She Said/She Saw

By Norah McClintock

Tegan was in the backseat when her two best friends were gunned down in front of her. Was it an argument over drugs? An ongoing feud? Or something more random? Tegan says she didn't see who did it. Or know why. Nobody will believe her. Not the police; not her friends; not the families of the victims; and not even Kelly, her own sister. Is she afraid that the killer will come back? Or does she know more than she is saying?

Shunned at school and feeling alone, Tegan must sort through her memories and try to decide what is real and what is imagined. And in the end she must decide whether she has the strength to stand up and do the right thing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Apr 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781459800328

Norah McClintock

Norah McClintock won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for crime fiction for young people five times. She wrote more than sixty YA novels, including contributions to Seven (the series), the Seven Sequels and the Secrets series.

Book preview

she said/she saw

Norah McClintock

ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS

Text copyright © 2011 Norah McClintock

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

McClintock, Norah

She said/she saw [electronic resource] / Norah McClintock.

Electronic monograph in PDF format.

Issued also in print format.

ISBN 978-1-55469-336-8

I. Title.

PS8575.C62S54 2011A       JC813’.54       C2010-908040-8

First published in the United States, 2011

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010942099

Summary: When Tegan witnesses the murder of two friends, she must struggle with people thinking she knows more than she is saying.

Orca Book Publishers is dedicated to preserving the environment and has printed this book on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Cover design by Teresa Bubela

Typesetting by Nadja Penaluna

Cover photo by Getty Images

www.orcabook.com

Printed and bound in Canada.

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Contents

ONE Kelly

TWO Kelly

THREE Tegan

FOUR Kelly

FIVE Kelly

SIX Tegan

SEVEN Kelly

EIGHT Tegan

NINE Kelly

TEN Tegan

ELEVEN Kelly

TWELVE Tegan

THIRTEEN Kelly

FOURTEEN Tegan

FIFTEEN Kelly

SIXTEEN Tegan

SEVENTEEN Kelly

EIGHTEEN Tegan

NINETEEN Kelly

TWENTY Tegan

TWENTY-ONE Kelly

TWENTY-TWO Tegan

TWENTY-THREE Kelly

TWENTY-FOUR Tegan

TWENTY-FIVE Kelly

ONE

Kelly

Two things I know:

One, everybody has a story to tell, and everybody tells their story in a different way. Me, I’m cinematic. I see life—my life, everyone’s life—like a movie or a TV drama, or, sometimes, a comedy. My sister Tegan, on the other hand, sees her life like one of those big, fat, old-fashioned novels with herself as the tragic (or triumphant) heroine at the center of it all.

Two, nobody sees the whole story. Nobody can. There are always things in other people’s heads that you can’t know, not for sure, not even when other people tell you what they’re thinking, because, let’s face it, not everyone tells the truth. Sure, you can guess and maybe even get pretty close to the truth sometimes. But just as often, even more often, you’re wrong. And I can guarantee you that almost all of the time there are pieces missing—the things that people are thinking to themselves that they would never say out loud, the things people don’t even want to admit to themselves.

So, if you want to get the whole story (or as close to the whole story as is possible) about my sister Tegan— Did she see or didn’t she?—you need to pull the pieces together and then take a good hard look at them and decide for yourself what’s true and what isn’t. That’s what I had to do.

Here are the pieces.

TWO

Kelly

INT.—KELLY’S BEDROOM—DAY

KELLY TYRELL [that’s me], 17, paces in a tight circle on the throw rug in her cluttered bedroom. The walls of the room are plastered with movie posters. The shelves are stuffed with videocassettes, dvds and books, most of them about movies and writing screenplays. She is talking into a cell phone.

KELLY

What am I—my sister’s keeper?

She turns to the camera as she listens to whatever the person on the other end is saying.

KELLY (CONT’D)

(to the camera)

Jeez, am I ever getting tired of the same questions over and over.

(into the phone)

I already told you—I don’t know. I wasn’t there. (pause) Right. Fine. Great talking to you too.

