Page 7 of Lake Hollow Curses

“Uhh… yeah?” Tucking my hands in my pockets, I reassess them. They don’t look familiar. When I interned, I never met any of the parents, my baseball kids only have a handful of parents that are regulars. I’m at a loss.

Kami is watching the whole exchange which chafes at me. Repositioning between her and the ladies with my back turned to my ex, I ask, “Do I know you?”

She nervously moves her watch wristband, glancing at her friend before continuing, “I’m Mary Ross. My daughter Susanna… do you remember Susanna Ross?”

The name is an instant shot to my heart. Not because of the girl whose face I can barely remember, no details stand out, but because she died the same summer as my sister. They both drowned in Lake Hollow weeks apart. “I-I… yes, yes I remember her.” I don’t want to stand here and lie to her mother, but from experience I know how hurtful it is when your lost loved one isn’t remembered. Her daughter didn’t make an impression onme years ago, beyond what I was being told by my friends. Did I even meet her?

Moving us out of the way of the rest of the line, Mary says, “I’d heard you were working here. The gal that owns the secondhand store told me I might find you here.” Bold. But before I get irritated, I listen to her as she continues, “I wanted to ask you about something. If that’s okay?”

Under the hot July sun, my mind still reeling over Remi’s absence, a queasy feeling sets in. I encourage Mary to ask it. She takes a deep breath. “The last conversation I had with Susanna the night she… when the medical examiner placed her time of death… that night.” Her friend soothes her by rubbing her arm. “She was at Lakeside Park to meet you.”

What?! The fuck she was.

“Excuse me? Could you repeat that?” My eyes narrow as she says it again. Heart galloping at a breakneck speed. Why would she think that? “I don’t know why you were told that. I not only didn’t meet up with your daughter, I never made plans to.”

She expected me to say that. No surprise on her face, she clasps her friend’s hand. “I was going to say, shethoughtshe was meeting you. I was on the phone with her and heard her say, ‘Why are you here, where’s Cal?’ Do you know… do you have any idea who would have lured my daughter to the park?”

Lured? Why would anyone do that?

If the police knew about this, why haven’t they askedmethis question? Unless they aren’t buying it. “Ms. Ross, I have no idea. Truly none. This is the first time I’m hearing any of this. I never spent any time with your daughter.” I wince slightly at the blunt statement I’m making to her, but she doesn’t catch it. Wrapping her arms around herself, her eyes fill with tears while she whispers to her friend.

She turns slightly to look up at me. “Cal, do you know where I could find Grady Marlow, Wilder Lee, or Charlie and MitchellGibson?” Oh, fucking hell. She’s on a one-woman mission to solve her daughter’s death. I can appreciate her intentions, but I’m not giving their locations to her. Did Carlotta embark on this with her? There have been whispers here and there that Lala was asking about Susanna, Sara, and Katie.

All I can do is shake my head.

What the hell makes her think any of them, could tell her? Wilder was gone when Susanna was here that summer. Wait… he was gone. Something I’d forgotten about before. He started that summer out in California with his mom visiting family. Sara was livid that she was left behind. She was insufferably moody until he came back. He never met Susanna Ross.

If all the drownings weren’t coincidental… if… oh my fucking God. Itneverwas Wilder. I’m still staring at my shaking hands when I realize Mary and her friend have walked away.

Suddenly, I want to talk to Wilder. I want to know more about these visions he’s been having. Unlike Charlie, I don’t think it’s a sign of guilt, he may have answers we all need. “Christ, Sara, I’ve really fucked this all up,” I say softly to myself. “Bet you’ve been watching this all go down angry as hell.”

Chapter Five

Remington James

“Mmmm two snacks that taste great together,” I mumble to myself. Moved carefully aside by Wilder and Grady as they help Ceily move heavy shelves over to make room, She has them nailing ladders on the wall for a quilt display. I can’t tear my eyes away from them.

Keenan snickers next to me, rolling his eyes, he says in a teasing tone, “Permission to stare a while longer?”

How do they keep their hands off each other? I feel the chemistry any time I’m in their vicinity, it may be wishful thinking but thethreeof us together sizzle and pop chemistry wise. Keenan presses his finger into my cheek. “You’re doing that moony-eyed gaping again, sweetheart.”

Can he blame me? I think not. “Ceily where did the hats go?” Her impressive display that I helped mount from upside down umbrellas is nowhere to be seen.

Shuffling from behind the checkout counter, she stands with her hands on her hips. “Hmph. It was nice while it lasted, but the stuffy mayor’s wife stopped in again about that heirloom necklace, and it was a windy day. One of the umbrellas bopped her on the ole noggin’.”

I shouldn’t giggle, but picturing it and her permanently pinched face, I can’t hold it in. “Do you mean the necklace that Wilder disposed of in the lake?” That gets his attention, he turns making a face. “It belonged to her family originally, right?”

“Mmm, lawd yes. She caterwauled on and on. She could start an argument in an empty house that one. I told her what I did last time she came in, that I was never sold that item, don’t even remember it in stock here.” If she’s showing back up about it, that could mean that the detective knows about it, too. I hope so anyway.

Running my hand over the beautiful ivory bird locket necklace that Wilder gifted me as an apology, I smile to myself. A reminder that I’m healing, even if it’s out of spite. Inside the locket, I put a folded note he left me one morning.Patron saint of all hopeless life forms, there’s a broken mess next door that thinks you were heaven sent.

Grady holds the ladder up over his head, while Keenan and Wilder use step stools to reach it, pounding nails into the ladder rails. “Is that the one that you had at the drive-in?” he asks. “The one that is supposedly cursed?” He may be joking, but Wilder's sharp look cuts his hilarity. “Remind me why we think that?”

“I don’t… Wilder, this is on you.” Damn. Watching his arms while he nails the ladder, makes me wish he was nailing something else altogether. I’m a goner. “Like most of the rumors around here, it’s about the drownings.”

He recounts the details about the girls that had the necklace drowning near The Bends, the necklace disappearing to reappear again… over and over. The more I think about it, themore unlikely it all sounds. It’s still sitting on the weed choked bottom of Lake Hollow since Wilder’s last deposit. A piece of me expects to see it laying in the cabin somewhere each day.

Hopping up to sit on the counter, I fold my legs, the Sharpie drawn picture of a bug-eyed frog holding a heart spanning my calf, makes Keenan stick his tongue out at me before grinning. Like a treasure map he keeps pointing out my drawings as if I hadn’t done them. “Do we think someone dropped it off in your shop, Ceily? To get rid of it or something?”

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