Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan Page B

Don't bring it up to her, okay? It'll piss her off, and we don't want her bailing out on us. She's already starting to get edgy, and that's not good."
     
    "I work as hard as she does," Kyra complained. "Digging up all that information isn't easy."
     
    "You're a miracle girl, Carrot Top," Eric told her, ruffling her hair. "I loved that stuff you got on Debbie's sister and the bodybuilder. Where did you come up with that anyway?"
     
    "I overheard it in the school rest room," Kyra said. "I was in one of the stalls, and Misty and Leanne were gossiping while they combed their hair."
     
    "The more personal stuff like that you get, the better," Eric said. "Nobody will ever guess it's coming from you. It's common knowledge that you and Sarah can't stand each other. For this Friday night I want stuff that is really intimate, stuff that nobody knows, and I mean nobody. Think you can manage that?"
     
    "I don't know," Kyra said doubtfully. "There's just so much you can get by eavesdropping on conversations. I don't want to look suspicious. And the really hot stuff doesn't get talked about in public."
     
    "You're right," Eric said. "That's the stuff people talk about to shrinks. Or to doctors. Or to religious counselors, like Reverend Morris. He probably keeps notes on the people who come to him for counseling. Is there any chance those might be on file at the church?"
     
    "Possibly," Kyra said uncomfortably. "But I wouldn't have access to it."
     
    "Your mom is church secretary, right?"
     
    "She doesn't sit in on counseling sessions. They're private."
     
    "But I imagine she types up the notes?"
     
    "Yes, probably," Kyra said.
     
    "I bet your mom knows things about the residents of Pine Crest that would curl your hair. Who knows, between now and Friday, she might slug down a few glasses of vino and pop out with the answers to questions that were put to her just right by her loving daughter. It's always a possibility, don't you think?"
     
    He leaned across the space between them and brushed his lips against hers.
     
    "What do you say, babe?"
     
    "Who knows?" Kyra said, trying to act nonchalant and hoping he couldn't hear the pounding of her heart. "I guess anything's possible."
     
    CHAPTER TEN
     
    Sarah knew she should get the book read so that she could swap with Charlie, but she couldn't seem to make herself do it. After all, she told herself, Thanksgiving was still two weeks away, and there were more immediate demands upon her time—other homework to do, letters to write to Gillian and Lindsay (she restrained herself, with effort, from writing to Jon, as she had already written to him twice since receiving his last postcard), and a good deal of housework and cooking, since Rosemary still had only limited use of her arm and Ted insisted that he didn't "have the touch for women's work." There was an algebra test to study for, and even some social activity, as Eric invited her to the movies Wednesday evening. She found it a bit disappointing that he took her straight home afterward instead of stopping at the Burger Barn, where the high-school crowd gathered after dates, but Eric was quick to veto that idea when she suggested it.
     
    "You can't afford to get chummy with the same lads whose fortunes you're telling," he said. "We don't want Madam Zoltanne to lose her mystique."
     
    On the plus side, he kissed her good night when he brought her home.
     
    "Did anybody ever tell you that you're a knockout?" he murmured, holding her close for a moment, his cheek pressed to hers as if he didn't want to lose contact.
     
    "Not for a while," Sarah answered softly. "I mean, never here in Pine Crest."
     
    "Then let me be the first," Eric whispered, giving her a quick, tight squeeze before releasing her. "I bet you'll look like a movie star in a prom dress."
     
    It wasn't exactly a promise of things to come, but it did suggest that there might be nice times in store for them.
     
    Two nights later, when she informed Rosemary that