LITMIR.BIZ

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Hudson’s jealousy, but he doesn’t work that way.”

      “We definitely didn’t have ‘a thing’ going. Hudson never even looked at me.”

      Renee lifted a disbelieving eyebrow, but let the subject go. “You know, Jessie’s parents acted…really worried…I mean, before she disappeared. I’d just been to their house the week before and had dinner and Jessie was acting oddly then, too. More oddly than normal, that is. She must have known she was getting ready to run again, and I think it bothered her, how much it hurt her parents. But she just couldn’t help herself. If I have a feeling of persecution now, she really had it then. Like something was at her heels and she was trying to keep one step ahead of it.”

      Becca thought about the feeling that someone was after her at the maze and about the vision of Jessie on the cliff trying to warn her of…of what? “Have any idea what it was that was chasing her?”

      “God knows. Jessie sure didn’t. And her parents didn’t. They were in a state over her disappearance, almost as if they knew this time was different. Like they were scared. I saw them when Mac, the detective, was talking to them, and yeah, they were worried sick, but more than that, they were terrified.” She shook her head. “And the only thing Jessie said to me—I mean before she disappeared, when she was talking all weird—was that it was about justice, like maybe it was payback for something? I wished I’d quizzed her on it more, but what did I know? She kept saying she had to keep on the move and I thought it was a ruse, like it had been before, a play for attention. That’s what Jessie was all about, being the center of the universe. More than most teenagers. Anyway, that’s what I’ve concluded, after thinking about it all these years.”

      “You think whatever she was running from caught up to her, before she could leave?”

      Renee half laughed. “I don’t really know what I’m talking about. But I do think those are Jessie’s remains. It just makes sense, doesn’t it?”

      “I guess we’ll know soon enough.”

      “Will we? So maybe they get some DNA. Can they match it to Jessie’s?”

      “Well, or dental impressions, I suppose. Those are bound to be on record, aren’t they?” Becca asked.

      Renee shrugged. “And when the police learn, are they going to tell us? Or are we all suspects again? I hate to agree with The Third, but if the case opens up we’re all going to be under scrutiny, especially Hudson.”

      Becca didn’t like thinking about that.

      Renee drained the rest of her coffee, then shot an assessing look at Becca, as if she were debating on something.

      “What?” Becca asked.

      “I’ve been remembering a lot of little things lately. Forcing myself, I guess, at first because of the story, and now, I don’t know…” She drew a deep breath and expelled it slowly. “I really want that story, but…I’ve gotten these warnings.”

      “Warnings?”

      “From the old woman I mentioned earlier.”

      “A Tarot reader?”

      “Sort of.” She seemed about to add something else, then hesitated. “This wasn’t Tamara’s friend.”

      “I got that.”

      “I went to the beach and I was asking about Jessie around Deception Bay. Do you know it?” When Becca shook her head, she said, “It’s this little town. Quaint. Kind of…tired feeling.”

      “Why did you go there?”

      “The Brentwoods have a house there. I thought maybe that’s where Jessie was from? Originally? I was staying around the area anyway, so I started asking questions and I got connected to this psychic lady. But when I met with her, all she did was make me feel like I was angering the gods or something. Seeing her was a mistake. She just played on my fears—fears I didn’t know I had.”

      Becca nodded, waiting for her to go on.

      Renee didn’t seem to quite know how to proceed, then said, “I know you and Jessie weren’t the closest of friends. Maybe because of Hudson, maybe something else, but how well do you remember her? I mean really remember her?”

      I saw her in a vision. “She had blond-brown hair—long—and was pretty.” Becca finished her wine. “I remember that she dated Hudson and that she was kinda hard to pin down.”

      “Like you.”

      “Not like me,” Becca said quickly.

      “Maybe not exactly. But sort of, don’t you think?”

      Where is this coming from? “Jessie was secretive and remote. I hope I’m not like that. Do you think I’m like that?”

      “No…I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Shrugging, she said, “Jessie always had a blithe remark. A throwaway comment. You couldn’t get close to her. Yeah, she was full of secrets, but then she could be so blunt, too. And Vangie was right that Jessie just knew things. She was precognitive. She had feelings about things and they came true. A number of times.”

      “Like a feeling of persecution?”

      “Well, maybe…and you had those visions, didn’t you?” Renee reminded her and Becca felt her face grow hot.

      “I’d hoped people had forgotten.”

      “Maybe they have. But at the time it was the kind of thing that ran like wildfire through the school. A rumor with a life of its own. I never knew just how much was fact or fiction.”

      “I used to have them,” Becca answered slowly. The vision of Jessie practically burned behind her eyeballs, but she couldn’t bring it up. Not now. Not yet. Not until she understood Renee’s interest.

      “Not anymore?”

      “No.”

      She inclined her head. “Well, anyway, sound like a nut job, don’t I? I hear myself talking like there’s some—evil out to get me, and can’t believe I just said that. Forget it. This whole thing with finding Jessie’s bones is making me jump at shadows and find meaning in things that aren’t there. Dumb. Oh, screw this. I need a glass of wine.” Scooting out her chair, she looked disgusted with herself, then walked to the counter and paid for a glass of Chardonnay. Taking a sip as she returned, Renee said, “That’s more like it.”

      “Was this the ‘odd’ something you wanted to talk about?”

      “Yeah.” She drank half her glass and shook her head. “I can’t tell you how all of this…whatever the hell it is has taken its toll. I’m jumping at shadows, second-guessing everything. And looking over my shoulder, like someone’s following me.”

      “That’s how I felt in the maze,” Becca said.

      “Oh, right.” She paused. “Maybe we’re both just letting atmosphere take over reason.”

      Becca thought about that and was about to confess that she’d had a vision of Jessie on the very day that she’d learned about the grisly discovery at St. Elizabeth’s, but she didn’t get the chance. Renee tossed back another gulp of wine, glanced at her watch, and scowled. “Oh, God, it’ll be almost ten when I get there if I don’t leave now.” She swept up her purse and got to her feet in one swift motion. “Keep in touch,” she said brightly, but there was something about the way she hurried through the door that made Becca think Renee had no intention of following her own words.

      What the hell was it about Rebecca Ryan Sutcliff? Renee asked herself as she punched the accelerator of her Camry and slid through an amber light just before it turned red. She was headed west, ever west, merging onto Sunset Highway, a section of Highway 26.

      You’re running away, her mind insisted over the pain of a headache that was pounding at the base of her skull. “No,” she answered herself aloud as she flipped on her

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