The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 by James Patterson, Otto Penzler Page A
Authors: James Patterson, Otto Penzler
Tags: United States, Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Genre Fiction, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Anthologies, Anthologies & Literature Collections, Collections & Anthologies, Short Stories & Anthologies
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only a minute, maybe two, but it feels as if she’s been holding it her whole life, and it is heavy. Her eyes are big and round as quarters, and Ms. McCreary can see the whites all the way around her dark pupils. Behind her, all of the girls are huddled around Tabatha’s body, and one of the girls—Charlotte—is sniffling.
Rosalee
, Ms. McCreary says again. She steps toward the slight girl, whose dark hair is pulled severely behind her head, making her look older than she is, and whose fear makes her look younger than she is. The teacher holds out her hand, slowly, slowly, her palm up. It is the universal sign for
Give me the gun.
The barrel begins to drop, slowly, slowly. Danielle stands suddenly and says,
She killed Tabatha
in a voice that is a sob and an accusation and a taunt; it is all of these things.
I didn’t
, Rosalee cries out. Her words come out high and hollow; they echo without resonance. She spins around wildly, points the gun at Danielle, and Ms. McCreary shouts,
Rosalee!
III
Rosalee will be charged with five counts. She will be convicted of three counts, and she will serve four years at a juvenile correctional facility, where she will read Sylvia Plath and ZZ Packer and keep to herself.
When she is released, she will go to community college, where she will major in women’s studies. She will become interested in acting, and join a small troupe at a local theater.
She will be quiet and withdrawn, dark and inscrutable. Men will fall in love with her, or rather, they will try to fall in love with her, but she will not let them. People will try to get close to her, but she will push them away.
In her most acclaimed performance, she will star in the role of Wendy, in
Peter Pan.
She will be most convincing when she plays Old Wendy and her young daughter Jane asks her what it is she sees in the darkness.
Nothing
, Wendy says.
Yes
, counters Jane.
You see when you were a little girl.
And Rosalee says,
That is a long time ago, sweetheart.
For the rest of her life, she will be always doing and going and performing. She will be always remembering.
I
Danielle Dewitt was a happy, occasionally colicky baby.
Her older half-sister Sophia dressed her up in cashmere and anointed her with makeup when Danielle was four; she looked like a painted porcelain doll.
When she was five, her older half-brother Colin taught her how to fish. She caught a small salmon and threw it back, horrified.
At Mimi’s Finishing School for Children, she learned how to read a French dinner menu. At home, she learned how to read people, how to put herself at the advantage.
When she was nine, she stole her sister’s beloved diamond stud earrings and flushed them down the toilet.
She considered herself a good, charitable person; she made her father donate to the whales every Christmas.
Last week she conceived of and forced the girls to carry out the prank on the Mexican girl. Danielle said that each girl had to supply an “item” so that none could be exempted if they got caught, except for Tabatha, because Tabatha was a virgin and so hadn’t begun using tampons yet. She, however, acted as lookout.
II
Danielle, who had stood up and stepped forward a moment ago, made brave by the presence of an adult, steps back again. The barrel of the gun is shaking wildly in Rosalee’s hand; if she pulls the trigger, the bullet could fall harmlessly wide, or it could hit Danielle right between her pretty blue eyes, a fatal blemish above her straight, narrow nose. Rosalee says,
I didn’t kill her, it was an accident
, and behind her Ms. McCreary is nodding her head,
Yes, yes. Of course it was.
Rosalee says to Danielle, motioning with the silver barrel,
Tell her. Tell her it was an accident.
And Danielle says,
It was
while she’s exhaling, so they can hardly hear her.
And tell her
, Rosalee says.
Tell her what you did to me.
Danielle’s eyes flit, imperceptibly, to Ms. McCreary and then back to Rosalee.
We didn’t do
Rosalee
, Ms. McCreary says again. She steps toward the slight girl, whose dark hair is pulled severely behind her head, making her look older than she is, and whose fear makes her look younger than she is. The teacher holds out her hand, slowly, slowly, her palm up. It is the universal sign for
Give me the gun.
The barrel begins to drop, slowly, slowly. Danielle stands suddenly and says,
She killed Tabatha
in a voice that is a sob and an accusation and a taunt; it is all of these things.
I didn’t
, Rosalee cries out. Her words come out high and hollow; they echo without resonance. She spins around wildly, points the gun at Danielle, and Ms. McCreary shouts,
Rosalee!
III
Rosalee will be charged with five counts. She will be convicted of three counts, and she will serve four years at a juvenile correctional facility, where she will read Sylvia Plath and ZZ Packer and keep to herself.
When she is released, she will go to community college, where she will major in women’s studies. She will become interested in acting, and join a small troupe at a local theater.
She will be quiet and withdrawn, dark and inscrutable. Men will fall in love with her, or rather, they will try to fall in love with her, but she will not let them. People will try to get close to her, but she will push them away.
In her most acclaimed performance, she will star in the role of Wendy, in
Peter Pan.
She will be most convincing when she plays Old Wendy and her young daughter Jane asks her what it is she sees in the darkness.
Nothing
, Wendy says.
Yes
, counters Jane.
You see when you were a little girl.
And Rosalee says,
That is a long time ago, sweetheart.
For the rest of her life, she will be always doing and going and performing. She will be always remembering.
I
Danielle Dewitt was a happy, occasionally colicky baby.
Her older half-sister Sophia dressed her up in cashmere and anointed her with makeup when Danielle was four; she looked like a painted porcelain doll.
When she was five, her older half-brother Colin taught her how to fish. She caught a small salmon and threw it back, horrified.
At Mimi’s Finishing School for Children, she learned how to read a French dinner menu. At home, she learned how to read people, how to put herself at the advantage.
When she was nine, she stole her sister’s beloved diamond stud earrings and flushed them down the toilet.
She considered herself a good, charitable person; she made her father donate to the whales every Christmas.
Last week she conceived of and forced the girls to carry out the prank on the Mexican girl. Danielle said that each girl had to supply an “item” so that none could be exempted if they got caught, except for Tabatha, because Tabatha was a virgin and so hadn’t begun using tampons yet. She, however, acted as lookout.
II
Danielle, who had stood up and stepped forward a moment ago, made brave by the presence of an adult, steps back again. The barrel of the gun is shaking wildly in Rosalee’s hand; if she pulls the trigger, the bullet could fall harmlessly wide, or it could hit Danielle right between her pretty blue eyes, a fatal blemish above her straight, narrow nose. Rosalee says,
I didn’t kill her, it was an accident
, and behind her Ms. McCreary is nodding her head,
Yes, yes. Of course it was.
Rosalee says to Danielle, motioning with the silver barrel,
Tell her. Tell her it was an accident.
And Danielle says,
It was
while she’s exhaling, so they can hardly hear her.
And tell her
, Rosalee says.
Tell her what you did to me.
Danielle’s eyes flit, imperceptibly, to Ms. McCreary and then back to Rosalee.
We didn’t do
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