She snaps the phone shut.

KELLY (CONT’D)

(muttering)

Asshole.

She flings the cell phone onto the double bed that dominates the room and faces the camera again.

KELLY (CONT’D)

(to the camera)

What’s wrong with people? Why do they think I’m supposed to know every detail of my sister’s life just because we’re practically twins.

(making air quotes)

What does that even mean? You can’t be practically twins any more than you can be almost unique. Twinning is absolute, not relative. Well, you know what I mean. You either are a twin or you’re not. Tegan and I are not twins. We were born in the same year, which, if you ask me, was bad planning on someone’s part—Mom, are you listening? But we weren’t born on the same day. We don’t have that special bond that twins are supposed to have. We don’t spend all of our time together. We don’t have a special twin language. Most of the time, we don’t even talk to each other. I’m not being bitchy or self-serving when I say that that’s mostly Tegan’s fault. She’s the problem in our so-called relationship. She’s always pulling the big-sister routine on me, like a ten-month lead makes her smarter or wiser or better than me. That’s bull. I was potty-trained before her, for God’s sake. Okay, so she gets better grades than me, most of the time without even trying.

She picks up a brush and starts to brush her hair in front of the mirror on her dresser.

KELLY (CONT’D)

She’s prettier than me too. She looks a lot like Mom, whereas I take after our dad, who was one of those super-nice guys that everyone liked, especially the ladies, even though he was kind of plain and vertically challenged, not to mention follically challenged. But so what?

She glowers at the mirror and throws down the brush.

KELLY (CONT’D)

Tegan hangs out with a different crowd too, mostly kids a year ahead of us in school, and mostly, if you ask me, because she’d rather die than find herself in the same social circle as me. That’s fine with me. Do you think I want to be around my snobby, bitchy big sister every hour of every day? It’s bad enough being in so many of the same classes with her. Do you think I care if she wants to act all I’m-way-cooler-than-you and get off hanging out with guys like Clark Carson and Thomas Skelton, guys with too much money and even more attitude? Well, I don’t. Besides, I have my own thing going. I swim. I’m good at it too. I have a wall of medals to prove it. I’d rather be in the pool where it’s all real, where you make it based on what you can do, not on who your parents are and whether you can score booze and weed for your parties while your parents are out of town for the weekend.

A VOICE

(in the distance, muffled by the door)

Kel-ly! Time to set the table!

KELLY opens the door and sticks her head out.

KELLY

(shouting)

It’s Tegan’s turn!

THE VOICE

She isn’t feeling well, so I told her she could lie down and we’d call her when supper was ready.

KELLY

(rolling her eyes and muttering to herself )

Of course.

She looks at the camera again.

KELLY (CONT’D)

For those of you who don’t know my sister, congratulations are in order. But since you’re going to meet her, there’s something you should know. She’s a drama queen, a real diva-type personality. You know, one of those the-earth-revolves-around-me types. Everything that happens to her is therefore, by definition, phenomenally important. History in the making, right up there with presidential assassinations, superstar overdoses or the latest on the Obama kids. She records it all in her All About Me file on her computer, a running documentary on her oh-so-fascinating life that she inputs every night, and sometimes more often, depending on what earthshattering event she happens to be at the center of.

I used to ask her, Why do you bother?

DISSOLVE TO FLASHBACK:

INT.—TEGAN’S BEDROOM—NIGHT

TEGAN TYRELL, 17, is sitting at her desk, typing on her computer. One end of the room is filled with shelves that are stuffed with books. Instead of posters, there are framed reproductions of classic paintings on her wall. KELLY is in the open doorway, watching her sister.

KELLY

Who do you think is going to read all that crap?

TEGAN

(without looking up)

Samuel Pepys, Anaïs Nin…

KELLY

They’re dead.

TEGAN

Susannah Moodie, Catherine Parr Traill.

KELLY

Also dead.

TEGAN

They’re all regular people who kept diaries that are still being read decades, even centuries, later.

KELLY

Oh, so now you’re a regular person?

