The Same Mistake Twice by Albert Tucher Read Free Book Online

couldn’t come up with a name.
    “You could say that,” said Diana. “What’s this about?”
    “Don’t try that shit on me.”
    The girl started forward. Diana backed away from the gun. She kept backing up all the way to the kitchen. The girl pursued her, leading with the gun. Diana felt something meet the backs of her thighs. It was the kitchen table. She edged around it. Finally she ran out of room to retreat. She stopped against the counter, with the sink to her right.
    “What shit is that?” she said.
    “Don’t pretend you don’t know me.”
    “Okay, high school,” said Diana. “I’ve got that much.”
    “You made my life hell for three years.”
    “So you’re a senior now?”
    “I said, don’t try it!”
    Diana still couldn’t think of a name, but a mental picture had come to her. She saw this girl sitting alone in the cafeteria. It could have been any day, because the girl always sat alone.
    “Anything I wanted to do, you got there first,” said the girl. “Any boy I liked, you had to have him.”
    “Wait a minute. That’s just too weird. I had exactly one boyfriend. And I wasn’t a cheerleader or class president or anything like that.”
    “All the boys wanted you.”
    “News to me.”
    “And you still can’t leave me alone. You sent the cops after me.”
    “You’re Dick Leavitt’s girlfriend.”
    “Mr. Leavitt to you. I get to call him Dick.”
    “Why did you kill him?”
    “Because he was a creep. He never brought me to his house, but he let you just waltz right in.”
    “You were watching?”
    “His ex told me.”
    “Why would she tell you anything?”
    “I helped her clean the house out,” said the girl.
    “Did you kill her, too? If you didn’t, I will.”
    “You won’t get the chance.”
    For a moment Diana ran out of words. She groped for something to say before the girl remembered to shoot her.
    “What makes you think I sent the cops after you?”
    “They came to my house. They talked to my parents.”
    “They must be talking to everybody.”
    “Oh, now you’re saying Dick couldn’t possibly want me.”
    There was no way to win with this girl. The gun in her hand seemed to grow until it filled the room.
    Diana didn’t dare turn her head to look, but she remembered her small cast iron skillet sitting in the sink, out of the girl’s line of sight. Mrs. Wynn sometimes scolded Diana for not washing up promptly, but tonight her laziness might save her life.
    “Say goodbye, bitch.”
    “Shit!” Grandmom yelled.
    The girl whirled toward the sudden noise. Diana lunged for the sink. She grabbed the skillet and sidearmed it toward the girl, who was already turning back toward her. The pan spun like a lopsided discus and struck the girl in the face. Her nose gushed blood. Diana rushed around the table. She grabbed the girl’s wrist and twisted it. She twisted again, harder, and the girl screamed and dropped the gun.
    The girl wouldn’t stop fighting. With her left hand she jabbed her fingers at Diana’s eyes. Diana jerked her head away and then forward in a head-butt. Her forehead mashed the girl’s already bloody nose. The girl clutched her face with both hands. Diana punched her hard in the abdomen, once, twice, three times. The girl slid down the wall and sat on the floor, hugging her knees.
    “You know how I met my boyfriend?” said Diana. She paused for breath. “Kurt, the one you wanted? It’s a cute story. We had a fight in junior high. I don’t mean an argument. I mean a punching fight. You should have tried that. Maybe he’d have gone for you instead of me.”
    The wall phone was right there where she needed it. Diana dialed nine-one-one and watched the girl as she waited for the cops to arrive.
    Detective Rostow still didn’t like her. She talked to Tillotson instead.
    “In your line of work,” he said, “you ought to be more careful about opening the door.”
    “I’m learning. Assuming I survive the experience.”
    She watched two uniformed