Remember Me by Christopher Pike Page B

for the paramedics."

    "Before you called the paramedics, before you saw Shari. Did you notice Amanda leaving the bathroom?"

    "Yes."

    "You're absolutely sure?"

    "I noticed her in the bedroom behind me, yeah."

    "Jo," Garrett said. "Were Amanda and Jeff both in the living room when you went to get them?"

    "Yes. They were sitting on the couch together."

    "Listening to the music?"

    "No," Jo said. "The music was off."

    "Who turned it off?" Garrett asked.

    "I did," Amanda said. "It was giving me a headache."

    Garrett stopped his barrage of questions for a full minute to study his notes.

    The gang watched and waited without making a peep.

    "Let me sum this up," he said finally. "And if I've made a mistake anywhere, let me know." He straightened himself up in his chair. "Shari jumped up from the floor and ran to the balcony. A couple of minutes later Amanda went into Beth's bedroom. She didn't see Shari on the balcony. She didn't know if the door leading to the balcony was open or closed. She went into the bathroom. A minute later Jeff came into the bedroom. He noticed Shari on the balcony.
    He also noticed that the bathroom light was on and the bathroom door was closed.

    He definitely saw that the door to the balcony was shut, although he wasn't sure if it was locked from the inside. He left Beth's bedroom for the master bedroom, where he stayed in the bathroom for a couple of minutes. Less than a minute after Jeff left the living room, Beth entered her bedroom. She stayed there for a little while doing nothing.

    "She noticed that there was someone in the bathroom and that the door to the balcony was locked. She didn't see Shari on the balcony, however. Not even when she unlocked the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the balcony.

    But she did see Jo on the balcony, even though she wasn't sure if Jo had been there before she was or not. And it's feasible that Jo did reach the balcony before Beth. It, in fact, appears likely, because Jo left the living room only seconds after Beth did.

    But whereas Beth dawdled in her bedroom before stepping onto the balcony, Jo went straight from the living room to the balcony."

    "Beth was out there before me." Jo interrupted.

    Garrett nodded thoughtfully. "We have a bit of a problem here. If Jo and Dan left the living room only a few seconds after Beth, and Beth hung out in her bedroom for a little while before going out on the balcony, then Dan should have caught up with Beth while she was still in her bedroom."

    Garrett turned to Daniel and Beth. "Well?"

    "Jo and I didn't leave that soon after Beth," Daniel said.

    'It was more like a minute."

    "Maybe half a minute," Jo said.

    "Did I see you in the bedroom?" Beth asked Daniel.

    "No." Daniel shook his head. "No."

    "Why did you put your arm around Beth when you did catch up with her on the balcony?" Garrett asked Daniel.

    "We're friends," Daniel said quickly.

    "Are you good friends?" Garrett asked.

    "Pretty good."

    "Tell him about the Jacuzzi, Amanda," I snouted.

    But Amanda was not telling.

    "Do you two date?" Garrett asked.

    "No," Daniel and Beth said simultaneously.

    Garrett found the coherence mildly amusing. But he frowned as he rechecked his notepad. "It seems to me that Shari must have jumped after Jeff entered the bedroom but before Beth did. Do the rest of you agree?"

    Everyone, with the exception of Jimmy and Amanda, nodded. Jimmy didn't look like he was doing much of anything except trying to breathe and stop thinking. But Amanda spoke up.

    "Do you think that one of us pushed Shari from the balcony?" she asked.

    "Why do you ask?" Garrett said, and he might have been toying with her a bit, not knowing he had picked the wrong person.

    "Because you keep asking us so many questions."

    Garrett shrugged. "It's my job."

    "I see," Amanda said evenly.

    Garrett held her eyes a moment. He might have been admiring their cool beauty. I don't know. He certainly couldn't have suspected her of foul