“Sorry!” Percy repeated dully.
“I’m glad I didn’t kill Clarissa, too,” Mabel said, still in the same monotone, “but I had to try because she knew and someday she might have told Percy and I wanted Percy to love me.”
“Love you! You fool!” Percy breathed.
Mabel seemed to hear nothing but her own voice. “I’d have missed Clarissa,” she crooned. “Pretty Clarissa. We live so close and we’re always together. But I had to try to kill her because I was afraid… and I wanted Percy to love me.”
“Get your coat now, Mabel,” Shayne said. “It’s getting chilly out. We’ll go downtown together and Clarissa will come to see you tomorrow.”
“When I was little,” she said, “I used to try to wear Clarissa’s things, because I thought they’d make me pretty, too.” She walked obediently to a closet and took out a long, black coat. “This used to be Clarissa’s, but it went out of style and she gave it to me.”
“How lucky you were,” Shayne said, “that you and Clarissa were the same type and you could wear her clothes.”
She seemed to hear him then, and for the first time since he had met her, she smiled.