48. Norah

NOW

After rousing Alicia and Meera, Norah flew back outside and ran toward Jessica and Miss Fairchild.

"Get your hands off her!" she cried, breaking them apart with such force that Miss Fairchild hit the stone wall of the cottage hard. Jessica would have fallen backward in the opposite direction had Norah not caught her elbow and righted her.

"You violent little thug!" Miss Fairchild gasped. She sounded winded. "You can't help yourself, can you?"

Norah was also out of breath. She tasted bile. She looked at Jessica, who was teary and shamefaced. It was hard to tell from her expression if she was happy or sad to have been interrupted.

Alicia and Meera emerged from the cottage. "What the hell is going on?" Alicia demanded.

Miss Fairchild hesitated. The presence of Meera had rattled her, Norah realized. She'd always had different personas for outsiders, and it was funny to watch as she floundered, unsure what mask to wear.

"I was talking to Jessica when Norah assaulted me—again."

"I was protecting Jessica," Norah said. "Miss Fairchild was hugging her!"

Alicia's gaze moved to Jessica. She looked as appalled as Norah felt.

"Jessica didn't need protection," Miss Fairchild said. "She was just fine—weren't you, Jessica?"

They all looked at Jessica, who gaped back at them like a little girl.

Alicia walked over and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I think you should go, Miss Fairchild," Alicia said.

Miss Fairchild held her hands up, perhaps in an attempt to appear reasonable for Meera's sake. "Listen. I know things ended badly between us, but don't you think this could be an opportunity—now that we've been brought back together again after all these years?"

"Yes," Alicia said. "It's an opportunity for us to get justice for Amy."

Norah came to stand on Jessica's other side. Miss Fairchild watched them, her face twisting bitterly. "For God's sake, when will you girls ever let up about Amy? The police already decided she was nothing but a fantasy."

"When they identify the body as Amy's," Norah said, "which they will, when the coroner sees her extra toe, you're going to have some explaining to do."

"Except they won't identify her—because it's not Amy." She sounded so sure of herself.

"Who is it then? Some other child you killed?"

Miss Fairchild took a breath, as if suddenly overcome by emotion. "Do you really think I'd kill a child? What kind of monster do you think I am?"

She looked to Jessica for help. The fact that she expected support from Jessica after everything she'd done filled Norah with sudden rage.

"What I want to know is how you knew to get rid of Amy that day," she said, narrowing her eyes at Miss Fairchild. "Did you know we were planning to report you, or was it just a coincidence?"

"Oh." Miss Fairchild's gaze flicked to Jessica, and for a moment she seemed almost amused. "You didn't tell them?"

Jessica's cheeks flamed. Norah wasn't sure what was going on, but she took a protective step in front of her sister.

"You girls always seemed so perplexed when I knew things," Miss Fairchild continued, seeming happier now. "Meanwhile, the school was always going on about how smart you were, Norah!"

Norah glanced back over her shoulder. Jessica's head remained down.

"I had an informant, of course. Jessica told me everything. Everything. Right up until that final day."

"What?" It took a moment to reframe her memories. And then she realized: it was obvious. All the little things that no one knew but the three of them. Of course Jessica told her. How else could she have known?

She turned to face her sister. "You told her?"

She recalled the day they'd reported Miss Fairchild. Jessica running back inside for her schoolbag. Jessica had tipped her off that she needed to erase every trace of Amy.

"How could you do that?" Norah cried.

A tear dripped off Jessica's chin.

"You three might be thick as thieves now," Miss Fairchild said, clearly enjoying herself, "but Jessica was loyal to me before she even met you. She probably always will be." She looked triumphant.

Norah's fists began to clench.

"Just to be clear," Alicia said to Miss Fairchild, "there's only one person we blame for any of this, and that's you."

Miss Fairchild rolled her eyes. "Lucky me," she said. "Getting to be the scapegoat for all of your troubles!"

She gave an odd little laugh as she walked a few paces toward her car.

"You're only a scapegoat if you didn't actually do the thing you're being accused of," Norah said.

Miss Fairchild stopped, turned. "Which is what? Killing a child?" She laughed. "What I want to know is, if I'm supposed to be a child killer, why did I let the three of you live?"

It was a good question, Norah realized. One that none of them had an answer for.

"The truth is," Miss Fairchild continued, turning back toward her car, "I'm as keen as you are to find out who is under that house and how they got there."