Who Killed the Homecoming Queen? (9 page)

J
eremy stood in the middle of the room, his brown eyes narrowed in anger. “I overheard Sandy and Cherise planning to kill Tania,” he said. “That's how I know that Sandy killed her. I heard him plotting to do it.”

Eva gasped.

Keith shook his head. “Are you nuts?” he asked, his voice rising. “Are you totally nuts?”

Maybe that's it, Eva thought. Not that Jeremy is nuts, but he's too freaked out about Tania to think straight. Why else would he say something like that?

“You can think I'm crazy,” Jeremy said. “I don't care. I know what I heard. It was before the shoot today. I was at my locker and I heard these two
people. They were around the corner from my locker, whispering together. I caught Tania's name, so I sneaked up and listened.”

He slammed his fist against the wall. “And I heard everything!”

Keith still looked skeptical. “Why didn't you tell the police?”

“I don't know!” Jeremy cried. “I was out of my head. I couldn't think clearly—about anything!”

But is he really thinking clearly now? Eva wondered.

Keith moved to the couch and picked up the phone. “Then we should call the police now and tell them what you heard.”

“No!” Eva pulled the phone from Keith's hand. “You could get Cherise and Sandy into major trouble!”

“Good,” Jeremy declared grimly. “They deserve it.”

“Not if it's not true,” Eva argued. “Look, they were whispering. I'm not saying you made it up, but maybe you didn't hear right.”

“No way!” Jeremy insisted bitterly.

“Let me talk to Cherise first,” Eva said. “I'll call her now and go over and see her. I'm sure it's a misunderstanding. We shouldn't accuse her if it isn't true!”

Jeremy nodded reluctantly.

Eva punched in the number. It can't be true, she told herself. It has to be a horrible mistake!

Her heart pounded as the phone began to ring in Cherise's house.

Late the next morning, Eva gulped down some orange juice and checked the clock. Almost eleven-thirty. With no school because of teacher conferences, she'd overslept. She'd better hurry if she wanted to catch Cherise at home.

There'd been no answer at Cherise's last night. Eva had tried again after leaving Keith's. But she finally gave up and decided to go over there this morning.

As she drove down Park Drive toward Cherise's house, her hands started to sweat and her heart thudded anxiously. The rain clouds had disappeared and the fall leaves were gorgeous in the sunlight.

But Eva still couldn't shake the strange feeling she'd had since before Tania disappeared. It made the beautiful day seem dark and gloomy.

And now she had to go and tell Cherise that Jeremy thought she was a murderer.

How can I say it? she wondered as she turned onto Cherise's street. “By the way, Cherise, Jeremy heard you and Sandy planning to kill Tania. Is it true?”

Eva sighed. Maybe that's the only way, she thought. Just come right out and tell her.

Eva slowed the car, peering out the passenger window. Cherise lived in a yellow, two-story house,
she remembered. With a wide front porch and an old-fashioned swing that hung on chains from the porch roof.

There it was. Eva pulled to the curb and started to shut the engine off. As she did, she glanced up at the house again.

Her hand froze on the key.

Cherise sat on the porch swing, her red hair glowing in the sun.

Sandy sat beside her—close beside her—his arm around her shoulders.

As Eva watched, Cherise leaned even closer to Sandy and kissed him. Then they both stood up.

Eva carefully eased the car into reverse and backed down the street. It doesn't mean anything, she told herself. I already knew Sandy was fooling around with Cherise. Just because they're making out doesn't mean they killed Tania.

Eva stopped the car and peered out the windshield.

Sandy and Cherise stood near the front steps now, their arms around each other. They kissed again, then broke apart.

Sandy trotted down the porch steps. He turned and gave Cherise a wave, then hurried down the sidewalk toward the street.

Eva watched as he climbed into his car and pulled away. He drove off in the other direction.

When she glanced at the house again, the porch was empty. Cherise must have gone inside.

Go ahead, Eva told herself. Just go talk to her.
See what she says. She shut the car off, got out and walked the half block to Cherise's house.

As she climbed the porch steps, a gust of wind came up. The swing squeaked on its chains, and the screen door rattled noisily. Above the noise, Eva thought she heard another sound.

A voice.

She paused, listening.

Yes. Cherise's voice.

Eva raised her hand to knock on the screen door.

And froze as she heard Cherise's voice again. Louder this time. High-pitched and furious.

“I'll kill you!” Cherise screamed. “I'll kill you, too!”

chapter 18
 

E
va dropped back, her heart racing.

“I'll kill you, too!” Cherise shrieked. “Don't think I won't!”

Call the police! Eva told herself. Go next door and get help! As she turned to run, another gust of wind set the swing in motion, crashing it into her.

She stumbled sideways. As she reached out to grab the porch railing, she heard the screen door rattle behind her.

“Eva?” Cherise called. “Hi. I thought I heard somebody out here.”

Eva caught her balance and turned around.

Cherise stood behind her, one arm propping the door open. “You look upset,” she said.

“Who was screaming?” Eva demanded. “I heard—”

As Cherise started to reply, another voice drowned her out. “Go ahead and laugh!” it screamed. “It's the last laugh you'll ever have!”

Cherise glanced behind her, into the house. “Terri, would you turn that down?” she shouted. She turned back to Eva. “My sister,” she explained. “She's watching TV. She
always
plays it too loud.”

