Heroes Are My Weakness(93)

She waited until Jaycie had come in behind her before she turned to confront her. “I’ll take those.” She pulled the crutches away so abruptly Jaycie would have fallen if she didn’t have two good feet to hold herself up.

Jaycie gave a hiss of alarm. “What are you doing?” Too many seconds passed before she remembered to balance her weight against the wall. “I need those.”

“You didn’t need them last night,” Annie said flatly.

Jaycie looked shocked. Good. Annie wanted her unbalanced. She dropped the crutches to the floor and pushed them away with her foot. “You lied to me.”

Jaycie’s face went pale. Annie finally felt as if she were seeing through the invisible veil she lived behind. “I—I didn’t want you to find out,” Jaycie said.

“Obviously.”

Jaycie moved away from the wall, walking with a limp so slight that Annie doubted she would have noticed it if she hadn’t been looking for it. Jaycie curled her fingers around the back of the chair at the end of the table, her knuckles white. “That’s why you left the house last night,” she said.

“I saw you going upstairs. What were you planning to do?”

Jaycie gripped the chair back tighter, as if she still needed support. “I was— I don’t want to tell you.”

Annie’s hurt erupted. “You deceived me. And you did it in the worst possible way.”

Misery clouded Jaycie’s features. She sank into the chair. “I—I was desperate. That’s not an excuse. I know it’s not. And I kept meaning to tell you my foot was better. But— Try to understand. I was so lonely.”

The residual rawness of being afraid Theo was dead had hardened something inside Annie. “It’s too bad Theo didn’t make himself available to keep you company.”

Instead of hostility, Jaycie displayed only a resigned acceptance. “That was never going to happen. I’m prettier than you, and for a while, I let myself believe that might be enough.” Jaycie’s words weren’t boastful, just a statement of fact. “But I’m not interesting the way you are. I’m not well educated. You always know what to say to him, and I never do. You stand up to him, and I can’t. I know all that.”

Annie hadn’t expected so much frankness, but it did nothing to lessen her sense of betrayal. “Why were you going up to my room last night?”

Jaycie dipped her head. “I don’t want to look any more spineless than I already am.”

“Not exactly the word I’d use.”

Jaycie gazed down at her hands. “I hate being alone in this house at night. It wasn’t so bad when I knew Theo was in the turret, but now . . . I can’t go to sleep until I’ve walked through all the rooms, and even then, I have to lock the door on my apartment. I’m sorry I lied to you, but if I’d told you the truth— If I’d told you my foot was healing and I could walk without crutches, that I didn’t need your help, you wouldn’t have kept coming up here. You’re used to your city girlfriends who know about books and theater. I’m just an island girl.”

Now Annie was the one feeling unbalanced. Everything Jaycie said had the ring of truth. But what about everything she wasn’t saying? Annie crossed her arms. “I left the island last night. But I’m sure you already know that.”

“Left the island?” She pretended to be alarmed, as though this was new information. “But you can’t do that? Did anybody see you? Why would you leave the island?”

A thread of doubt was beginning to weave its way through Annie’s anger. But then she’d always been gullible around accomplished liars. “Your phone call worked.”

“What phone call? Annie, what are you talking about?”

Annie held tight to her determination. “The phone call Barbara got saying Theo was in the hospital. That phone call.”

She jumped from the chair. “Hospital? Is he all right? What happened?”

Don’t let her suck you in, Dilly admonished. Don’t be naive.

But . . . Scamp interceded. I think she’s telling the truth.

Jaycie had to be the person behind these attacks. She’d lied, she had motive, and she was aware of all of Annie’s comings and goings.

“Annie, tell me!” Jaycie insisted.

She was so adamant, so uncharacteristically demanding that Annie felt even more unbalanced. She bought time for herself. “Barbara Rose got a phone call, supposedly from the hospital . . .” Annie told Jaycie about her trip to the mainland, about what she had—hadn’t—found. She spelled out the details coldly and factually as she watched carefully for Jaycie’s every reaction.

By the time she finished, Jaycie’s eyes were full of tears. “You think I was behind that call? You think, after everything you’ve done for me, I’d do this to you?”

Annie steeled herself. “You’re in love with Theo.”

“Theo is a fantasy! Daydreaming about him kept me from reliving everything I went through with Ned. It wasn’t real.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m not blind. Do you think I don’t know you’re lovers? Does it hurt? Yes. Are there times I envy you? Too many. You’re so good at everything. So competent. But you’re not good at this. You’re not good at judging people.” Jaycie turned her back on Annie and stalked from the kitchen.