Prom Date by Diane Hoh Read Free Book Online

person couldn't possibly be alive. The possibility of someone from the picnic being . . . dead . . . was something Margaret wasn't willing to face.
    The climb down the path was a difficult one. The ground was uneven and rocky, and wind and salt spray battled them every inch of the way. As they neared the spot where they had seen the jacket, giant waves crashing into the huge boulders lying at the edge of the water cascaded upward and out, drenching all three of them. Margaret's hair and face were soaked and sticky with salt.
    Please, she prayed, stepping carefully, please don't let anyone be inside that floating
    ^ jacket. Let Caroline be right, please.
    They finally made it to the edge of the water. And Margaret could see, then, that Caroline was not right. The shiny yellow jacket was not empty. Someone was still wearing it.
I
    es

Chapter 7
    "Oh, God," Margaret whispered as the three stood at the water's edge staring in shock and disbelief. "It's Stephanie. It's Stephanie Markham." She knew it even before she saw the long, tangled mass of dark hair splayed out like seaweed around the head that bobbed, face up now, among the thunderous waves. "That's her yellow jacket."
    The trio stood, paralyzed with horror, on the rocky ledge, assaulted by a constant spray of salt water and the tugging of the angry wind. Their eyes were riveted to the spot in the churning, silvery waves where Stephanie Markham's left ankle was firmly imprisoned in a narrow crevasse between two huge rocks.
    After what seemed like hours, Scott said to no one in particular, "If her foot wasn't stuck between those boulders, she'd be out to sea by now."
    Mitch and Margaret made no reply.
    Although the force of the water had washed away whatever blood there had been, sparing them at least that, there didn't seem to be a single facial bone left intact. The smooth olive features so admired at Toomey High had puddled into a boneless mass of sodden flesh. Had that not been Stephanie Markham's yellow jacket, had that not been her dark hair, none of the three could possibly have been certain who that was being bufifetted by the rough, wind-driven waves like refuse from a shipwreck.
    Her eyes were wide open. If her head had not been turned slightly toward the shore, she would have appeared to be gazing up at the sky. Instead, the glassy, doll-like stare led directly to the very top of the lighthouse.
    All three heads turned automatically to follow Stephanie's sightless gaze.
    "She fell from there." Mitch wasn't asking a question. He was making a statement.
    Margaret nodded. "The broken railing. That," she sucked in her breath, "was the scream we heard. Stephanie falling." Shuddering, she turned away from the lighthouse.
    "I don't get it." Mitch continued to stare at the white tower. "Steph would never have gone up there alone. She hated the place. Anyway, she never went anywhere alone."
    ''Well, she couldn't have been with anyone," Scott argued. "They would have helped her. Run to the park and brought people back to save her. Something. No one did that."
    "I know that." Mitch wiped salt spray from his face with his sweatshirt sleeve. 'Tm just telling you, I've known Steph all of my life, and she would never have gone up into that lighthouse alone."
    Caroline came up behind them so quietly, all three jumped when she asked in a tremulous voice, "Was I right? I was, wasn't I? It's just a jack -- " Then she, too, saw. She let out a sickened cry. "Oh, no, who is it?"
    "Stephanie Markham," Margaret was the first to say.
    "Is she ... is she . . . ?"
    Of course she was. How could she possibly still be alive? "Yes. She's dead." Margaret turned to Mitch. "We have to do something. We have to get her out of there."
    "No." Mitch wiped salt spray from his face with the back of his hand. "I don't think we should touch her. We have to leave her just as she is until the police arrive."
    "The police?" Caroline squeaked. "You mean an ambulance."
    "I mean the police," Mitch insisted.