Chapter 9 #2
A tiny spot of light flashed and then another.
Carefully, she picked her way along the perimeter of the building and away from the artificial light.
Fireflies flickered and a memory flashed.
Collecting tiny bugs in old peanut butter jars.
Liz would circle and dance with her arms outstretched, twisting like a ballet tornado to distract the insects for easier catching.
Emma would leap into the air, launching with every muscle honed during dance class, and extend the jar up.
It didn’t work. But their childish giggles carried on the wind.
The screen door snapped shut.
Emma jumped back to the present. Daniel hadn’t said not to be alone in the dark, but she didn’t need a badge for the common-sense advice.
“Ready?” Margaux asked.
Emma forced a smile and nodded. Uncertainty roiled her stomach. The other woman asked about the current situation, but Emma read through the lines. Was she ready for what would happen at the end when she had answers? The truth would have a great cost for Emma to pay.
Daniel hadn’t intended to keep his distance last night. He’d needed action and trusted Emma’s safety with all her cabin mates present. He’d gone back to his cabin, retrieving the spiral notebook to hunt for clues.
Reading the journal had taken all his time and attention and then some.
The pages were filled with the typical waxing poetic descriptions of young love he’d expected.
A rosy picture of a bright future that broke Daniel’s heart for the reality.
Owen had outlined steps from attending college together to getting married that would never materialize.
Reading the journal of what wasn’t meant to be was difficult as Daniel struggled for emotional distance.
Daniel had needed a break and several re-reads to find clarity. He worried bias colored his perception as annoyance mixed in with the flowery prose. Another person had vied for Liz’s attention. Not in a romantic way, at least not in Owen’s perspective, but in a demanding, seeking, cloying fashion.
Margaux interrupted every moment Owen found, once catching them mid-kiss.
The frustration in the angry scrawling letters screamed across the page.
Had Owen lured Margaux back for retribution in some way?
He was a man determined to get justice. But had someone else gotten in the way?
Had another learned the situation and sought to squeeze Margaux for money and eliminate Owen?
The mystery of the angel investment lingered.
Why would someone hand over a giant sum of cash to save the camp if not to clean their soul?
While Daniel had no specifics, he knew anecdotally that Margaux’s family was the wealthiest. So why would they endow the camp?
Their daughter had aged out of the program by then.
Daniel wanted to chat with Emma, away from the others, and bring up what he had learned. She was a notorious early riser. He set a chair in front of her cabin door after not sleeping all night. And promptly fell into a deep slumber. Or he must have. Because he woke up on the ground.
“Daniel? Did you sleep out here?” Emma asked.
With a grunt, he pushed himself upright, spitting the dirt out of his mouth. “Not the whole night. I’ve been out here for an hour, maybe two. I wanted to catch you since you wake up so early.”
“Sometimes it’s because I never really slept.” She rubbed her hands together.
He peered at her but didn’t spot any dark circles under her eyes.
“Can we talk?” she whispered.
He nodded.
She tipped her head up the path, toward the mess hall.
He scrambled to his feet and followed her. “I wanted to talk, too. Sorry I didn’t find you last night. I discovered something.”
“What?”
“Owen’s journal from that summer. I think…
” Daniel scanned his surroundings. “He was targeting Margaux. I don’t have definitive proof yet.
But it’s a gut instinct.” For that reason alone, he shouldn’t be sharing his suspicions.
His behavior wasn’t professional. He trusted her and wanted to include her.
“Huh.” She scrunched up her face.
“What’s up? You don’t agree?”
“I don’t know. The solution makes sense, I guess. Could Margaux’s security detail have run Owen off the road?”
“She doesn’t have any.” At least, none that Daniel had been made aware of.
He shouldn’t have said anything. Telling her only highlighted how weak his evidence and argument was. He’d never have shared his unfounded musings in the early days of an investigation with any of his deputies. He liked solid proof.
But he’d let his need to prove himself to her and their former connection spur him to openness. “Or maybe her driver was heading back to the airport at the time? Maybe it was a real accident? I don’t have specifics. I will. I promise. What did you want to talk about?”
She filled in a deep breath. “I have several things to tell you. Last night, Jennifer had sort of a strange reaction to the news about Owen.”
“How so?”
“Cold? Stilted?” Emma shook her head. “She was talking about secrets and…”
“What do you know about a hit and run involving Jennifer?”
Emma’s face went blank, her mouth dropping open.
“I overheard some other campers. This would have happened years and years ago.”
“I have no idea. When we were all talking at dinner, we remembered a time capsule. Nothing about a hit and run came up.” She tapped a finger to the cleft in her chin.
“Christine mentioned trouble at home when she was a kid. I don’t know what she meant but am a little unnerved that I never saw in any distress. Was I a self-centered kid?”
“Or she’s good at hiding her true feelings?” he mused.
Emma shrugged. “More to consider. We’re heading out to the little island in the lake to dig up the time capsule. Can you join us?”