TEGAN

People will be interested. Just you wait and see.

CUT BACK TO:

INT.—KELLY’S BEDROOM—DAY

A VOICE

Kelly! Everything’s ready! Come on!

KELLY sighs as she steps out of her room. She looks into the camera as it precedes her down the stairs.

KELLY

I hate to admit it—you have no idea how much I hate it—but Tegan turned out to be right. For a while, there were people who would have loved to get their hands on that diary of hers—if they knew it existed. A lot of people who wanted to know the whole story, who wanted the answer to the million-dollar question: Did she see or didn’t she?

THREE

Tegan

Just back from the police station. I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe any of it. And the cops—they give me the creeps.

This is what happened.

"I need to

Reviews for She Said/She Saw

[sch_94 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.My Summary: Tegan and Kelly are sisters. Born in the same year, the girls are often referred to as the "Twins" - in reality, they couldn't be more different. Tegan is popular and a gifted student, while Kelly is... not. Tegan likes to party, while Kelly won't go near any of the stuff her sister dabbles with. Neither sister is particularly fond of the other...But when word gets out that Tegan was in the backseat of their mutual friend Martin's car when he and Clark were shot point-blank through the windows, Kelly doesn't know what to think - should she believe her sister, who insists she didn't see anything, or is Tegan selfishly concealing what she knows in order to protect herself like everyone suspects?Or, even worse: is Tegan refusing to help catch her friends' killer because of something she's holding against her own sister?Told in the alternating points of view of both sisters, She Said / She Saw will keep you guessing until the last page.My Thoughts: First off, I have to say, this was a beautiful book: the cover is mysterious and attention-grabbing while still being simple and understated. Awesome. I loved the contrast between the two main characters! Kelly and Tegan are so different, I really couldn't chose a favourite. Ms. McClintock managed to weave a flawless story from two points of view, which made it a lot more enjoyable (and mysterious, I think). I literally could not. Stop. Reading.Seriously! I got the book in the mail this afternoon, and I didn't couldn't stop reading until I found out whodunit. And it was so cool to know that this book was written by a fellow Canadian! *Waves to other Canadians* I loved the conclusion as well. It really made me think, ya know? Because the things we do to other people can come back to haunt us - they really can. And a lot of people wouldn't be willing to take the same risk Tegan took in order to avenge a loved one (or in this case, two).Final Thoughts: Definitely go pre-order this one (or, you know, buy it when it comes out)! I recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone who likes a good mystery.

[calibrary1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book review by Lexi, posted by CA Library:"She Said/ She Saw by Norah McClintock is divided so that every other chapter is told by either Tegan or Kelly. Tegan and Kelly are both sisters less than a year apart in high school, who see their lives in different ways. Kelly sees her life as a script, and Tegan sees hers as a story, but the girl’s lives are about to change because of the murder of their two friends.The midterms had just ended and Tegan and her friends were having a party. But, not all of them would be going home at the end of the night. Tegan was in the car looking at Martin than suddenly there was a gunshot and she was covered in blood and glass.Everyone expects Tegan to know what happened but she says she did not see. Nobody knows what to believe and Tegan’s entire life is changed when everyone begins to turn against her. Her own sister does not even know whether to believe her or not until something happens and she realizes that she knew more than she thought she did.I liked this book because you get to see both points of view of the incident. It’s also interesting to see how Tegan handles everything and her final decision. My favorite part was the end because there is a huge twist in the story."

[crazyhippo37 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had a lot of issues with She Said/She Saw. Although the story idea was interesting and the mystery was compelling, I wanted to kill every single character. Tegan and Kelly were mean to each other, and even though they were siblings, it seemed like they despised each other. Also, the fact that every single person in the novel decided to yell at Tegan and tell her she was wrong when she was the only witness to the crime was infuriating. I didn't find any redeeming qualities in most of the main characters, and the only person I was interested in died in the first ten pages. I found the lack of sympathy in the characters unbelievable, and I thought the plot resolution was kind of ludicrous. I did, however, like the POV changes and that Kelly's chapters were written like a movie script. Overall, the issues with the novel outweighed the positive qualities in this one.