The screaming voice grew softer.

“I thought it was real.” Eva laughed. “I guess I'm feeling kind of jumpy.”

Cherise pushed the door open wider. “Come on in. Want a Coke?”

Eva nodded and followed her down a hall. They passed the living room where Cherise's sister sat staring at the television, and turned through a door into a big, sunny kitchen.

“Sit down.” Cherise pulled two cans of soda from the refrigerator and set them on a round wooden table. “You still look upset,” she declared as she took glasses from the counter and filled them with ice. “It's because of Tania, isn't it?”

Eva nodded. She popped the top on her soda and poured some. Her hand shook as she raised the glass. She set it back down.

“Hey, you're really freaked,” Cherise commented. “I mean, I don't blame you. Tania's your best friend. You must feel awful. Well, everybody does.”

Eva nodded again. Does Cherise really feel awful? she wondered. “It's so horrible,” Eva murmured. She managed to pick up the glass without sloshing any soda out.

“Yeah,” Cherise agreed. “What do you think happened? I don't mean to sound morbid, but do you think she's dead?”

“I don't know,” Eva replied. She wondered if Cherise knew. “I wish I did. Not knowing is the worst.”

“That's what Sandy says.”

Eva glanced at her. “He does?”

“Sure.” Cherise twisted a strand of red hair around her finger, a worried expression on her face. “He's just a total mess because of it.”

Eva drank some more Coke. Go ahead and tell her, she urged herself. Tell her what Jeremy said. Get it over with. She took a deep breath. “Um … listen, Cherise. Jeremy heard you and Sandy talking yesterday.”

“Oh?” Cherise crunched an ice cube. “What about?”

“Well, that's what I came over here for,” Eva explained. “Jeremy thinks he heard you and Sandy plotting to … to kill Tania.”

Cherise's blue eyes widened in shock. “That's
crazy!”
she cried, jumping up from her chair. “How can you say that?”

“I
didn't say it,” Eva replied. “Jeremy did.”

“Well, he's wrong!” Cherise declared. “He's totally
wrong! When did he hear us, anyway? Where?”

“At school,” Eva explained. “Yesterday afternoon, right before the shoot. He was at his locker and you two were around the corner from him.”

Cherise thought about it a moment. “Oh!” she cried. “I know what that was! I was helping Sandy rehearse for Keith's video. I was helping him learn his lines!”

Eva felt a surge of relief. Keith's script was full of lines like the one Jeremy overheard. Cherise's explanation made total sense.

Thank goodness, she thought. Now I don't have to walk around thinking Cherise is a killer.

“I can't believe Jeremy would accuse us of something like that!” Cherise declared. “That's horrible!”

“He's kind of a mess, too,” Eva reminded her.

“Yeah. I guess so.” As Cherise started toward the table for her soda, the phone rang. She turned back to the counter, and punched a button on the telephone. “Hello?”

A muffled hissing sound filled the room. Eva glanced around.

“Speakerphone,” Eva whispered to her. “Hello?” she repeated.

The hissing stopped.

Eva heard the caller take a long, slow breath.

And then an eerie, whispery voice filled the kitchen. “I killed Tania,” it rasped. “You're next.”

chapter 19
 

E
va gasped as the words echoed in the big kitchen.

“Who is this?” Cherise demanded. The blood had drained from her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Tania was first,” the voice rasped. “You're next.”

A loud click made Eva jump.

Then the dial tone hummed in the room.

Cherise hung up and wrapped her arms around herself with a shiver. “Who
was
that?” she asked shrilly.

Eva shook her head. “I don't know.”

Cherise shivered again. “I couldn't even tell if it
was a boy or a girl! And who was he talking to? Me? You? Both of us?”

Eva didn't reply. She stared at her glass of soda, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Eva? What are you thinking?” Cherise asked.

“Something is wrong,” Eva told her.

“No kidding.”

Eva shook her head again. “No, I mean this whole thing just doesn't feel right. Something is not the way it seems.”

“Well, what?” Cherise demanded.

“I don't have a clue,” Eva admitted. “It's a feeling.”

“Oh. One of your psychic ones.” Cherise sounded skeptical.

“They've never been wrong,” Eva told her. “But it's not like a vision or anything like that. I can just feel when something is wrong.”

“Too bad your ‘feeling' can't tell us who called.” Cherise rubbed her arms and eyed the phone warily. “That voice really spooked me. I keep trying to convince myself it was just a prank call.”

“Me too. But we'd better report it to the police.” Eva sighed as Cherise picked up the phone. The caller said he killed Tania, she thought. Maybe Tania really is dead.

“Whoa! That must have freaked you out,” Keith declared after school the next day. “What did he say again?”

“He said ‘I killed Tania. You're next,'” Eva repeated. “But I couldn't really tell if it was a he—and neither could Cherise. The voice was so weird. Harsh and whispery.”

Eva shivered as she stood with Keith in the school parking lot. Dry leaves skittered around in the wind, and dark clouds raced across the sky.

Winter will be here soon, she thought, shivering again.

And Tania is still missing.

She gazed across the parking lot. Jeremy leaned against the side of a car, a glum expression on his face. She'd just told him and Keith about the phone call.