Page 54 of Poison Wood

“I guess he’s lucky y’all are still so close,” Kat says.

The thorn now feels more like a blade. Her words sound as loaded as my father’s shotgun. I don’t want to take the bait, but the high road seems to be too congested for me to get on right now. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Kat says, bringing one manicured hand to her chest. “Oh my God, Rita. Nothing. It’s just I know him sending you to Poison Wood was hard. And it gave you like trust issues and stuff. Like it did for Summer,” she says.

“Don’t bring me into this,” Summer says.

“You know what I mean,” Kat says to Summer. “You two weren’t like me,” she says to me. “Y’all were mad at your dads for dumping you at that school, when I was giddy. I couldn’t wait to get out of my house. I didn’t trust my parents to start with, so, you know, no trustwas broken. But I mean with your dad. You know, it’s got to be hard right now.”

I push my water away. I want to stand up and walk out of here. But I stay in my seat. This isn’t the dining hall, and I’m not fifteen anymore.

“I don’t remember you being overjoyed to be at Poison Wood.”

Kat shrugs. “Maybe not at first. But it grew on me.”

Summer shivers. She has turned an odd shade of green, and I’m worried she’s going to be sick right here at the table.

“You okay?” I say to her.

“Can we move on?” she says.

After an uncomfortable minute, I say, “We need to talk about Heather.”

“And Johnny Adair,” Summer says.

“And the skull,” Katrina says in a low voice. “Who do we think that belonged to?” She grins and looks at me.

“I’ve spoken with someone who thinks one of the St. Matthew’s boys was there that night,” I say.

“What?” Kat says.

Summer sits up straighter. “Who said that?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I say.

“Had to have been someone that was there,” Kat says. She sips her lemon water. “Not a long list.”

“Did either of you see anyone else there that night?”

They both shake their heads.

“Look,” Kat says. “I think it’s pretty obvious that Heather did something that night and took off. And then she let a dude rot in prison for it.”

“I don’t know,” I say.

“I agree with Kat,” Summer says.

“Heather was trouble,” Kat says. “I heard they were thinking about sending her somewhere else.”

Dr. Fontenot had mentioned the girl with borderline personality disorder be transferred. I would have guessed Heather would have beenmore in the oppositional defiance category. Her defiance was on full display. It’s why she spent half her class time in detention. “How did you know they were considering transferring Heather?”

“I remember overhearing the counselors talking about her. The bad one.” Kat uses air quotes. “They didn’t know what to do with her.”

“Do either of you know the name she used in her journals?” I say. “Remember those?”

Kat and Summer exchange a look.

“Why?” Kat says.