I watch as Ava rushes over to the twins and leans down, posing in between them for photos. In another time, another life, they may have shared the pictures with their dad. But I now know they’re for them, these three sisters.
Meg is nowhere to be seen. Not outside the dining hall or at the formal dinner, where we eat Christina’s steak and potatoes and sip sparkling apple cider. She doesn’t appear when Stu and Mellie hand out spirit awards and tennis trophies, or when they make sweet speeches about how this year has been so special, so unlike the others.
I spot Levin sitting at the staff table across from Mom and Dad and wonder if he knows what the hell he got himself into by falling for Meg. If he knows what she’s capable of—who shereallyis.
Another DJ social follows and we rush the girls into the Lodge for the final dance of the year. We’re still in our good clothes, but the counselors plop down on the couches and watch the awkwardness unfold as usual.
We laugh as the kids jump around, the stilted movements from the first dance still there but less pronounced. They toss beach balls and wear funny glasses, hugging one another as they try to capture all these little moments deep within their hearts.
I keep my eyes on Stu and Mellie, dancing in the back of the room like the loving chaperones they are. But after I get back from a game of Simon Says I notice they’re gone, Mom and Dad in their place.
Mom catches my eye and waves, an olive branch. We haven’t spoken since she told me she knew Heller was driving and I still don’t have the words to discuss that, but I walk over to my parents anyway.
“Care to join me for a father-daughter dance?” Dad says, his voice light. I wonder if Mom told him.
I shake my head. “Do you know where Stu and Mellie went?” I ask.
Dad’s mouth turns into a frown but Mom points up toward the dining hall. “I think they ran up to get a tray of cookies for the kids.”
“Meg was with them,” Dad says.
“Meg?” I ask, a chill running down my spine.
Dad nods. “She looked like she was having a hard time. Must be sad about the summer ending.”
I don’t hear anything else he says because before I know it, I’m busting through the doors of the Lodge, ignoring my inner voice, the one that tells me to grab Ava and Imogen first. It’s too late for that. I have to find Stu and Mellie as fast as possible, before Meg has a chance to hurt them.
CHAPTER 56
Now
I need to get to them. There’s no other choice. These are the people who did their best to protect me, to bring me into their world, to give me things I could have only dreamed about.
I run to the dining hall, through the serenity of camp. Without kids wandering about, it’s still and quiet, stuck in time. The nets are strung tight, the activities at the ready, like the children will use them tomorrow. But there are signs this summer has come to an end. This place has been wrung out, loved and worn. There are deflated basketballs, limp nets on the tennis courts, mussed dirt near third base. Reminders about what this place is for. How it allows you to fall over and over, always providing a safe place to land.
I’m panting by the time I get to the dining hall but there’s no time to regain my composure. I throw open the doors and the room is black, a faint smell of bleach permeating the air. Maybe Dad was wrong. Maybe they’re not here at all.
But then I hear something. Hushed, urgent whispers coming from the kitchen where Christina is usually posted up.
I rush to the delivery entrance close to the kitchen and push open the door, nearly stumbling over my heels.
Stu and Mellie are standing behind the warming stations, wearing their fancy banquet attire. They look up in surprise, concernedexpressions on their faces. Meg is next to them, her pale skin bright red and her bottom lip trembling like she’s been crying.
“Get away from her!” I yell. “She killed Heller.”
Meg’s eyes go wide and she takes a step toward me.
“Don’t come closer.” But for the first time I realize how stupid this decision was, how dumb I am for walking into a closed room with Meg hoping to defend people I love with nothing but my brain.
Mellie holds up her hand and Meg stops moving.
“Goldie, what’s going on?” Mellie says. She and Stu exchange a curious look and she comes toward me, extending her hand to graze my arm. “Are you all right?”
“Did you hear me?” I ask. “Meg killed Heller. I have proof.”
I spill the story as quickly as I can, fumbling over words as I try to explain how she worked at the clerk’s office under a pseudonym, how she got close to Heller, how I am so sorry but I snuck into the winter cabin, found the old camera receiver, and watched her drag his lifeless body down the beach and into the lake.
Meg clenches her fists. “That’s not true,” she says, anger rising in her voice.
