“Think hard,” Margaux prodded.
“Liz wanted to sneak out to practice the dance routine before the talent show,” Emma said.
Or so her sister had told Emma. When Emma had asked to go, too, she’d been told no. It had been too quick. Liz recovered and said Emma needed to watch their girls. It was a reasonable explanation. But after, Emma wondered if it had been about Owen. She hadn’t wanted to prod her sister because then she’d have to lie to their parents.
“You didn’t go after her?”
“No, of course not. It was after lights out. I thought maybe she was seeing Owen. I didn’t ask her questions that I didn’t want answers to.” Emma hung her head, her chin dropping to her chest.
“Culpable deniability,” Liz had said and laughed. Throwing back her head, she chortled with her whole body.
“Or trust,” Emma countered, bristling at her sister’s nonchalance. “If you need me to know, you’ll tell me.”
Liz reached for her hand and squeezed. “Of course, but I don’t have to because you’ll always be there. Seeing, hearing, feeling. You know me better than I do. And vice versa. Can you really imagine being on your own? Would you actually want that?”
“I don’t want to lie for you.” Emma had bristled. She didn’t want to give up her sister for good. She only wanted a little time away during college. She was tired of the argument. “I’m guessing Owen will be tagging along.”
“I know someone who’d gladly follow you, if you gave him a chance,” Liz said, her voice sing song sweet.
“What are you doing?” Margaux shrieked, shaking Emma by the shoulders. “You can’t sleep yet.”
“Why?” Emma wasn’t sure what she was asking. She forced her chin up, meeting Margaux’s wild-eyed stare.
“Are you sure you didn’t follow your sister? Go back to that night. Replay it. What do you see?”
“I’m stuck. Can you help me?” Emma asked.
Margaux cackled, throwing back her head.
Emma wanted to hide from the menace, shrink and cower. But she had nowhere to go.
Margaux kneeled next to Emma, reaching for her hands. Click. Click.
Emma raised her shoulders but couldn’t move her arms. A heaviness settled over her.
Margaux stood and stepped away. “Why would I do that when I’m the one who dragged you here?”
The water bottle. Clarity slammed into Emma like she’d bellyflopped onto the surface of the lake, hitting the water like a slab of cement. Margaux had drugged her. Emma circled her wrists, her fingers brushing against each other. She was handcuffed. Her long-term memories remained out of reach, but the short term was readily accessible. Jennifer and Christine had been picked off one by one.
“Oh, I can see the realization in your eyes. You are truly gorgeous. No wonder the sheriff loves you,” Margaux said.
“Why?”
“Memories are flawed. Fragile. Fickle,” Margaux said, flinging each f word off her tongue like a poisoned dart. “I remember everything. Exactly as it happened. All the name calling. The way you and your sister pitied me. I was Liz’s pet. Never her real friend. Look at me now. Reinvented and reigning supreme.”
Unreliable. Margaux’s dramatics threatened Emma’s life. She couldn’t change the past, and she had no time to mourn in the present. But she could influence the future. She had to focus on the others. She bounced her legs, willing whatever was in her system to evaporate in her bloodstream. “Are Jennifer and Christine okay? Did you hurt them on purpose?”
“Minor things. They’ll recover. I shoved one into a hole and poisoned the other. Simple. I needed you alone, and your boy is always around.”
“Is he alive?”
“Maybe.” Margaux shrugged.
“Why did you come back?” Emma asked, hating the tremor in her voice. She needed strength, she clenched her fists until her fingernails bit in her palms.
“I was invited. Of course, Owen included that threatening note with my invitation.”
The one she claimed to have found in the bunk but was certain was for her. Owen had tried to get justice.
