The Cheater (15 page)

“I knew that if I confessed to killing Adam, all of your secrets would come out. Everyone would find out about the cheating. And you were so desperate to hide it. I started to think that maybe I could get away with it. Maybe we both could.”

Carter glanced at her father. He was watching Dan.

“But I'd never let you take the blame for me, Carter,” said Dan. “When I saw how much trouble you were in today, I had to confess. I'd never do anything to hurt you.”

The judge leaned back in his chair, his gaze on Carter. She stood up and put her arms around Dan.

“See, Daddy,” Carter said. “I was right. I told you he would do the right thing. I knew Dan would confess.”

D
an gaped at Carter, confused. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

Carter stood up and carefully pulled something from her jeans pocket. The locket.

“Hey,” Dan said, taking it from her. “Where did you find that?”

“Sheila Coss gave it to me,” said Carter. “She found it in Adam's house—next to his body.”

Dan raised a hand to his forehead. “It must have fallen out of my pocket while Adam and I were fighting.”

“I recognized it right away, as soon as Sheila showed it to me,” said Carter. “From the window of the jewelry shop. Remember?”

Dan had asked her which necklace she would choose, if she could have any of them. Carter had chosen the locket.

She smiled at Dan. “You had it engraved and everything.”

Dan's face fell.

“When I saw the locket, I knew you had been there, Dan,” Carter told him. “And I knew I couldn't let this thing go on any longer. So late last night I told Daddy everything. I told him about the cheating, the blackmail, the lies—everything. And I told him that I knew you had something to do with Adam's death.”

The judge nodded. “I was ready to call the police right then and there,” he said. “But Carter insisted you would do the right thing when the time came. She and I cooked up this little confession drama to test you, to see how far you'd go to protect yourself.”

He paused. “You passed the test, Dan. I believe what you told us about Adam's death, and that you didn't mean to kill him. But we will have to talk to the police about this.”

Carter stared intently at Dan's troubled face. Poor Dan, she thought. He's in all this trouble, just because of me!

She leaned forward on the desktop and asked, “What's going to happen to him, Daddy?”

“I don't know. But I think we can make a pretty good case that Adam's death was accidental, or at least that Dan acted in self-defense. After all, Adam was the one who pulled a gun on Dan. I'll do whatever I can to help.”

Carter stepped around the desk to kiss her father now. “Thanks, Daddy.”

Dan stood up and shook the judge's hand. “Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.”

The rest of the day was a blur of activity. Judge Phillips took Carter and Dan to the police station, where they each gave their statements and answered endless questions. The judge found Dan an excellent lawyer.

Mrs. Phillips was horrified, of course, at having her daughter mixed up in such a scandal.

“They'll be dragging our name through the mud in the papers!” she cried tearfully at the dinner table that night. “I just hope they don't kick us out of the club!”

Carter rolled her eyes. The judge tried to comfort his wife. “Don't worry, dear,” he told her. “They wouldn't dare kick us out of the club. Who would organize all their events?”

After dinner Carter went up to her room to change. She planned to go to Dan's house to hang out, to keep him company, and to talk things over.

She was brushing her hair when she heard a soft knock at her bedroom door. “Come in,” she said.

Her father opened the door and walked in. “Hello, dear,” he said. “May I sit down for a minute?”

Carter nodded. Her father sat beside her on the bed. He cleared his throat and tugged at his collar, as if it were too tight. Carter realized she'd never seen him look so uncomfortable.

“I came to apologize to you, Carter,” he began. “I had no idea that you felt so much pressure in school, and I think it's mostly my fault. All that talk about Princeton, and my demands about your test scores. What I really meant to do was show you how much confidence I had in you. I had no idea I was pushing you so hard. I'm very sorry.”

Carter gave him a warm smile. Her father smiled back. He put his arm around her.

“The next time something is bothering you, or you have a problem, please come and tell me,” he said.

“I will, Daddy,” said Carter. “I promise.”

Carter was sitting on the floor at Dan's house, a chess board spread out between them. Dan moved his queen.

“Check,” he said.

Carter groaned. “I can't believe it. You're beating me at chess!”

“That's only because you didn't cheat this time,” Dan said. “What's going on? You
alway
s cheat at chess.”

