The liars diary patry francis

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The Liar’s Diary Patry Francis A PLUME BOOK a plume book THE LIAR’S DIARY patry francis is a three -time nominee for the Pushcart Prize whose w ork has appeared in the Tampa Review, the Colorado Review, the Ontario Review, and The American Poetry Review, as well as in the an- thology Killer Year: Stories to Die For . . . From the Hottest New Thriller Writers, edited by Lee Child. She is also the author of the popular blogs Simply Wait (simplywait.blogspot.com) and Waitress Poems (waitresspoems.blogspot.com). The Liar’s Diary, her first novel, is being translated into six languages. Praise for The Liar’s Diary “A fi r st -class murder mystery . . . a page -turner.” —More magazine “A quirky, well -written, and well -constructed mystery with an edge .” —Publishers Weekly The Liar’s Diary Patry Francis A PLUME BOOK PLUME Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700,Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a di- vision of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • P enguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offi ces: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a Dutton edition. Copyright © Patry Francis, 2007 All r ights reserved registered trademark—marca registrada The Library of Congress has catalogued the Dutton edition as follows: Francis, Patry. The liar’s diary / Patry Francis. p. cm. I. Title. PS3606.R3645L53 2007 813’.6—dc22 2006024782 Original hardcover design by Spring Hoteling Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be r eproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. PUBLISHER’S NOTE This is a w ork of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the per mission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copy- righted materials.Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. ISBN: 1-4362-1208-1 For my mother, Eleanor Heney Doody, quite possibly the best person on earth. And in memory of my father, Richard Doody, who liv ed each day with zest and always came home with a great story. The Liar’s Diary [...]... On the second day of school, the words MRS MATHER appeared in huge block letters across her blackboard Smiling ironically, Ali corrected herself: The students were to call her Mrs Mather as Mr Murphy requested By the end of her little speech, however, it was obvious that in the us-againstthem atmosphere that frequently permeated the school,Ali was one of them Even if they did have to call her Mrs Mather... which for the first time in eight years, I had forgotten to make As I filled the coffee machine, I chided myself for the risk I’d taken Really, there was no need to poke through the files—not when gossip was as cheap and plentiful as the rubbery pizza in the cafeteria The Liar’s Diary 5 I didn’t have to wait long to satisfy my curiosity That day in the lounge, I took my usual seat with the shop teacher,... on the computer like the other teachers did And even when she did eat in the lounge,Ali blithely ignored the groups who clustered together around Formica tables, complaining about troublemaking students or aides who weren’t doing their jobs Ali never attempted to penetrate the well-established circles like most newcomers did Instead, she cheerfully greeted everyone, then buried herself in one of the. .. that my mother was terminally ill At the end of the concert, Gavin invited me for a drink Then apparently remembering that I was underage, he amended it to coffee But the way I opened up that night, you would have thought I was under the influence of alcohol.There in that dark coffeehouse, encouraged by the warmth in Gavin’s eyes, I spilled everything, be- 18 Patry Francis ginning with my brother’s death... least, not after my brother’s accident Jimmy had filled the house with life, and when he was killed just before I turned fourteen, the family never really regained its balance 16 Patry Francis We lived in a house where sorrow was so tangible you could taste it in every dish my mother served, hear it in the creaking of the floorboards when we moved through the house, see it in the furnishings that grew... startled at the young woman who stared back at me from the mirror She was almost pretty; and despite the gloom in the house, she looked surprisingly eager for life Later, however, sitting alone among the happy couples and families only exacerbated my loneliness The emptiness of my mother’s seat beside me felt like a vast chasm separating me from everyone in the hall I was probably the only one there who... again, I fought the ridiculous impulse to burst into tears right there in the school building Fortunately, the music teacher turned away and resumed her walk to the classroom before I totally humiliated myself Still, for some reason I couldn’t explain, I felt shaken For the rest of the day, every time I glanced down the hallway where Ali had disappeared, I saw my brother walking through the house with... pressed the eject button I would have loved to know the name of the student who had aroused her concern, but Ali spent the rest of the drive staring out the window, lost in her own thoughts Even more mystifying, she actually seemed angry with me When we reached the school, she climbed out of the Jeep and slammed the door without a word “You’re welcome!” I called to her retreating form, though the windows... avoid the lounge and grew increasingly evasive with me.When other teachers noticed him loitering outside Ali’s room, or spotted the two of them sharing some tea on the lawn, they, too, began to nurture suspicions But for me, all it took was one glance to know that Alice Christine Mather had garnered herself another “close personal friend.” I felt almost personally betrayed Brian Shagaury was the only... belong in the chaotic high school building, his quiet good looks He was almost the perfect foil for the self-dramatizing violinist To make matters worse, I also knew Brian’s wife Before her third child was born, Beth Shagaury had occasionally subbed at the school, and we still ran into each other all the time The Shagaury kids were much younger than Jamie, but Beth and I frequently saw each other on the . The Liar’s Diary Patry Francis A PLUME BOOK a plume book THE LIAR’S DIARY patry francis is a three -time nominee for the Pushcart Prize whose w ork has appeared in the Tampa Review, the. © Patry Francis, 2007 All r ights reserved registered trademark—marca registrada The Library of Congress has catalogued the Dutton edition as follows: Francis, Patry. The liar’s diary / Patry. chitchat in the lounge. It was soon obvious that the sub- ject was none other than Ali Mather, who was taking her lunch on the la wn just outside the window. Beside her,Adam Belzner, one of the brightest