Chapter 2 — They Tried to Steal My Name

Evelyn waited five minutes after Daniel's truck disappeared before leaving through the back door.

The Bellwood County Education Office closed at four-thirty. According to the kitchen clock, she had less than an hour to reach it.

She pulled her father's old bicycle from the shed and pedaled toward town.

Heat shimmered above the road. Her canvas bag struck her hip with every turn of the wheels, but she refused to slow down.

In her first life, Daniel had already prepared the paperwork before bringing her to the office. The clerk barely looked at Evelyn while directing her where to sign.

This time, she would arrive before him.

She pushed through the county building's glass doors at four-twelve.

A woman with copper-colored glasses looked up from the reception desk.

"Can I help you?"

"My name is Evelyn Hart. I received a full scholarship to Georgia State University. I need to confirm that no one has changed or withdrawn my acceptance."

The clerk's expression shifted.

"One moment."

She disappeared into a back office and returned carrying a thin folder.

"Your family contacted us this morning."

Evelyn's stomach tightened.

"What did they say?"

"That you had decided not to attend college. We received a request to redirect the local scholarship award to another Bellwood High graduate."

"Clara Hart."

The woman adjusted her glasses.

"Yes."

"I never withdrew."

"Your father signed a statement."

"I'm eighteen. My father doesn't have the right to surrender my scholarship."

The clerk studied her more carefully.

"Do you have identification?"

Evelyn placed every document she had brought across the desk.

Her birth certificate.

Her Social Security card.

Her final transcript.

Her university letter.

Then she added the college essay she had written in Samuel Brooks's classroom and a carbon copy of her original application.

"I attended the classes. I took the exams. I earned the grades. Clara's name does not belong on any part of my application."

The woman compared the records for several minutes.

At last, she picked up the phone.

Evelyn stood perfectly still as the clerk called Georgia State's admissions office. She confirmed Evelyn's identity, reported a suspected unauthorized withdrawal attempt, and requested a security restriction on the file.

When the call ended, the clerk looked grim.

"Your enrollment remains active. So does your scholarship."

Evelyn's knees nearly gave way.

"Thank you."

"From now on, any changes require your written consent and photo identification." The clerk lowered her voice. "You should also speak to your school counselor. Someone submitted a form with what appears to be your signature."

Evelyn stared at her.

"May I have a copy?"

After a moment's hesitation, the clerk carried the form to a copier.

When she returned, Evelyn immediately recognized the handwriting.

Clara had practiced imitating her signature since they were children.

This time, Evelyn would not allow her to call it a harmless game.

She folded the copy and placed it beneath her scholarship letter.

Outside, the afternoon sun was beginning to sink.

Evelyn rode home by the narrow road that curved past Blackstone Quarry. It was longer than Main Street, but fewer people used it.

She needed time to think.

Daniel had moved more quickly than she remembered.

In her first life, he had persuaded her to surrender her future. In this one, he and Clara had tried to steal it before she could refuse.

A sound came from the brush behind her.

Evelyn turned.

A figure rushed from the trees.

Two hands struck her back.

The bicycle shot sideways. Evelyn tumbled down the rocky embankment and plunged into the quarry runoff channel.

Freezing water closed over her head.

For a terrifying instant, she was fifty-eight again, trapped inside a dying body that would not obey her.

Then her feet touched mud.

She kicked upward.

Her face broke the surface, and she dragged in a breath before the current slammed her against a concrete support.

On the bank above her stood Clara.

Her pale blue dress was untouched. Her blond hair shone in the sunlight, and triumph transformed the sweetness of her face into something ugly.

"You should have stayed home," she called.

Evelyn gripped a half-submerged branch.

"You forged my signature."

Clara's smile disappeared.

"That scholarship was supposed to be mine."

"You didn't earn it."

"You think you're better than me because you can memorize textbooks?"

"No. I think my name belongs to me."

Clara picked up a stone.

"If you don't come home, no one will believe anything you say."

She threw it.

The stone struck the water beside Evelyn's head.

Then an engine rumbled in the distance.

Clara glanced toward the road.

Her expression changed instantly.

She ran down the bank, dipped the sleeves of her dress into the water, and smeared mud across one knee.

By the time Frank Hart's pickup stopped near the fallen bicycle, Clara was sobbing.

Frank climbed out, followed by Diane and Daniel.

"Daddy!" Clara cried. "I tried to stop her!"

Daniel raced down the embankment.

For one desperate second, Evelyn thought he was coming for her.

Instead, he wrapped his jacket around Clara.

"What happened?"

Clara pointed at Evelyn.

"She pushed me toward the water. She said if I disappeared, no one could challenge her scholarship."

"That is a lie," Evelyn said.

Her teeth were chattering so violently the words barely came out.

Frank's face turned purple with rage.

"You tried to kill your sister over college?"

"She pushed me."

Clara began crying harder.

"I came looking for her because I wanted to apologize. I told her she deserved the scholarship. Then she attacked me."

Evelyn stared at the four people above her.

Clara's hair was dry.

Her shoes were clean.

Only the ends of her sleeves and the front of one knee were wet.

Evelyn's entire body was submerged.

The truth was visible to anyone willing to look.

None of them looked.

Daniel waded into the channel and seized Evelyn's arm. He dragged her onto the bank, but there was no concern in his eyes.

Only fury.

"You could have destroyed both our families."

"Ask her why her hair is dry."

Daniel ignored the question.

"You've become vicious."

"No. I've stopped obeying you."

His fingers tightened around her wrist.

"Where are the scholarship papers?"

Evelyn pulled back.

Daniel grabbed her canvas bag before she could stop him.

He emptied it onto the ground. Her documents scattered across the mud.

When he found the Georgia State letter, satisfaction flashed across his face.

"Give it back."

"This has caused enough trouble."

He tore the letter in half.

Then again.

White scraps fluttered into the muddy water.

Something inside Evelyn went quiet.

In her first life, she would have screamed. She would have begged Daniel to stop and searched the current for every ruined piece.

Now she simply watched.

The real enrollment file was protected at the county office.

Daniel had destroyed a letter.

He had not destroyed her future.

Frank pointed toward his truck.

"You're coming home."

Evelyn gathered her identification from the mud.

Diane put an arm around Clara and led her away as though she were the injured one.

Daniel remained behind.

"I warned you," he said. "None of this would have happened if you'd listened to me."

Evelyn slipped the forged withdrawal request into the inner pocket of her bag. He had not noticed it.

"You’re right about one thing."

Daniel's expression softened, already mistaking her calm for surrender.

"What?"

"This wouldn't have happened if I had stopped listening to you years ago."

His hand shot out and caught her shoulder.

"Don't test me, Evelyn."

She looked directly into the face of the man who had buried her life beneath thirty years of lies.

"I'm not testing you, Daniel."

She pulled free.

"I'm learning exactly how far you'll go."