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supposed to think?" Enid was crying now. "You tell me."
    "I--I don't know." Elizabeth was too stunned to think straight. "But, Enid, you've got to believe I never--"
    "Why should I believe you? You're the only one who knew about those letters. The only one. I confided in you. It had to be you. Oh, Liz, how could you do this to me?"
    "Enid, please--"
    Before she could finish, Enid had slammed
    the phone down. For a long time Elizabeth refused to believe what had just happened. She sat listening to the empty hum of the dial tone for several moments before slowly lowering the receiver.
    "Who was that?" Jessica asked from behind her. "It sounded like you were having some kind of argument."
    "Enid," Elizabeth replied, her eyes welling with tears. "It was Enid."
    Jessica made a face. "What did she want? Wait a minute, don't tell me, let me guess--she couldn't walk from the living room into the kitchen without asking your opinion about it first, right?"
    "Jessica, stop it!" Elizabeth snapped. "It's not funny. Enid was really upset. She and Ronnie have broken up--and she thinks it's all my fault."
    In a burst, she confided in her sister about what had happened. Jessica rushed to her sister and threw her arms around her.
    "It's so unfair! How could she accuse you of such a thing? There must have been some mistake. Enid probably let it slip out about the letters herself, and now she wants to blame someone else. I always knew she was just using you, Lizzie. I saw right through her from the very beginning. You're better off without her."
    Elizabeth disentangled herself from her sister's
    suffocating embrace. "I'm sure Enid didn't mean all those things she said. She was just upset about breaking up with Ronnie. It must have been pretty awful for her."
    "What about you? Look what she's putting you through!"
    "I'll survive. But I'm worried about Enid."
    "For heaven's sake, Liz, are you trying to win the Nobel Peace Prize or something? Don't you ever fight back?"
    "All I want to do is straighten out this whole mess. I just hope Enid will listen to me! I have a feeling if I called back right now, she'd only hang up on me again."
    "So wait until you see her on Monday. Let her wait until then."
    Elizabeth chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Maybe it would be better to wait. I don't think she's in the mood to listen to anybody right now. Poor Enid! I can't believe Ronnie would do this to her over a few crummy letters from a boy she's not even dating anymore."
    "Don't you see? It's the principle of the thing. How could he ever trust her again, knowing how she'd covered up the truth? Honestly, Liz, I think it's better Ronnie did find out. Whoever told him about the letters was doing him a big favor."
    "But who?" cried Elizabeth. "Who would have done such a hideous thing?"
    She looked up to ask Jessica's opinion, but her twin was off again in a whirlwind of preparation for the party. Clearly, the subject was beginning to bore her.
     

 

     
     

    Six
     
    Lila pressed a glass of red wine into Jessica's hand. "Try some," she said and giggled. "It's really good French stuff. I snitched a couple of bottles from my dad's wine cellar, but I'm sure he won't notice. He's got loads of it."
    Jessica took a tentative sip. She felt very elegant, sitting there drinking wine at the Fowler mansion. Everything about Fowler Crest was elegant, from the magnificently landscaped grounds to the uniformed maid who had taken their coats when they had come in. It made Jessica's own comfortable split-level house seem like a shack in comparison.
    "I can't believe your father lets you have parties like this when he's not here," she said to Lila.
    A tiny frown creased Lila's forehead. "Well--I didn't exactly tell him I was having a party. I just said I was having a few friends over. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right? Besides, it's his own fault for not spending more time at home. If he wasn't so busy running around with Ms. Dalton ..." Her voice trailed off, and her