facts about Jilly."
She was hugging a throw pillow to her chest in a death grip. The sadness in her eyes was heartbreaking.
"I hate talking about her," she whispered.
"I know."
Her shoulders slumped. "There really are monsters in this world. Predators," she said. "Jilly's one of them. Do you know what scared me the most after I read that diary?"
"What?"
"That I would wake up one morning and be just like her. You know, Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde. Genetically, I'm forever linked to her."
"That isn't going to happen, Avery."
"How can you know that?"
"You have a conscience. That's not going to go away. You're nothing like her."
"That's what Dr. Hahn told me," she said.
"Who's Dr. Hahn?"
"A psychiatrist. I was waking up screaming every night, and in desperation, Carrie took me to Dr. Hahn." She added, "Carrie made me promise not to tell anyone because she didn't want people to think I was crazy."
"She was worried about what other people thought?" he asked, trying to keep the censure out of his voice.
"Dr. Hahn was wonderful, and he helped me… cope, I guess you could say. Carrie didn't know why I was having the nightmares because I hadn't told her I'd read the diaries, and I think it was the third or fourth session when Dr. Hahn asked her to come in and I told her then what I had done. She had a fit, of course, but when the doctor had gotten her to calm down, he asked her if he could read the diary, and she agreed. She would have done anything to help me get over what she called my night terrors."
She smiled at John Paul as she swung her legs down from the sofa. "I think the doctor had nightmares after he read them.
I grew up knowing that Jilly was crazy, and Carrie did tell me stories, but they paled in comparison to what was in the diary."
"What did Hahn say about Jilly after he read it? What was his reaction?"
"He was excited."
"Excited?" he repeated, not understanding.
"He was sure Jilly was a pure sociopath, and he wished he'd had the opportunity to study her. Based on what he read, he concluded that Jilly was morally and emotionally stunted, which was why he believed she was incapable of feeling guilt or remorse. Other people's pain certainly didn't make her feel bad. On the contrary," she explained, "she enjoyed hurting people
for no apparent reason. She just liked it. She was a master at blaming others and rewriting history, and she was very deceptive."
John Paul put his feet down on the floor and leaned forward, bracing his arms on his knees.
"She was… amazing, the way she could manipulate people. Everyone loved her, no matter what she did. She was so damned clever."
"Give me an example."
"When she was quite young, she started having fun with pets. She tortured and killed Carrie's cat with gasoline and a match.
She told Carrie what she'd done, but in front of their mother, she cried because, she said, she so loved that cat. One of the neighbors took her to get an ice cream cone to make her feel better. By the time she was a senior in high school, she was into bigger and better. She was the most popular girl in school, of course. Everyone loved Jilly. A girl named Heather Mitchell was voted homecoming queen, and Jilly was voted first attendant. According to Carrie, Jilly was gracious about it at school, but when she came home that afternoon, she went into a rage that lasted for hours. She nearly destroyed the house. Carrie's bedroom suffered the most damage. Not Jilly's room, of course. Then, after dinner, she became real quiet and got that sly look in her eyes and pretended to accept it."
Avery took a breath. The muscles in her arms were aching, and she realized she was gripping the pillow. She let go.
"The next day a beaker of sulfuric acid was missing from the chemistry lab. After school, Jilly got Heather alone, but Carrie
saw her take her arm and lead her down the street. Jilly told Heather that she'd better not show up for homecoming weekend
or she'd be sorry. Heather was a sweet girl, and she was going through a terrible time. Her mother had died two weeks before
of an aneurysm, and the poor girl was still reeling from the shock. When Jilly got through tormenting her, Heather locked herself
in her bedroom, but her father finally got her to tell him what was wrong. He said that Jilly had admitted stealing the acid. She threatened to wait for Heather one day after school when she was all alone in her house and throw the acid in her face."
"Good God."
Avery nodded. "What Carrie wrote wasn't hearsay. She talked to Heather."
"What did Heather's father do?"
"He went to the principal the next morning and demanded that Jilly be expelled. He also went to the police."
"And what did they do?"
"Nothing," she said. "The chief of police was a close friend of my grandmother's, and he wasn't going to do anything that would upset her. Besides, it was one girl's word against the other's. Jilly, of course, denied the incident. My grandmother and Jilly were called into the principal's office that afternoon. Grandmother made Carrie go with them."
"Was Jilly expelled?"
"No," she said, scoffing at the notion. "Did I mention that the principal was a man? His name was Mr. Bennett, and he was a very unhappily married man. His wife was a cold woman and very difficult to get along with, or so Carrie wrote."
"What happened?" John Paul asked, bringing her back to the story.
"Carrie watched Jilly seduce Bennett. Jilly became hysterical. Lots of tears flowing, but it was all a calculated act. The principal rushed over to the sofa where Jilly was and sat down beside her. He put his arm around her to comfort her, but it was Jilly's
body language that… fascinated Carrie… and Bennett's reaction."
She shook her head. "Have you ever seen a woman move like a cat? Carrie said Jilly was like that. When Bennett put his arm around her, she rubbed up against him in an obscene way."
"What did your grandmother do?"
"She was as clueless as ever, according to Carrie. She'd gone out to the front desk to get Jilly a glass of water, but even if she
had stayed, she wouldn't have noticed anything because she didn't want to notice. Carrie wrote that Jilly was clinging to Bennett while she cried. She had her head on his shoulder, but she looked up at Carrie, who was standing behind the principal, and Jilly
had this Cheshire cat smile on her face. When it was over, Bennett threatened to suspend Heather for making up the lie."
"Jeez."
"Like I said, Jilly had a way with men. Some of them became obsessed with her. They would call at all hours of the day and
night. Every once in a while, Carrie would sneak upstairs into Grandmother Lola's bedroom and listen in on the extension. She wrote that the men cried and pleaded, and after Jilly hung up, she could hear her laughing. Oh, how she loved the power she had. She loved manipulating, and she used sex to get what she wanted. Her specialty was destroying married men. I'll bet you can guess who one of those men was," she said.
"Bennett."
"Yes."
"My God," he said. "And all this was going on while she was in high school?" Before Avery could answer, he asked,
"What happened to Heather?"
"She didn't go to homecoming, and Jilly was crowned queen, but that wasn't enough for Jilly. Heather had upset her, and so
she had to be punished. Jilly tormented her. A month passed, and just as Heather was beginning to think Jilly had moved on, she came home from school one day and went up to her room. She had this old teddy bear she kept on her bed. Someone had poured acid all over it. That someone, of course, was Jilly."
John Paul rubbed his jaw and waited until Avery continued.
"Carrie heard about it at school the next day. She went to see Heather's father. He had to stay home with his daughter because she was so distraught, and Carrie told him Jilly wouldn't stop going after Heather and that he needed to get his daughter out of town and not tell anyone where she had gone. Heather was close to a nervous breakdown. She was seeing a therapist," she explained. "And the therapist thought it would be good for Heather to get away from Sheldon Beach. She left during Christmas vacation and didn't come back."