Page 123 of The Last Time I Lied

Seeing Theo here feels like a minor earthquake. The ground under my feet trembles. Only it’s me who’s really trembling. A seismic shifting in my body I’m powerless to control.

Because his presence can’t be an accident.

He’s here for a reason.

“What’s going on?” he says.

“I’d ask you the same thing,” I say, a catch in my throat. “But I think I already know.”

He’s come back for the girls.

He attacked them, locked them away, waited until the dead of night to return. A chain of events I suspect happened fifteen years ago with a different trio.

My accusation, as misguided as it was, might have been correct. Truth disguised as a lie.

I hate thinking this way. Of everyone in camp, he’s the only one I truly hoped was innocent. But the suspicion refuses to leave, as uncontrollable as my quaking, exhausted body.

I edge in front of the girls, shielding them from Theo and whatever he might try to do next. I slip a trembling hand through my flashlight’s wrist strap, securing it. Although not much of a weapon, it’ll do in a pinch. If it comes to that. I desperately hope it doesn’t.

“Miranda,” I say with as much calm as I can muster, “there’s a canoe on shore in the same place we landed the other day. TakeSasha and Krystal there as fast you can. If Sasha has trouble, you might need to carry her. Do you think you can do that?”

“Why?” Miranda says. “What’s going on?”

“Just answer the question. Yes or no?”

Miranda’s reply is streaked with fear. “Yes.”

“Good. When you get to the canoe, row across the lake. Don’t wait for me. Not even a second. Just row as fast as you can back to camp.”

Theo aims his flashlight at my face again. “Emma, maybe you should step away from the girls. Let me see if they’re hurt.”

I ignore him. “Miranda, do you understand?”

“Yes,” she says again, more forceful this time, steeling herself for the sprint.

“Good. Now go.Hurry!”

That last word—and the desperate way I say it—gets the girls moving. Miranda bolts away, all but dragging Sasha behind her. Krystal follows, slower but just as determined.

Theo makes a move to stop them, but I lunge forward, flashlight raised, threatening to strike. He freezes when I’m two feet away and drops his flashlight. He raises his hands, palms open. I don’t lower my flashlight. I need to keep him like this. Just long enough to give the girls a head start.

“Don’t you dare go after them,” I warn.

“Emma, I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Stop lying!” I shout. “You know exactly what’s happening. What did you plan to do with those girls?”

Theo’s eyes go wide. “Me? What wereyougoing to do with them? I followed you here, Em. I watched from the Lodge as you got into that canoe and rowed across the lake.”

It’s another lie. It has to be.

“If you thought I was guilty, why didn’t you tell the police?”

“Because,” Theo says, “I wanted to be wrong.”

As did I. All that guilt I’d felt about accusing him. All that shame and remorse. It was for nothing.

“I need to know why you did it,” I say. “Both now and back then.”

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