“I found a letter from him stuck in Madison’s locker this morning. He wants to talk. I think he’s really trying to win Madison back.” I propped my butt up on the desk, tired of standing. “Do you think he could be the murderer?”

Alec leaned against the window frame. “I’m not sure. What reason would he have had for the other murders? I mean, I guess he had a reason to kill Madison, but then why would he try to get back together with her? And what about the janitor or the doctor or that Kristen girl?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe there was some other reason we don’t see. Had he ever dated Kristen?”

“No, he’d been with Madison for over a year and before that he wasn’t serious with anyone.”

“And the pediatrician, Dr. Hansen? Was she Ryan’s doctor?”

Alec laughed darkly. “I don’t know, but probably. Livingston’s a very tiny town. Hansen’s practically treated everyone here at least once in their life.”

We were going nowhere with this.

“I noticed a guy in school today. His name’s Phil Faulkner; have you seen him? He’s got really abnormal eyes.”

“And?”

“I mean, some Variants have strange eyes. Look at my freaky eyes.” I thought it best not to mention Kate’s unsettling amber-copper color.

Alec took a step closer. “Your eyes are just fine.” My body flooded with warmth.

“So,” I said. “You don’t think Phil could be a Variant.”

“We’re not here to look for Variants, Tess. We’re here to look for motives.”

He looked as tired as I felt. I glanced at my bed, wondering how it would be to fall asleep beside him, cuddled against his chest, encircled by his arms. My fingers found the pendant again.