[xhollishx · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is very different from others that I've read. I was very aggitated because it was hard to get answers to what was going on or better yet, what happened. I couldn't put it down, because I wanted answers. I can't say that this was a wonderful book, it was readable and I didn't throw it, which is always a good sign, but I probably won't be reading more by this author.

[starshadowblog · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A great book with a powerful message after tradgedy. Follow the lives of two sisters as they grieve and move on from the lose of friends in a car shooting, I personally think this has a powerful message and packed with that emotion.

[sensitivemuse · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The way this story is represented is rather interesting. When it’s Kelly’s point of view, it’s written as if it’s a screenplay. With Tegan, it’s just through her perspective and her narration. It’s different although it took a bit to get used to Kelly’s style. I felt for Tegan, although she got a little tiresome at times. I thought the way she was treated at school was horrible, and Kelly wasn’t really much help either. You can certainly feel the isolation and the feeling of being ostracized when Tegan is around. Although she’s not innocent, and the way she egged on Martin made you want to slap her silly, the things she had to do to prove her point was absolutely shocking and horrible. Near the ending, I wanted the rest of the characters to just shut up. What they did to Tegan was horrible and in that I think it’s absolutely unforgivable. I found I did not like most of the characters in this book. Of all of them, I had to say Tegan was the one I liked most, but even then she wasn’t the greatest character either. Kelly really annoyed me. She tended to be over dramatic, selfish and had a horrible attitude problem. It wasn’t until much later she improved a little, but not enough to get any sort of reaction from me. The plot was all right, it did keep you guessing until right at the end who was behind the shooting. The overall pace is pretty quick and it’s a thin book so it can be read all in one sitting. It’s a decent read, and with an interesting layout on how the story is displayed I’d say give a try. It wouldn’t hurt.

[carma91 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

She Said/She Saw is a book about two sisters, Kelly and Tegan, and what happens after Tegan’s two friends are shot in a car with her in the backseat. The book is written in alternating POVs, Tegan’s in a traditional novel format, and Kelly’s are written as movie scripts. The movie script chapters did take some time to get used to and were annoying at first, but I did get used to them after a while.Even though Kelly spent some of her parts complaining about her sister, I found that Kelley was the more annoying one, and in the beginning I didn’t really want to read her parts (and mixed with the script format, it took some getting used to). The mystery part of the book was interesting enough. I don’t usually read mystery books, so it did keep my interest, but all of the people who were raging against Tegan did get on my nerves a little. I was excited when the end of the book came, because then I knew I’d hopefully find out who shot the two guys, and the annoying people in the high school would hopefully realize that they were wrong.All in all, it’s maybe not one I would have bought for myself, but it’s okay, even though there are some annoying parts.

[meggyweg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I got this book for free through LibraryThing's early reviewers program.A decent enough murder mystery, told partly in the increasingly popular cinematic style, with two narrators. Tegan was in the backseat of a car and her two friends were in the front seat when someone shot them to death. She swears she saw nothing and knows nothing, but no one believes her -- not even her sister, Kelly, who is the second narrator in the story. There are your requisite twists and turns and red herrings and so on, and quite a lot of character depth given how short the story is. I don't think this especially stands out from the "teen murder mystery" crowd, but it does deliver and I didn't guess the ending ahead of time, which is something.

[jacey25 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a DNF for me. Honestly I found it a bit stagey and annoying, the premise has been done better in many other teenage books and both girls were too annoying for words. It just wasn't realistic or compelling for me (the true reason for the DNF).

