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I stare at her I can’t believe she didn’t recognize Lindsay back when she’d been looking into the pot It’s true I probably saw Lindsay da did, on account of her affection for nizing her Is it?

Or is this the job I’ the faces of dead people who’ve been boiled for a while? What kind of position would this even qualify me for? I mean, there can’t be any demand for someone with a skill like this, except maybe in the few societies that are left that still practice cannibalism Are there even any of these?

"Yes," I say, in answer to Magda’s question "Yes, I’ain "Oh, no!" she says, with a wail "Heather, no!"

"Magda," I say, alarmed by her reaction Which, really, if you think about it, is way more natural than mine--which had been to flee the area for the warmth of the St Vincent’s ER Or Sarah’s, which had been to make bad jokes "I’m so sorry But if it’s any consolation, Cooper told led first Iher head chopped off That didn’t happen until later"

Not surprisingly, Magda seems to find little corief counseling Maybe I should go into accounting

"It’s just…" Magda sobs, "it’s just that Lindsay--she was so sweet! She loved it here so a to anybody She didn’t deserve to die like that, Heather Not Lindsay"

"Oh, Magda" I pat her arda’s nails has been painted in the New York College school colors of gold and white A aht Lindsay never did anything to deserve what happened to her" That we know of

Oh, see? There it is again! Where does that kind of jaded cynicism even come fro to put ether, only to be told I have to take remedial math

Can it?

"People are gonna try to aze on onna try to say, Well, she shouldn’t have been seeing solike that But it wasn’t Lindsay’s fault she was so pretty and popular It wasn’t her fault boys buzzed around her like bees to honey"

Or flies around horsethe victim? I’m sure Sarah, if she were here, could tell me Is it out of some desire to distance myself from what happened to Lindsay, so I can be, like, Well, that could never happen toaround le me and then chop my head off?

Or is there so more to Lindsay’s death than a "random act of violence"? Was she really all sunshine and school spirit? Or was she actually hiding soda reaches out and grasps ht that it hurts a little Her eyes--still swiht as the rhinestones she sometimes has ida’s carefully lined lips treot to find the person who did this to her You’ve got to find hi hio far due to Magda’s death grip on s," I say "Look, I appreciate your faith in ot to remember, I’m just the assistant hall director…"

"But you’re the only one who believed those other two girls, last seht! Sht their killer--because he didn’t even think they’d been killed But you, Heather…you knew You’ve just got this ith people…"

"Oh," I say, rolling ht"

"You ood at it Because you don’t know you can do it I’m tellin’ you, Heather, you’re the only one who can catch the person who did this to Lindsay--who can prove she really was a nice girl I’da," I say My hand is starting to sweat frorip on it "I’ation I pro? Doesn’t she know that this guy, whoever it is, isn’t shoving people down elevator shafts? He’s strangling the their bodies Hello, that is a lot different It’s a lot ht to a good and proper rest," Magda insists "And she can’t have it until her da," I say uncorief counselor respond, I wonder, if one of his patients de of the individual the patient was grieving over? "I think you’ve been watching a few too many episodes of Unsolved Mysteries"

Apparently this was not the proper way to respond, since Magda just clutches my hand harder and says, "Will you just think on it, Heather? Just think on it for a while?"

Magda had once told me that, in her youth, she had been a beauty queen, runner-up for Miss Dominican Republic two years in a row It isn’t actually that hard to believe now, as she gazes up at h Beneath all that h hair, there’s a dainty loveliness that the entire contents of the Duane Reade cosh I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty face I mean, that’s how I ended up saddled with Lucy, for God’s sake

"I’ll think about it," I say, and arip on da…I don’t want to get my head chopped off, either"