Read Online Change of Heart by Norah McClintock - Free Book Online

question, he asked one of his own: “Have you seen Morgan?”
    I nodded.
    â€œI asked my mom to call her and ask her to come and see me. Did she say anything to you about that? Do you know when she’s coming?”
    â€œNo, I don’t.”
    Billy looked down at the tabletop. He took a couple of long, deep breaths before raising his head and fixing his pale blue eyes on mine.
    â€œShe doesn’t think I did it, does she, Robyn?”
    I felt terrible. How many lies was I going to have to tell him?
    â€œShe’s pretty upset about what happened,” I said. That was true. “But she’s known you forever, Billy. She knows the kind of person you are.” That was also true, even if Morgan wasn’t exactly focusing on it right now.
    â€œThey arrested me, Robyn. They came to our house with a warrant. They searched the house and the yard. My mom was freaking out, and she doesn’t do that very often.” Billy’s mother is a successful businesswoman. “My dad’s working out of the country, so he couldn’t help. Then they arrested me. They put handcuffs on me and took my rights, Robyn. The neighbors were all watching. Then they put me in a police car and they took me downtown.
    â€œMy mom phoned your mom, and she came down to the police station. She was with me while they asked me questions. That was the only time I wasn’t one hundred percent scared, Robyn—when your mom was there. Then I was only about ninety percent scared. The cops think I did it. They think I killed Sean.”
    I looked into his blue eyes and saw a hundred different Billys: little Billy, from kindergarten, his hair so blond it was almost white, his hands covered in finger paint. Billy and Morgan and me out on the frozen lake up at Morgan’s cottage one winter, skating from the island where the cottage was to the town on the opposite shore. Billy and Morgan and me in junior high, organizing a pet pageant to raise money for Billy’s favorite animal-rights group. Billy and Morgan and me downtown so early in the morning that it was technically still night, rescuing injured birds that had crashed into office towers and taking them to Billy’s rescue organization for treatment. Billy in the cafeteria at school, working up the nerve to ask Morgan out that first time.
    â€œWhat did the police say?” I asked.
    â€œThat someone saw me go into the arena the night Sean was killed.”
    â€œDid you? Go into the arena, I mean?”
    He hesitated before finally nodding. “I—I called his house. I wanted to talk to him. One of his brothers answered. He told me that Sean wasn’t home, that he was at the arena, practicing.” He shook his head. “I know I shouldn’t have called, but I wanted to talk to him. I had to talk to him, Robyn. He didn’t really care about Morgan. I know he didn’t. But I do. I wanted him to leave her alone.”
    I sighed. He kept refusing to accept what had happened between Morgan and Sean. If anyone had told me a year ago that Billy would be so crazy about Morgan that he’d go off the deep end when their relationship ended, I would never have believed it. Up until recently, we were all just friends. Good friends. Best friends. I don’t even think Billy noticed most of the time that Morgan and I were girls.
    â€œSo when you found out he was at the arena, you decided to go and talk to him in person?”
    â€œI know what you’re thinking,” Billy said. “It was a stupid move, especially after what happened in the schoolyard.”
    That’s exactly what I was thinking.
    â€œAt first I wasn’t going to do anything,” Billy said. “I kept telling myself I should let it go. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Morgan. So around ten o’clock, I went to the arena.”
    â€œAnd someone saw you?”
    â€œThe head janitor. When I got there, he was just coming out. He smiled