Susan smiled and flounced. "What can I say?" she grinned. "I'm just that clever! So when's Maisie get here? I have to tell you guys what I found out about Misty Sabatino. It's scandalous."

I slept in my new room for the first time — my big, new, empty room... alone. Last night's dream came back to me, but I was too tired to be scared or to worry about ghosts. In fact, I felt like I was finally at home. My sheets and blanket were functional and plain, but at least they were familiar. They were mine, from California. They were the ones I'd had back in Tierson, before I was Marcie, before my life really began.

We'd get new bedclothes soon, something that better suited a teenage girl... but for now I could deal with the ones I'd used way back when.

The night passed in deep and dreamless sleep, and when the sun came through my curtainless windows, I woke, feeling better than I had in a long time. I guess the hard physical work was good for me.

And maybe I was finally over the jet lag!

I dressed in the little room, since no one could see in that window, and I went downstairs. My parents were nowhere to be seen, and from the quiet in the house I guessed that they were still in bed, asleep.

The new house was great. It was huge, and at the moment was filled with boxes, and as silent as... uh, a tomb? a church?

Anyway, it was silent. Silent in a nice way, a good way.

And it was HOME! I *really* liked this house. It had a nice feel, it had a good vibe. It was light and sunny and clean and open. Mom really made a good choice: I had to hand it to her.

I ate some cereal, standing at the counter in the kitchen, then made my tea and some toast. The kitchen table and chairs were set up already, but I took my food into the living room, where I ate and drank standing by the window. I hadn't eaten two bites before I saw a familiar girl walking up the street. I ran outside to meet her.

"Susan! Up here!" I waved. It was a little chilly to be out in a t-shirt, so I backed into the front door as she came up the steps.

"Whoo!" I said, shaking off the cold, which was surprisingly penetrating. "You made it!"

"Yes!" she enthused, "and I didn't have to bring my little sister!"

We hugged each other for some reason, and I took her coat. She didn't want any breakfast, so I wolfed down my toast and carried my tea with me as I showed her around. We made our way silently upstairs, and I showed off my room.

"Now here is a mystery," I told her. "See if you can figure out what this is supposed to be." I opened the door to the little room, and the two of us walked in. "See? It's too narrow for almost anything. Either the door is on the wrong end, or the window shouldn't be there."

Susan took it in without saying a word. She shut the door and looked at the blank end-wall behind it. "This is a dressing room," she said. "See those marks? There used to be a mirror there, as big as the wall.

"And there and there," she continued, pointing to spots on the side walls, "there used to be lights. Oh, maybe they were gas lamps! And they didn't replace them with ordinary lights, which would change things in here quite a bit. And a vanity would go right there, by the window. That way, you get light, but the way this window is placed, no one can see you."

I was amazed. It all made sense. "I did get dressed in here this morning," I told her.

She smiled and flounced. "What can I say?" she grinned. "I'm just that clever! So when's Maisie get here? I have to tell you guys what I found out about Misty Sabatino. It's scandalous."

Susan was not moved by my pleas for a preview or a hint, and she didn't believe that I could pretend to be surprised when I heard it the second time.

"Why did you tell me about it if you weren't going to tell me?" I pouted.

"Do you think it's easy for me to wait?" she countered. "I'm dying to tell!"

"So tell!" I cried.

My father stuck his head in the door. "Hey! Keep it down to a dull roar, will you?"

"Sorry, Dad. Did we wake you?"

"You woke me, Marcie. I didn't hear your friend. But it's okay."

I introduced them, and then Dad went off to wake up properly. Mom followed soon after, and I finished Susan's tour of the upstairs.

After Maisie and Ida arrived, the two mothers worked in the kitchen, and we three girls unpacked books. Dad was replacing the locks on the doors and checking the windows.

As soon as he moved upstairs, I said, "Okay, Susan, spill."

"Huh?" Maisie asked.

"She found out about Misty Sabatino," I replied.

"Okay," Susan said in a low voice. "So I was at the library last night..."

"Oh, whatsit?" Maisie said. "The evil twin stuff?"

"Right," Susan said, and began again. "So I was at the library last night, and I found a small news item about Misty Sabatino's death. It said that she died of heart failure."

"What!?" Maisie and I shrieked.

"Shh!" Susan cautioned with a glance toward the kitchen.

"But the nun said she was killed by a drunk driver!" I hissed.

"So the nun lied?" Maisie asked in an undertone.

Susan waved away the questions and went on. "The newspaper also said that she died at home, alone. Now, I *would* have stopped there, if the librarian-nun hadn't told us that lie..."

I began to say, "If she died at home, alone..."

"Right," Maisie finished my thought. "There's no way she was killed by a drunk driver, unless he drove up those stairs."

"No," Susan agreed. "I figured there was more to the story."

"And was there?" Maisie queried.

"I kept going through the paper, but in the weeks that followed, the only other reference I found was a letter to the editor from an anonymous BYHS student."

"If she was anonymous, how do you know she was from BYHS?" I asked.

"Good question, Nancy," Maisie commented waggishly.

"She said she was a BYHS student," Susan replied. "Anyway, the thing is, she talked about amphetamines and weight control."

"Huh?"

"Back then, apparently, a lot of people were taking amphetamines to lose weight."

"Appetite suppressant," Maisie explained.

"Doctors would prescribe them; you could get them at the pharmacy," Susan added. "I guess they didn't know how dangerous they were."

"Yikes!" I commented.

"The long and the short of it is this: the letter pretty much said that amphetamines were what killed Misty Sabatino. The writer didn't say so directly, but she managed to make it clear." From her bag she pulled out two photocopies of an old newspaper and handed one to Maisie and one to me.

"Whoever this girl was," Susan continued, "she must have worked very hard on this letter, because she tells a lot without actually saying anything explicitly. She talks about peer pressure and body image, but she also lays specific stress on family pressure."

I tried to read the article, but it was hard to do that and listen to Susan at the same time.

"Why don't you put it away and read it later," she suggested. "It's amazing, but you really have to pay attention to get it all."

I could see the wheels turning inside Maisie's head. She started off saying, "So... family pressure... evil twin... Ms. Overmore and Mrs. Wix don't speak..." she nodded several times and gave Susan and me a significant look.

"Oh, you don't think–" I put in.

Susan, triumphant, tied it all up: "Ms. Overmore wrote this letter. She blames Mrs. Wix for making Misty feel fat. Misty took amphetamines to try to lose weight, and maybe she overdid it. She took too many pills, or maybe it was simply a side effect, but in any case, she suffered heart failure."

"... and died upstairs, in your room!" Maisie added, looking at me.

"Thanks, Maze," I said. "I really needed that picture in my mind."

© 2007 Kaleigh Way