SVH11-Too Good To Be True by Francine Pascal Page B

unless she put it there?" She shook her head. "But it's
    absolutely crazy. Why would she do a thing like that unless she meant to--" She couldn't finish the sentence.
    "Steal it?" Todd supplied. He frowned. "You're right. It's crazy. I can't imagine Suzy doing anything like that. But that's how we felt about Mr. Collins, remember?"
    "How could I forget? Oh, Todd, I'm so mixed up! And I'm starting to get the funniest feeling...."
    "Yeah, me too. Gives me goose bumps."
    Absentmindedly Elizabeth fingered her lava-Here. "Suppose, just suppose Suzy did take my necklace. Would that mean she lied about Mr. Collins too?"
    "I thought you said there was no way she could have lied."
    ' I thought so, but--well, now I'm not so sure." Elizabeth buried her face in her hands. "Oh, no, what am I saying? That Suzy ripped her own blouse to make us think Mr. Collins attacked her? Why would anyone do such a hideous thing?"
    "Maybe," Todd said slowly, "we've been looking too hard for a reason. What if there was no reason? Remember that book we all had to read in tenth-grade English-- East of Eden? There was that beautiful girl, Cathy, who everyone thought was so sweet and wonderful."
    Elizabeth shivered as if caught in a sudden draft. She remembered the book well. It was one of her favorites.
    "And underneath Cathy was really rotten to the core," she finished for Todd. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stop her shivering. "But that was just a book. If someone was really like that, you'd know, wouldn't you?"
    "Maybe not. Some people can be pretty good fakers. What about the time before Bill Chase and DeeDee Gordon got together, when your sister pretended to be you so that Bill would fall in love with her? And she was so convincing that Bill actually bought her act?"
    Elizabeth bit her lip. "But that was just Jessica. She's never done anything really bad."
    "No comment," said Todd, staring straight ahead as he angled the car up the steep road leading to the country club, where Lila's party was being held.
    Elizabeth knew how Todd felt about Jessica-- and he certainly had enough reason to feel that way, she supposed. But Jessica's past wrongs had nothing to do with the problem at hand. And anyway, if what Elizabeth was thinking were true, then Jessica would look like a Goody-' Two-Shoes in comparison to Suzanne.
    On the other hand, Suzanne could be completely
    innocent. Elizabeth was aware of the fact that her writer's imagination did tend to get out of hand on occasion. Like the night she thought their house was being burglarized, and it was only Jessica trying to sneak in through the window after curfew. Elizabeth could still remember how furious her sister had been when the police arrived.
    How would she feel accusing Suzanne of stealing--and worse--if it weren't true? Elizabeth wondered miserably. Awful, that's how. Suzanne had been so nice. The possibility that she'd been faking it was almost unimaginable.
    Elizabeth groaned. This was turning into more and more of a nightmare. And the harder she tried to untangle it, the worse it got. If only she could talk to someone besides Todd about it. But her parents had gone out and wouldn't be home until much later. Steven had gone over to Tricia's to try and talk to her about his own tangled-up situation. In the past, she had always gone to Mr. Collins, but...
    'Todd," she said, "would you mind taking a short detour?"
    "Where to?"
    "Mr. Collins's house. I think it's about time we heard his side of the story firsthand." Todd grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."
    ***
    The man who opened the door in response to Elizabeth's knock was a pale shadow of the Roger Collins she knew. A stubble of beard darkened his jaw. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days. Elizabeth felt a sharp stab of sympathy, held in check by the memory of Suzanne's tearstained face.
    "Uh--is it OK if we come in?" she asked hesitantly. "I really need to talk to you."
    "Of course you can come in, Liz ... Todd." At least