“Miss Pat mentioned something disturbing,” I say, changing the subject. “Did Ellie’s father kill himself in the woods by my house?”
“Yeah, he did.” She looks down the street where my house waits for me. I have the unnerving sense that it’s alive. That it’s mocking me. “That was a horrible time,” Brenda continues. “And Ellie didn’t even come home for the funeral.”
“Wow.” I try to imagine not caring enough about my father to stay away from his funeral. It’s impossible. “That’s so sad,” I say. “He must have been horribly depressed.”
Brenda looks toward my house again, then turns back to me. “Do you believe in ghosts?” she asks, head cocked as if she’s truly curious about my answer.
“Not at all.”
“Well, that’s good,” she says. “Because that lot your house is on…” She shakes her head. “Between Mr. Danny shooting his head off, and that little Black girl who drowned … and I’m guessing the Klan killed some people back there … and now someone tried to take your daughter … well, it’s just good you don’t believe in ghosts. At least one generation of kids grew up thinking that little girl haunted those woods. There used to be a path that led to a school back there”—she points toward my house—“and no one would walk on it any longer. They’d rather walk an extra quarter mile to school than go by that lake.”
Thanks a heap for telling me that, I think to myself. But I make myself smile. “Well, fortunately I think that’s all just silly.”
She smiles at me. Gives me a wink. “Then you’re the perfect person to live there,” she says.
Chapter 36
ELLIE
1965
Jocelyn and I had a cell to ourselves in the county jail. It was exactly as I’d imagined a jail cell to be: disgusting. But after putting up with the Daweses’ outhouse, I figured I could handle the filthy exposed toilet and brown-stained sink. And after sleeping in my sleeping bag on the hard floor at the school, I could handle the wretched bare mattress—as long as it wasn’t infested. That thought kept me sitting up most of the night, my back against the hard, concrete wall.
They’d divided us up, Jocelyn and me in one car. The boys, including Curry, in the other. The officer didn’t answer when Jocelyn and I asked him what the charges were against us, but we knew it didn’t matter. We were headed to jail, no matter what.
When we were finally alone in the cell, we sat next to each other so we could whisper without any other prisoners overhearing us. The cell across from us was empty, but we could hear women’s voices coming from somewhere nearby. Yelling, mostly. Let me outta here! and Fuck y’all!
So it wasn’t until we were sitting side by side on the cool, filthy floor, our backs against the concrete wall, that Jocelyn whispered to me. “Where’s Win?”
“I got him out of the van when we saw the police go into the building to get y’all,” I said.
“Good,” she said. “I was worried. I hope the boys aren’t getting beaten up or anything.”
“Hope not,” I said, but I was thinking about Win out there in the pouring rain, not knowing which direction to head. At least he was safer out there than he would have been if he’d been found with me.
She smiled. “You’re in love with him,” she said. “Win.”
Oh God. We’d been way too careless tonight. Yet hearing those words warmed me and I couldn’t help my smile. I knew I could trust Jocelyn. “You could tell?” I asked.
“Uh-huh. Not just tonight, either,” she said, as if reading my mind.
I gave her a puzzled look. “How could you know?”
“You never take your eyes off him,” she said.
“Yes, I do too!” I felt the heat rise in my cheeks. There was no way she could know how I felt about Win. I hadn’t even realized my own feelings until the night before when I told him about Mattie.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s mutual. He never takes his eyes off you either.”
How could I have missed that? For a moment, I basked in that thought, but then my throat tightened. “Jocelyn,” I said quietly. “It’s not good.”
She was shaking her head before the words were out of my mouth. “I know,” she said. “And listen, Ellie. If I noticed, you can bet Greg has, too. He’s got his eye on you two. You need to be careful.”
“Rosemary was there tonight,” I said.