The Twin They Erased novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: Both Sisters

I came down the loft ladder in Eamon's flannel shirt with my hair standing up.

The photographer was waiting in the yard light, looking at his shoes.

"I'm sorry about the hour," he said. "I drove up from the city. I quit the brochure job on Thursday."

"Why?"

He held out the envelope.

I opened it, and a single glossy print slid out into my hand.

It was the Founders' Day photograph, the frame he shot the moment he spotted me, before the matron brought me down.

A hundred and forty girls stood on the lawn in rows, and every one of them was looking up.

At the top of the picture, behind the bars of the bell tower window, was a girl with cropped red hair and a white face.

She was looking back down at them.

"That's the only frame with you in it," he said. "I told the school I'd lost it. I'd like to take the real one now, if you'll let me."

Eamon came down the ladder behind me, buttoning his jeans.

He looked at the print for a long time.

"Sunday morning," I said. "On the school lawn."

"I'll bring the tripod."

He tipped his cap and went back to his car.

Tilda fought on the first Saturday of the next month.

She had a straight right that made Eamon wince.

She came to the ring in a pair of my old wraps, with her red-brown hair braided tight to her skull.

She weighed ten pounds more than the night we carried her out of Lake Street.

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