Page 19 of My Twin Sister

I use a page from Sheriff Gibbs’s book and wait for her to say more. She didn’t pull me away from everyone just to tell me who her sister was.

“The police buried a body and said you were dead. Frank Gibbs was the one to identify you.”

I nod.

“I thought it was weird back then. Lake Superior doesn’t give up her dead. They rarely find anyone. But they found you.”

“Except they didn’t,” I say.

“Except they didn’t.”

“They never found Morgan,” I say.

“No,” she says. “They barely looked. The case was closed out of nowhere, it seemed. Even though Morgan would never go in the lake. She hated cold water.”

I remember that about her. The few times she hung out with me and my friends at the beach, she refused to get in. I loved the icy-cold water. No one can go in for very long without becoming hypothermic. But our beach got the most sun in the shallow bay, so it wasn’t as bad. I always swam out to the cove of trees to make out with Wyatt in private.

“They said she was drinking that night, but I don’t think she was,” Brooke continues.

“She didn’t hang out with her old crowd anymore. She didn’t drink anymore.” I confirm what I knew back then. Or what I think I knew.

She nods. “Then they closed the case after talking to almost no one. And when I kept asking questions, I was arrested for possession of marijuana even though I’ve never smoked once in my life.”

“What?” I don’t remember anything about that.

“Yep. After I moved home, I got a job at the bowling alley. I was pulled over on my way home. They searched my car and said they found a stash under my seat.”

I’m not sure what to say. Isn’t that the go-to line? It isn’t mine. I’ve never seen those drugs before.

But then I remember conversations I had with Morgan. How she felt like the black sheep because her older sister was straight as an arrow. She loved her sister and she didn’t want to keep letting her down. It was a big reason she joined cross-country and stopped hanging out with her old friends.

“Are you saying the cop planted it in your car?” I ask.

“That’s what I’m saying.” Brooke’s eyes go to something behind me.

I turn around to see Geny approaching us.

“Take my number,” she says. “We can talk later.”

I take out my cell phone and hand it to her so she can type in her number. She hands it back to me and walks away before Geny gets to us.

“Is everything okay?” Geny asks.

“Yeah.” I watch Brooke’s back as she goes to the parking lot.

I look at my phone, still open to the screen Brooke put her number into. It’s typed into the notes app with her name and a note.

Please don’t tell anyone what we talked about.

“What did she want?” Geny asks.

“She just wanted to say hi,” I say. “I was friends with her sister, Morgan. Morgan died in high school, remember? She said she just felt like Morgan would have wanted her to say hi.”

Geny stares at me, but I smile and take her hand.

“Let’s get back to the game.”

We walk back to the stands, but I don’t see Wyatt and Frank. Not right away. But then I spot them a little way away from the bleachers on the opposite side of where we just were. Frank has his back to me, but I can see Wyatt’s face. He looks upset. Angry maybe?