[shaelipar · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The premise to She Said/She Saw is what originally drew me to the book, so I was a little disappointed by how soon you figure out whether or not Tegan saw anything. I won't spoil that part of the story for you here, but I do think it impacts the novel, since knowing this information takes much of the suspense out of the plot.I enjoyed how the novel is told in alternating points of view between Tegan and her sister Kelly, something I wasn't aware of before starting the book. I thought that was a very smart way to tell the story, since you get both an inside and outside view of the murders. Each girl also has her own distinct personality & voice, so not only will you never get confused on who's POV your in, but each girl tells their story very differently. Tegan's POV is written in a traditional novel format, while Kelly's is written like a play or film script.However, I found both Tegan & Kelly hard to like most of the time. Did I sympathize with each of their situations? Yes, but I also completely hated the way they treated each other. Each girl was far to selfish in how they were handling what happened to their friends, that they barely spoke or helped each other. Obviously this bothered me greatly, and while I know that sisters don't always get along (I have one myself) I just found there treatment of each other completely unbelievable.I do think that the grief scenes between the different characters was handled very well, especially those of the victims parents. You could really feel their sorrow, anger and desperation at the situation they found themselves in. The novel is a very quick read since the plot moves rather steadily, I think the whole novel takes place within a few days. Although I didn't figure out who the killer was right away, which was a nice surprise, the way in which the person is ultimately caught, stretches not only believability but your intelligence. While there were a few strong points in the storytelling, the overall lack of likeable characters and plot believability left me very disappointed since I had been hoping for so much more.

[krista23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My thoughts through most of this book were "why is she not seeing a therapist" and "what about hypnosis" Although only one of these questions I had were touched upon, I spent most of this book thinking that her going back to school almost immediately after witnessing a double murder,and her mother and sister mostly exhibiting an uncaring attitude towards the situation was somewhat unrealistic. The interesting part of this book is that it switches perspectives between the sisters in rotating chapters. Tegan's story is written in a normal novel format but Kelly's chapters are written as a reality show script type of writing. I have never seen anything like this before and found reading it was a very unique experience. Overall this short novel was full of intense drama, interesting writing style and the constant question until the last page "what did she see?"

[kclaire_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

She Said / She Saw is a realistic murder mystery told from the viewpoint of two teenage sisters, ten months apart in age. One sister, Tegan witnesses the murder of two high school friends. Kelly, her sister, observes the aftermath, and plays a syncopated driving counterpoint to the turmoil that unfolds. No one believes Tegan when she insists that she did not see the shooter. The untangling of this very modern whodunit, involves a love triangle, and a couple of red herrings. This is a compelling mystery that both teens and adults will want to read. It kept me wondering, guessing, and wanting to know more until all the threads of the story came together in the surprising conclusion.

[averysbooknook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a frustrating book to say the least, but only because I am an impatient sort of person and when I want answers I want them now, which this book (Tegan specifically) wasn't giving me. But for that alone it is clear that Norah McClintock is a genius... I seriously could not put this book down. Whatsoever. Stirring pasta and reading at the same time? Yes. Trying to scare the cat off the kitchen cupboard while reading at the same time? Yes. Though I have said numerous times, "I was unable to put this book down!", it is true in the sense that once I start it I cannot really accomplish anything aside from eating, sleeping, and all of those daily necessities, but while reading this book I seriously didn't even want to bother with anything else! I think that the small size of it (211 pages) also contributed to the fact that I was unable to put it down, I kept thinking to myself, "This is so tiny that it should take an hour or so at most and therefore all else can wait... I CAN'T STOP BECAUSE IF I STOP I WON'T GET ANY ANSWERS!".While it would seem that Tegan was the victim in this situation and as such she deserved sympathy, I couldn't really dredge any up for her- all of my sympathy was allocated towards Kelly. Though Tegan did eventually do the right thing in the end (Though in perhaps the wrong way), she only somewhat redeemed her in my eyes. I don't think that she was fully able to redeem herself because of her past transgressions (ie. keeping things to herself, not being completely honest, and whatnot). It did take me a while to adjust to the sudden shifts in narrators/ Kelly's habit of narrating her bit in the form of a script (she is a budding cinematographer), but I soon came to really like the style and found it to be very refreshing. I think that fans of Caroline B. Cooney will love Norah's work.