Tess Gerritsen: Body Double

When he stepped back, her breath flew out. She looked down and saw that the gap was now modestly pinned shut.

“Better?” he asked.

“Oh. Yes!” She paused to compose herself. Said, with queenly dignity: “Thank you, Elijah. That’s very thoughtful of you.”

A moment passed. Crows cawed, and the autumn leaves were like bright flames engulfing the branches above.

“You think you could help me with something, Alice?” he asked.

“With what?”

Oh, stupid, stupid answer. You should just have said yes! Yes, I’ll do anything for you, Elijah Lank.

“I’ve got this project I’m doing for biology. I need a partner to help me with it, and I don’t know who else to ask.”

“What kind of project is it?”

“I’ll show you. We’ve got to go up by my house.”

His house. She’d never been to a boy’s house.

She nodded. “Let me drop my books off at home.”

He pulled his bike from the rack. It was almost as battered as hers, the fenders going rusty, the vinyl peeling off the seat. That old bike made her like him even more. We’re a real pair, she thought. Tony Curtis and me.

They rode to her house first. She didn’t invite him in; she was too embarrassed to let him see the shabby furniture, the paint peeling off the walls. She just ran inside, dumped her book bag on the kitchen table, and ran out.

Unfortunately, her brother’s dog, Buddy, did as well. Just as she came out the front door, he scampered out in a blur of black and white.

“Buddy!” she yelled. “You come back here!”

“He doesn’t listen very well, does he?” said Elijah.

“Because he’s a stupid dog. Buddy! ”

The mutt glanced back, tail wagging, then trotted off down the road.

“Oh, never mind,” she said. “He’ll come home when he’s ready.” She climbed onto her bike. “So where do you live?”

“Up on Skyline Road. You ever been up there?”

“No.”

“It’s kind of a long ride up the hill. Think you can make it?”

She nodded. I can do anything for you.

They pedaled away from her house. She hoped that he’d turn onto Main Street, past the malt shop where the kids always hung out after school playing the jukebox and sipping their sodas. They’ll see us go riding by together, she thought, and wouldn’t that set the girls’ tongues wagging? There goes Alice and Elijah-with-the-blue-eyes.

But he didn’t lead her down Main Street. Instead, he turned up Locust Lane, where there were hardly any houses, just the backside of a few businesses and the employee parking lot for the Neptune ’s Bounty Cannery. Oh, well. She was riding with him, wasn’t she? Close enough behind him to watch his thighs pumping, his rear end perched on the seat.

He glanced back at her, and his black hair danced in the wind. “You doing okay, Alice?”

“I’m fine.” Though the truth was, she was getting out of breath because they had left the village and were starting to climb up the mountain. Elijah must ride his bike up Skyline every day, so he was used to it; he seemed hardly winded, his legs moving like powerful pistons. But she was panting, pushing herself onward. A flash of fur caught her eye. She glanced sideways and saw that Buddy had followed them. He looked tired too, his tongue hanging way out as he ran to keep up.

“Go home!”

“What did you say?” Elijah glanced back.

“It’s that stupid dog again,” she panted. “He won’t stop following us. He’s gonna-gonna get lost.”

She glared at Buddy, but he just kept trotting along beside her in his cheerful dumb dog way. Well, go ahead, she thought. Tucker yourself out. I don’t care.

They kept moving up the mountain, the road winding in gentle switchbacks. Through the trees she caught occasional glimpses of Fox Harbor far below, the water like battered copper in the afternoon sunlight. Then the trees became too thick, and she could see only the forest, clothed in brilliant reds and oranges. The leaf-strewn road curved ahead of them.

When at last Elijah pedaled to a stop, Alice ’s legs were so tired she could barely stand without trembling. Buddy was nowhere in sight; she only hoped he could find his own way home, because she sure wasn’t going to go looking for him. Not now, not with Elijah standing here, smiling at her, his eyes glittering. He leaned his bike up against a tree and hoisted his book bag over his shoulder.

“So where’s your house?” she asked.

“It’s that driveway there.” He pointed down the road, to a mailbox rusting on a post.

“Aren’t we going to your house?”

“Naw, my cousin’s home sick today. She was throwing up all night, so let’s not go in the house. Anyway, my project’s out here, in the woods. Leave your bike. We’re gonna have to walk.”

She propped her bike up next to his and followed him, her legs still wobbly from the ride up the mountain. They tramped into woods. The trees were dense here, the ground thickly carpeted by leaves. Gamely she followed him, waving at mosquitoes. “So your cousin lives with you?” she asked.

“Yeah, she came to stay with us last year. I guess it’s permanent now. Got nowhere else to go.”

“Your parents don’t mind?”

“It’s just my dad. My mom’s dead.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say about that. Finally murmured a simple “I’m sorry,” but he didn’t seem to hear her.

The undergrowth became thicker, and brambles scratched her bare legs. She had trouble keeping up with him. He was pulling ahead of her, leaving her with her skirt snagged on blackberry canes.

“Elijah!”

He didn’t answer. He just kept moving ahead like a bold explorer, his book bag slung over his shoulder.

“Wait!”

“Do you want to see this or don’t you?”

“Yes, but-”

”Then come on. ” His voice had taken on an impatient edge and it startled her. He stood a few yards ahead, looking back at her, and she noticed that his hands were clenched into fists.

“Okay,” she said meekly. “I’m coming.”

A few yards farther, the woods suddenly opened up into a clearing. She saw an old stone foundation, all that remained of a long-gone farmhouse. Elijah glanced back at her, his face dappled by afternoon light.

“It’s right here,” he said.

“What is?”

He bent down and pulled aside two wooden boards, revealing a deep hole. “Take a look in there,” he said. “I spent three weeks digging that.”

Slowly she approached the pit and stared inside. The afternoon light was slanting low behind the trees, and the bottom of the hole was in shadow. She could make out a layer of dead leaves, which had accumulated at the bottom. A rope was curled over the side.

“Is this to trap a bear, or something?”

“It could. If I laid some branches over it, to hide the opening, I could catch a lot of things. Even a deer.” He pointed into the hole. “Look, you see it?”

She leaned in closer. Something gleamed faintly in the shadows below; chips of white that peeked out from beneath the scattering of leaves.

“What is it?”

“That’s my project.” He reached for the rope and pulled.

At the bottom of the pit, leaves rustled, boiled up. Alice stared as the rope went taut, as Elijah hauled up something from the shadows. A basket. He pulled it out of the hole and set it on the ground. Brushing aside the leaves, he revealed what had gleamed white at the pit’s bottom.

It was a small skull.

As he picked off the leaves, she saw clumps of black fur and spindly ribs. A knobby chain of spine. Leg bones as delicate as twigs.

“Isn’t that something? It doesn’t even smell anymore,” he said. “Been down there almost seven months now. Last time I checked it, there was still some meat on it. Neat how even that disappears. It started to rot real fast after it got warm, back in May.”