“I feel really bad for whoever it is who fell into the current and I hope she’s going to be all right, but Nicole doesn’t even like to wade through the tidal pools in the daytime, because she’safraid of the little critters. So I don’t think she’d go near the marsh at night, when she can’t even see what’s in the water,” she reasoned. “Besides, the inlet is, like, a quarter mile past the stairs to the cottages. Why would she have kept walking down the beach? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Lydia agreed, frowning.
“She probably turned off at one of the beaches closer to the party and went into town or something, and that’s why it’s taking her so long to get back.”
“Maybe…”
In the quiet spell that followed, Caitlin was struck by another possibility. Even though she felt disloyal, she confided, “I think I know what else may have happened, Aunt Lydia. See, Nicole does this thing where she makes up a scene and then she acts it out to see how convincing she can be. She says it helps her grow as an actor. I bet that’s what she’s doing now—she’s playing the role of a girl who goes missing and falls into the water. She can be very dramatic like that.”
“Hmm,” her aunt murmured. “I suppose it’s possible that’s what’s going on. But if it really was Nicole who fell into the current and she’s getting checked out at the ER, it’ll probably take several hours before she gets the all-clear. So you should go to bed. I’ll wake you up if I hear anything from Pam or Bob.”
“No, I want to stay up and wait with you,” insisted Caitlin. “I’ll be right back—I’m just going to check at Nicole’s cottage to see if she came home yet.”
But Marion was still holding vigil for the teen. She promised she’d let Caitlin and her aunt and uncle know if Nicole returned.
This is probably just an act that went too far, but I’m sure Nicole’s fine, Caitlin told herself as she came home again and took a seat beside her aunt, who’d moved to the sofa in the living room to work on the merino wool cardigan she was knitting. Usually, Caitlin found the clicking of her needles to bea comforting background noise, but this evening, the disquieting sound reminded her of a ticking clock; it reminded her that time was passing. And with each minute that went by without any word from Pam or Bob, Caitlin became more anxious.
She tried to console herself with the thought,If she’s in the hospital, it means she’s not missing. And Aunt Lydia always says Hope Haven Hospital has an excellent reputation, so Nicole must be getting very good care.
But she was riddled with worry and guilt, and finally she burst out, “If it wasNicole who fell into the current, and if she did get hurt, then it’s all my fault! And even if she isn’t the same girl as the one who’s at the hospital, it’s still my fault she’s missing!”
“Nonsense!” Lydia hissed and stopped knitting. “Put that idea out of your head this instant, do you hear me?”
“But I-I-I warned her that I wasn’t going to leave the party early to take her home or to meet up with her parents. She said she was okay with that, and it seemed like she really meant it. But then Donald and I went for a walk and when we got back, she was gone.”
Lydia furrowed her brow, as if she couldn’t understand Caitlin’s logic. “So how is that your fault?”
“Don’t you see? If I hadn’t been so mean about saying I didn’t want to leave the party early, she wouldn’t have felt like she had to walk back by herself and she wouldn’t have fallen into the water.”
“Shedidn’thave to walk back to the cottages by herself. You said a couple student rangers offered to go with her and she refused to let them,” Lydia pointed out. She set aside her knitting and put her arm around her niece. “Listen, darling, I hope with all my heart that Nicole’s okay. But no matter what happens, it’s very important that you understand it’snotyour fault. It’s not the other kids’ fault, or the chaperone’s fault,either. Nicole knew full well she shouldn’t have left that party by herself. She knew her mother wouldn’t have wanted her to do that, she knew the chaperone was concerned about her safety, and she knew it wasn’t a fair thing to do to you, especially after she said she wouldn’t. But she did it anyway because it was whatshewanted to do. It was selfish.”
But deep down, Caitlin knew thatshewas the selfish one. She realized Mrs. McDougal was right:shewas the one who’d snuck off with her boyfriend, when she should’ve been looking out for Nicole. Suddenly, as she thought of saying,I love you, and kissing Donald, a bilious taste filled Caitlin’s mouth and her eyes brimmed with tears.
When she squeezed her lids shut, Lydia must have seen her and thought she was tired because she left the room and returned a moment later with a pillow. “You’re welcome to stay out here with me,” she said. “But I think you should put your head down for a while and try to get some rest.”
Caitlin didn’t know what time it was when she drifted off to sleep, but it was after daybreak when she woke to the sound of the phone ringing. At first, she couldn’t figure out where she was, but then she heard her aunt’s voice from the kitchen saying, “Oh, no. Oh, no. That’s horrible, Bob. I’m terribly,terriblysorry.”
Caitlin bolted upright on the couch and noticed her uncle leaning against the door frame across the room. The phone call must have jarred him awake, too. Their eyes met but they remained frozen, speechless. It was as if time were suspended while they waited for Lydia to say something else.
“Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I see.” Her murmuring was barely audible. There was another extended pause before she spoke again. “How can we help? We’ll do anything, anything at all.”
Caitlin could hardly hear over the commotion of her heart. She leaned forward, cocking an ear toward the kitchen.
“No, of course not. That’s fine, I completely understand,” Lydia said, coming into the living room, the phone pressed against her ear. Her skin looked ashen as her eyes darted from Albert to Caitlin. She nodded and said, “We’ll be sure it’s ready… Thank you for calling, Bob. Please take good care.”
The second she ended the call, Caitlin pounced toward her. “That was about Nicole, wasn’t it?” she asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Come, sit with me. You, too, Albert,” Lydia said, plunking onto the middle sofa cushion. Albert shuffled across the room and took a seat, wrapping an arm around his wife, but Caitlin was too anxious to sit still.
Shifting from foot to foot in front of them, she asked, “What did Mr. McDougal say? What happened?”
“I’m afraid it’s very bad news.” Lydia took both of her niece’s hands, forcing Caitlin to stop fidgeting. “According to two witnesses—a married couple who were night fishing nearby—Nicole must have completely lost her bearings. Or else she thought she was crossing a tidal pool instead of the tidal river, and she didn’t realize how wide and deep the water was. In either case, she fell in and screamed for help, but the current was so strong, it pulled her inland, to the marsh. She must have panicked or she got tired and couldn’t keep her head above water. By the time they found her, she was unconscious and she wasn’t breathing.”
“But-but-but someone did CPR, right? They revived her and she’s going to be okay, isn’t she?”
“No, I’m afraid she’s not.” As Albert moaned and covered his eyes, Lydia squeezed her niece’s hands tighter. “Nicole passed away, Caitlin. She died.”
“No, she didn’t, Aunt Lydia,” Caitlin immediately argued, yanking her hands free. “She was airlifted to thehospital, remember? She’s been there for hours and hours. That means they’re treating her.”
