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EVE KNOX
Friday, December 22, 1995
3:20 p.m.
Eve stared down at the red piece of paper. The C had to mean Cam Harper, Eve thought as she folded the paper back into its bird shape. She had heard Cam call Maggie a little bird. More than once. Eve debated whether to confront Maggie with it. Not to use against Maggie. But to help her, in case Maggie needed proof. They could show it to Maggie’s dad or maybe to Miss Cress. Miss Cress would know what to do. Eve couldn’t wait until this awful year was over. 1996 had to be better, right?
The house phone rang and Eve picked up the receiver absentmindedly. “Eve, what’s wrong?” Nick asked. “Why won’t you talk to me?”
Eve’s mind swirled with thoughts of Maggie and Cam Harper. “I can’t talk right now, Nick,” she said and hung up the phone and seconds later it rang again. She lifted the receiver and pressed it to her ear.
“I mean it, Eve,” Nick said. “I’m coming over there. You have to talk to me.”
“I don’t have to talk to you,” Eve snapped back. “Do not come over here, Nick. I don’t want to see you. It’s over.”
“It’s not over. I’m coming over right now and you are going to talk to me. You can’t do this,” Nick was shouting.
Eve slammed down the phone and when it started ringing again she pressed her hands to her ears. Nick was acting insane and she knew that he would be here in a matter of minutes and when he arrived Eve didn’t want to be around.
She grabbed her coat and rushed from the house and over to the Harper house where she knew that Maggie was babysitting. They needed to talk about the note. How could Maggie have kept this from her? They were best friends. It was so wrong. Eve wasn’t angry at Maggie but enraged for her. Cam Harper was an adult. A married man with two kids and Maggie was only fifteen. It was gross. People went to jail for things like this.
Eve hurried down the steps and out the front door. Without looking around, she crossed over to the Harpers’ yard and heard laughter coming from the side of the house. She followed the giggles and found the twins bundled up in their parkas and stocking hats, kicking a soccer ball back and forth. They were engrossed in their play and Eve decided not to interrupt them. She knocked on the front door but got no answer. Tentatively, Eve opened the door and stepped inside, careful to wipe her feet on the rug. “Maggie,” she called out and wandered toward the kitchen and the scent of brown sugar and vanilla. The sink was filled with measuring cups and mixing bowls. Maggie must have made cookies.
With Riley and Rebecca outside, Eve and Maggie could talk uninterrupted and maybe Maggie could explain to her what was going on. Eve searched the main floor but Maggie was nowhere to be found. Eve made her way up the stairs. She paused to look out the window and could see the twins still playing on the side lawn, their shouts floating up toward her.
The twins’ bedrooms were empty as were the two guest rooms. The bathroom door was ajar and it was dark inside. Eve turned to go back downstairs when a noise startled her. The door to the master bedroom was shut but she could hear a man’s voice on the other side. It was low and honey-warm and made Eve’s stomach roil. It was Cam Harper’s voice.
Eve heard creaks and soft moans and the unmistakable sound of two people having sex. Not sex, Eve thought. Rape. Maggie was only fifteen. Eve wanted to throw up, wanted to run from the house but the thought of Maggie in there with that man stopped her.
Before she could stop herself, Eve was pounding on the door. “Maggie, Maggie,” she called. “Are you in there? Are you okay?”
She was met with silence, then heard the rustle of clothing. “I’m okay,” Maggie finally called through the door, her voice unnaturally high. “Go home, Eve. I’ll call you later.”
Tears burned Eve’s eyes as she rushed down the steps and hesitated about what to do next. She had hoped that it had all been a mistake, that she had misunderstood what was written in the note, but it was all true. There was no way she was leaving. She slipped into the hall closet. She would wait for Cam to leave and she and Maggie would talk.
Above her she heard one low, angry voice in tandem with a desperate one. The rat-a-tat of footsteps coming down the steps echoed through the house.
“Jesus,” Cam growled. “Your friends just walk into my house like it’s their own?” Eve held her breath. She had never heard Cam so angry.
“I’m sorry,” Maggie cried. “Eve won’t say anything. I promise.”
“Dammit,” Cam said. “You need to tell her she made a mistake. That it wasn’t me. That you brought some high school kid in here. I mean it, Maggie. You have to fix this. I wasn’t here this afternoon. Got it? I don’t care what you have to do, but you make sure that she keeps her mouth shut.”
Their voices faded as they moved through the house. Then it was quiet again and Eve’s face burned at the thought of what Cam and Maggie had been doing upstairs. He was an old man. It was gross. Sick. Finally, she heard the click of the back door closing.
A cacophony of footsteps filled the front entryway and a rush of cold air crept in. “I’m hungry,” came Riley’s voice.
“Me too,” came Rebecca’s. Then came the sound of zippers and the shedding of coats and boots.
“Come on,” Maggie said, her voice shaking. “Grab a cookie and you can watch TV until dinnertime,” Maggie said, her voice shaking with emotion. “One each,” she called after them.
Eve stayed hidden as she listened to Maggie and the kids pound down the stairs to the television room. The frenetic music from a cartoon drifted upward. A few minutes later Eve heard Maggie’s heavy footfalls as she came up the steps.
Eve emerged from her hiding spot and found Maggie in the kitchen leaning against the sink, crying. “Maggie,” she said softly, “what have you done?”
Maggie looked up, her face awash with fear. “Eve, it’s not what you think.”
Eve shook her head. “I heard you with Mr. Harper. Maggie, why? He’s old. And married.”
