I nodded. So maybe it had been nothing. Maybe it had been a simple misunderstanding or maybe Copper had gotten it all wrong. I felt very foolish for having brought it to her attention when she had bigger worries on her plate. I didn't want to be starting trouble where it didn't need to be started.

“It was probably a misunderstanding,” I said, standing up. “Probably nothing.”

“Yeah, Copper likes to make mountains out of molehills sometimes,” she said, chuckling and shaking her head.

I didn't bother hiding my surprise. “How did you know it was Copper who told me?”

“Because it sounds like something Copper would say,” she answered. “And because she's been doing the same thing as long as I've known her. Makes everyone's business her own and thinks it's her job to stir the pot. Don't get me wrong. She's not trying to do any harm.” Delilah smiled. “But Copper has been known to get a few things wrong in the name of turning a good tale.”

I held up my hand. “Enough said. I'm sorry for coming to you with something silly.”

“Oh, it's fine,” she said, waving her hand in the air again. “And she probably did hear something like that. But I'd bet it isn't nearly as dramatic as she made it out to be.”

“You're probably right,” I said. “And now I'll stop bothering you and let you get back to work.”

Delilah's smiled faded and she nodded slowly. “Yes. Work. I should probably try and do some of that.” She picked up a pencil from her desk, then thought better of it and set it back down. “Speaking of work, I haven't been a very good hostess. Everything okay for you and the mister?”

I immediately thought of the slashed tire and the fact that a tow truck would be arriving at the resort sooner rather than later. I knew I should tell her but I didn't want to add one more worry to her growing list.

“Better than okay,” I said brightly.

She nodded, relieved. “Good. At least there's one thing going right around here.”

TWENTY THREE

I walked back to the cabin to find Jake stretched out on the sofa with a book. I told him where I'd been and what Delilah said.

“Not totally surprised,” he said, rubbing my knee as I sank down next to him. “Everyone around here seems like they care about everyone else's business.”

He was right. It was a bit like a junior high school hallway, with gossip and innuendo everywhere you looked. And we were the new kids, unsure of what was true and what wasn't.

We grilled burgers for dinner and, after the tow truck arrived to carry the rental car away, we opted to take the golf cart out for a slow, sunset cruise. We made our way to the trail and navigated the steep terrain and Jake pressed hard on the gas pedal, quickly passing the area where we'd found Harvey's body. I kept my eyes averted from the brush-filled forest, focusing instead on the dirt trail in front of us. We continued down to what was known as the lower campground. The roads were unpaved and it looked more like your traditional campground, with tents and older RVs populating most of the lots. We found another pool and then a small park and drove down each of the roads, looking for signs of where everyone was from: license plates, sports flags, anything that told us where people had arrived from. I think we were both surprised to see that people came from all over. My heart hurt again for a moment, thinking of how it all might be gone because of Delilah's financial circumstances and I wondered if and when she planned to tell everyone that this was the last summer.

We turned down a road lined with what looked like newer campers that dead-ended in a cul-de-sac. One camper in particular stood out because it looked very much like the one we were staying in, a log cabin exterior with a front porch. The lawn was a touch overgrown, but the grass was emerald green and perfectly edged. A small hummingbird feeder hung from a shepherd's hook in the middle of the yard and a gravel path had been laid from the street to the stairs of the camper.

“That's pretty,” I said, pointing to the cabin.

Jake nodded and started to stay something as we passed by. And then we heard glass break.

Jake tapped the brakes on the cart. “You hear that?”

I was still staring at the cabin. “Yeah.”

Then a clank echoed through the evening air, like a tool dropped to the ground. Then broken glass crunching.

Jake got out of the cart. “Stay here.”

I got out. “Are you crazy? I'm not staying here. And where are you going?”

“To see where the noise is,” he said and he pointed at the cart. “Just sit and wait for me.”

I shook my head. “Absolutely not.”

He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. He headed toward the side of the cabin and I closed in on his heels. Our feet crunched on the gravel path and we slowed our steps, trying to be quiet. Footsteps thumped on the deck and more glass cracked. Voices whispered. A sliding door opened.

Jake slowed and I bumped into his back when we reached the stairs.

“Hurry up,” a female voice whispered. “You're always so slow.”

“Shut up,” another female voice whispered back. “You're slower than me.”

“Well, you're dumber.”

“You failed sixth grade.”

“Whatevs.”

Jake turned to look at me. “It's your friends,” he whispered.

“Who?”

He took a couple of steps toward the stairs that led to the deck and spoke in a loud voice. “What's up, girls?”

I hustled behind him to see who he was talking to. One of the twins from the pool was standing on the deck with a hammer in her hand and a crowbar at her feet. The other twin was staring back at us on the other side of the broken kitchen window. They both had on black tank tops and the one on the deck was wearing hot pink denim shorts.

The one on the deck looked confused and quickly dropped the hammer to her side. “Uh, hey.”

“What are you two doing?” Jake asked.

The one in the broken window said, “Nothing.”

“Is this your cabin?”

“Maybe.”

“So you're breaking the window in your own cabin?” Jake asked.

Neither said anything.

“I can call the police,” I said. I dug into my shorts pockets. “I have my phone.”

The one on the deck looked at me and I thought she raised the hammer just a bit.

“You don't need to call the police,” the one in the window said quickly.

“Yeah,” the one with the hammer said. “We were just leaving.”

The one in the window glanced at her sister, irritated. “You are so stupid, Mary.”

Mary, the one on the deck with the hammer, glared at her sister. “You are so stupid, Carrie.”

“I'm calling them,” I said, lifting my phone up.

“No!” Carrie said. “Don't! Please! I can't go back to jail!”

“Me either,” Mary muttered.

“Go back?” Jake asked.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Carrie explained, her tone defensive. She tucked a long strand of blond hair behind her ear. “I was going to go back into the liquor store to pay for all the vodka after I loaded it into my car. No one was at the cash register and they just assumed I was stealing it.”

“And I was only sitting in the driver's seat with the engine running so the car would be cool,” Mary added. “It was like the hottest day of the summer. Well, night...but you know what I mean.”

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose, then shook his head like he was trying to clear his thoughts. “What are you doing here, then?”

Carrie sighed. “We just wanted something to remember him by.”

“Yeah,” Mary chimed in, nodding vigorously. “Like, a memento or something.”

“Remember who by?” I asked.

“Harvey,” Carrie said.

“This is Harvey's place?” I said, looking more closely at the cabin.

They both nodded.

“Get out of there,” Jake ordered. “Now.”

Carrie disappeared from the window and reappeared at the glass slider. She unlocked the door, opened it and walked out onto the deck, her shoulders sagging like a dog that had been reprimanded.