Carter moved her pawn. “I think I've learned my lesson,” she said.

Dan glanced at the board and smiled. Then he moved his queen again and said, “Checkmate!”

“Where do you get your ideas?”

That's the question that R. L. Stine is asked most often. “I don't know where my ideas come from,” he says. “But I do know that I have a lot more scary stories in my mind that I can't wait to write.”

So far, R.L. has written nearly three dozen mysteries and thrillers for young people, all of them bestsellers.

R.L. grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Today he lives in an apartment near Central Park in New York City with his wife, Jane, and thirteen-year-old son, Matt.

FEAR STREET®

Next … SUNBURN

Claudia Walker thought spending the week with her friends, getting the perfect tan at Maria Drexell's cliffside beach house, would be fun. And at first it is. The luxurious house is on a beautiful, deserted strip of land, and the girls are pretty much left to care for themselves.

Then strange things begin to happen. Mysterious shadows are seen in the guest house. Horrible accidents occur on the beach and in the house.

Claudia knows they're not “accidents.” She's sure somebody is out to get them … out to kill them. Their week of “fun in the sun” has turned dark and deadly!

R.L. Stine

□ THE NEW GIRL.....................74649-9/$3.

□ THE SURPRISE....73561-6/$3.

□ THE OVERNIGHT..............74650-2/$3.

□ MISSING.............................69410-3/$3.

□ THE WRONG.....69411-1/$3.

□ THE SLEEPWALKER.........74652.9/$3.

□ HAUNTED.........................74651-0/$3.

□ HALLOWEEN PARTY........70243-2/$3.

□ THE STEPSISTER..............70244-0/$3.

□ SKI WEEKEND...................72480-0/$3.

□ THE FIRE GAME.................72481-9â3.

□ THE THRILL CLUB..............78581-8/$3.

□ LIGHTS OUT......................72482-7/$3.

□ THE SECRET BEDROOM.....72483-5/$3.

□ THE KNIFE.............................72484-3/$3.

□ THE PROM QUEEN................72485-1/$3.

□FIRST DATE..........................73865-8/$3.

□ THE BEST FRIEND...............73866-6/$3.

□ THE CHEATER.....................73867-4/$3.

□ SUNBURN..............................73868-2/$3.

□ THE NEW BOY......................73869-0/$3.

□ THE DARE.............................73870-4/$3.

□ BAD DREAMS.......................78569-9/$3.

□ DOUBLE DATE.....................78570-2/$3.

□ ONE EVIL SUMMER............78596-6/$3.

□ THE MIND READER......78600-8/$3.

□ WRONG NUMBER 2......78607-5/$3.

FEAR STREET SAGA

□ #1: THE BETRAYAL....86831-4/$3.

□ # THE SECRET.........86832-2/$3.

□ #3: THE BURNING........86833-0/$3.

SUPER CHILLER

□ PARTY SUMMER......72920-9/$3.

□ BROKEN HEARTS.....78609-1/$3.

□ THE DEAD LIFEGUARD............86834-9/$3.

CHEERLEADERS

□ THE FIRST EVIL.........75117-4/$3.

□ THE SECOND EVIL....75118-2/$3.

□ THIRD EVIL.........75119-0/$3.

□ THE NEW EVIL............86835-7/$3.

99 FEAR STREET: THE HOUSE OF EVIL

□ THE FIRST HORROR ..............8562-6/$3.

□ THE SECOND HORROR.........88563-4/$3.

□ THE THIRD HORROR...............88564-2/$3.

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The original three-part Fear Street® Miniseries

Meet the Shadyside High cheerleaders. They're beautiful, popular, and full of spirit. They wowed the judges at tryouts with their splits and daring flips. But now their cheers have turned to screams!

The First Evil

It has come to get them, to destroy them, and they don't know why. Can they stop it before it kills the cheerleaders?

The Second Evil

They thought the evil was gone, but now it's back! Can they bury it for good and stop the ghastly murders?

The Third Evil

The terrifying conclusion. One cheerleader has been chosen to fight the evil. Will she be able to kill it without destroying herself?

“2-4-6-8,
Who do we eliminate?
Give me a D—Give me a I—Give me an E—DIE! DIE! DIE!”