“Remember our first year all together in fourth grade?” Jennifer asked. “The swim test?”
Margaux turned beet red.
Jennifer and Christine chuckled.
Emma smiled, aiming to strike a chord between the embarrassing moment for Margaux, when she had cannon balled into the lake off the dock after a dare only to lose the bottom half of her tankini, and the memory of how Liz dove into the murky water and retrieved the piece of clothing within minutes. Sometimes Jennifer and Christine laughed with Margaux and other times at her. Emma wanted harmony between them all. Liz had been the peacemaking mediator, the glue of the group. Emma had to emulate her sister.
“I love the freshwater smell out there,” Emma said. “I’m drawn to ponds and streams. I’ll stand on the edge and breath in deep, trying to inhale all the good memories of swimming on the rare hot days and hanging out on the dock at sunset.”
“We should go there,” Margaux said. “Take a canoe out to the little island.”
“I don’t know,” Emma replied. “The dock has to be worse for wear. The canoes probably have holes, and the island might not be traversable any longer.”
“Come on, let’s go on one last adventure. A trip down memory lane,” Christine chimed in. “Short of hypnosis, this might be the only way to travel back to the past.”
“Hey, didn’t we bury a time capsule out there?” Jennifer asked.
Margaux gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.
“Did we?” Emma asked, studying Margaux’s odd reaction. “I forgot all about it. I’ve lost a lot of my memories.”
“Have you? Honestly?” Margaux asked, narrowing her gaze. “In my experience, that’s something you hear when people want you to back off.”
Jennifer scoffed. “Lyndes aren’t liars.”
Emma’s cheeks burned at the old taunt from childhood. Liz had said the words with authority, but the others had parroted them back in a sing-song way to tease.
“I wonder what we put in there,” Christine said. “Probably issues of Seventeen Magazine and Delia’s catalogues.”
Jennifer laughed. “What I wouldn’t give for a cute pair of cargo pants with a horizontal striped crop top.”
“You joke,” Christine said, rolling her eyes. “But I’d still wear everything in that catalogue.”
“I know you would,” Jennifer muttered. “I’d like one last hike out there.”
“We should do it,” Margaux said firmly. “Dig up the time capsule. Help us all find closure before saying goodbye for the last time.”
“Are you sure?” Emma asked. “What about your…situation?”
Margaux shot her a look devoid of any expression, like a blank faced mannequin at a failing department store. Had she forgotten the written threat against her?
“The note?” Emma supplied. “Will you be safe out in the wide open away from reliable phone lines?”
“Oh, yes. Of course. Sorry, the excitement of one last adventure made everything else slip my mind.” Margaux chuckled. “Let’s go. You are more important than a silly note. Whatever is inside might jog your memories.”
Emma wasn’t convinced that was a good thing. But she didn’t care for waiting around either. A killer stalked the campers. She’d take the pro-active option versus passively accepting her fate. Maybe she would get her memories back, and the weight of them wouldn’t crush her. “Okay, I’ll ask Daniel to join us.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Margaux said. “He’s the sheriff. He’s got more important things to do then follow us around.”
“You are a public figure now,” Emma teased. “This is for the best. All of us together for one last adventure.” And Emma wanted him close.
Christine put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “I think you like him.”
Emma flushed. Was she that obvious? Probably. But it also gave her cover for the truth, their investigation.
“Oohh,” Jennifer and Christine said in unison.
“Don’t let me get in the way of that,” Margaux added. “Sure, let’s bring him along.”
