Page 138 of Not Quite Dead Yet

She flicked the catch and tried again, pushing the door open.

Reggie was first out, barging past, off to dig a hole for his sock and lose it forever.

Then Jet stepped out, then Billy, not one word between them, like they both knew exactly where they were supposed to go without ever needing to say it.

To the pool.

It was covered now, a white plastic cover, creamy against the surrounding ash-wood deck. Wouldn’t be uncovered until the summer, or late spring, or whenever Dad decided they’d had two sunny weekends in a row and it was time.

Jet wondered then if they’d ever replaced the water, or if it was still the same water that drowned Emily, hoping the chlorine would take the death out of it.

Her footsteps echoed on the deck, coming to a stop. Billy’s too.

‘You were here that day.’ Jet stared at the pool. ‘Do you remember it?’

Billy chewed his lip. ‘As much as any eleven-year-old can remember a day like that.’

Jet nodded. ‘Tell me again.’

‘When we found her?’

‘The whole thing.’

Billy took a breath, filled himself. ‘It was a nice day. I was out in the yard with Mom, helping her plant a new flower bed. Sunflower seeds, I think. They still grow there now. Dad was inside cooking, or maybe he was out at the store picking up stuff for a barbecue later. He came back, and he said Luke had been knocking on the door, asking to come play with me. Which was …’ Billy paused. ‘Well, Luke never wanted to play with me. He was thirteen, I was eleven. Andyouwere mine – m-my best friend. But you were out at that spelling thing, so Dad asked if me and Luke wanted to play soccer outside. We played for a little while. And then … see, I was thinking about this last night, after we found what we found. And I thought it was strange at the time, but I haven’t thought about it in years.’

‘What?’ Jet looked up from the pool.

‘So, we’re playing soccer, one on one, and Dad’s referee and Mom’s still gardening. And Dad throws the ball for us, but it goes right into the bushes at the back of the yard, against the fence. We both go in, me and Luke, to find the ball, because it was really overgrown back there. And I find it, and we come back out. And Luke’s arms got all scratched up, and I remember Dad making a big deal out of it, seeing if Luke wanted a Band-Aid, asking Mom to go inside to get some cream. Think he felt responsible. But …’ Billy locked eyes with her. ‘I don’t know how much you can trust my memory. But the thing is, what I remember –’

‘– Billy.’

‘I think Luke’s arms were already scratched upbeforewe went into the bushes. He was wearing a T-shirt, and I was sure of that at the time.’

Jet studied his stormy eyes. ‘What kind of scratches?’

‘Lots of them,’ Billy said, ‘all over both arms. Little ones. The kind you’d get if you climbed through a bush and got scratched up by thorns, or if someone scratched you, like in a fight. The police asked about them later, when we were giving our statements. We all told them about the bushes: me, Mom, Dad, Luke. But …’ Billy’s eyes darkened, lines pulling around them. ‘Last night, I was thinking, there’s something else too. Luke said he hadn’t been in the pool at all that day. That’s what he told us, and the police after.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ Jet said. ‘He hadn’t.’

‘He said he’d been inside all day, playing PlayStation. Didn’t know where Emily was, got bored, came around to see if I was free to play.’

‘Yeah, that sounds right.’

‘Except,’ Billy said, ‘when we were playing soccer, when I got close, to tackle him, I think I could smell it on him, in his hair.’

‘What?’

‘Chlorine,’ Billy said, eyes widening, mouth too, a flash of his bottom teeth.

Jet looked back at the covered pool, a switch in her heart, throwing off the pattern.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked.

‘No, I’m not sure. It was so long ago. And maybe it’s only because of what we saw in Emily’s messages. But I think … I don’t know. Sorry.’

Jet chewed the inside of her cheek, felt nothing, only knew she’d broken the skin when she tasted the metal bite of blood. It was seventeen years ago; Billy was just a kid. Jet couldn’t really trust her own memories of that day, so that ruled Billy’s out too. Lukedidgo in the pool later,after.Billy was probably getting confused.

‘What happened next?’ she said.

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