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  The sound that came from Helen was like a low, husky laugh. But it wasn’t laughter. Lowering her head, she pressed her hands against her face and wept.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  ‘Are you sure the keys were in your pocket?’ Cora asked.

  Helen’s head bobbed up and down as she sobbed.

  ‘Oh, man,’ Finley said.

  Vivian lowered her suitcase and sat on its edge. She put the lantern down beside her. Though it came to rest at a sharp angle, it didn’t fall over. She hugged her sleeping bag.

  ‘I’m… sorry,’ Helen gasped.

  Abilene crouched and set down her load. Then she gently squeezed Helen’s shoulders. ‘It’s all right,’ she said.

  Sure it is, she thought. Jesus. What if we can’t find them?

  Cora let her wet bundle and sleeping bag drop to the pavement, then set down her suitcase. ‘When did you have the keys last?’ she asked.

  ‘When we… took out our… suitcases and stuff.’

  ‘That was just before we went down to the pool.’

  Helen nodded.

  ‘And you’re sure you put them back into your pocket?’

  ‘Yes!’ She slapped her right front pocket three times hard as if to punish it - and her thigh.

  ‘Take it easy,’ Abilene said, and rubbed the girl’s heaving shoulders.

  ‘Are you sure you didn’t put them somewhere else? In your purse, maybe? Or your suitcase?’

  ‘I know where I put them.’

  ‘I saw Helen stick them in her pocket,’ Vivian said. ‘The right front. The first place she checked. ’

  ‘And you changed into your suit when we were down by the pool?’

  ‘We all did,’ Abilene pointed out, wishing Cora would quit the interrogation.

  ‘Those of us who wore ’em,’ Finley said. She had put down her own things, but still held her video camera.

  ‘Were the keys in your pocket when you put your shorts back on?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Obviously, they weren’t,’ Finley said. She sounded a little annoyed. ‘I’ve kept a sharp eye on Helen, and she didn’t do a single hand-stand after she got out of the water.’

  Helen let out a choking snort, as if a sob had blocked the way of a laugh. Turning around, she snuffled and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.

  ‘They must’ve fallen out in the pool,’ Abilene said. ‘Either when the guy threw…’

  ‘Maybe he took them as a souvenir,’ Finley suggested.

  ‘Or to keep us from leaving,’ Vivian muttered.

  Helen moaned.

  ‘They probably just fell out of the pocket,’ Abilene said. ‘I’m the one who found Helen’s shorts. When I was way out toward the middle of the pool? The keys could’ve fallen out when I picked them up.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Cora said.

  ‘The way I grabbed them… they came out upside-down.’

  ‘Good going, Hickok.’

  ‘How could the shorts get way out there with the keys in the pocket?’ Cora asked. ‘They would’ve sunk as soon as they hit the water.’ To Helen, she said, ‘You had your house keys and things in the same case, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘They would’ve sunk the shorts.’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ Abilene said. ‘If some air got trapped in the pants, they might’ve floated for a while. Just like your T-shirt.’

  ‘Maybe the guy gave them a toss,’ Finley said.

  ‘We would’ve heard splashes,’ Cora told her, ‘if he’d thrown stuff.’

  ‘I don’t know why you’re arguing,’ Abilene said. ‘The fact is, I found the shorts in the middle of the pool and the keys were gone when Helen put them back on. So unless the bastard stole the keys, they’ve gotta be down at the bottom of the pool right now.’

  Cora lowered her head. She let out a sigh that was louder than the hiss of the lantern.

  ‘Fun ’n games,’ Finley said.

  Cora said, ‘Shit.’

  Helen sniffed loudly, then said, ‘If someone’ll come with me, I’ll look for them.’

  Vivian, still sitting on her suitcase, muttered, ‘We could’ve been gone by now.’

  ‘I mean it. I’ll find them. It was my fault. I just don’t want to go alone.’

  ‘You can’t go alone,’ Abilene said, but couldn’t force herself to volunteer. Stepping up the slope, she tried the handle of the car’s rear door. The latch released. She tugged the door open slightly, then let it drop shut. ‘Well, we’re not locked out of the car. Anybody know how to hot-wire one of these things?’

  ‘Television stuff,’ Cora said.

  ‘Like getting into locked rooms with credit cards,’ Finley added.

  ‘What are we gonna do?’ Vivian asked. She sounded as if she might start crying.

  ‘I already said I’d…’

  ‘We’re not going back in there,’ Cora snapped, stunning Abilene with her vehemence. ‘I’m not. You’re not. None of us are. Not tonight.’

  ‘Wow.’ From Finley.

  ‘What’s your problem?’

  ‘Nothing. Just… I’m surprised, that’s all. I figured you’d be all gung-ho to go for the keys.’

  ‘Well, I’m not. Okay? Do you have a problem with that?’

  ‘Me? No. Huh-uh. I don’t want to go down there, either.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ Abilene admitted. ‘But if we don’t, it means we’re stuck here.’

  ‘I’m aware of that.’

  ‘Calm down, will you? We’re all scared. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.’

  ‘I’m not ashamed of anything.’

  ‘Well, just calm down. ’

  ‘All the shit we’ve been through together,’ Finley said, ‘we shouldn’t let a little thing like this throw us. We heard a creepy story, and some rat-ass teenager fucked us over. That’s really all that’s happened, right? Nobody’s been hurt. We’re all just a bit spooked. So why don’t we just make the best of it?’

  ‘And do what?’ Cora asked.

  ‘Well, I don’t think any of us want to go back inside the lodge tonight. So why don’t we find a nice, hidden place in the woods somewhere? We’ll sack out till morning. Then, when it’s broad daylight, we’ll go back down to the pool and find the keys and get our asses out of here.’

  ‘Spend the night?’ Vivian didn’t sound thrilled by the idea.

  ‘Sounds good to me,’ Abilene said. ‘The only other choice, if we don’t go after the keys, is to hike out. I can’t see the point of that. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘Besides,’ Finley said, ‘we’d have to leave our stuff here. Which means we’d need to come back for it, sooner or later.’

  ‘Let’s stay,’ Cora said.

  Helen nodded.

  ‘First thing in the morning, we’ll go back down to the pool.’

  ‘We can throw everything in the car,’ Abilene said, ‘and just take our sleeping bags. And whatever else we’ll need for the night. Toothbrushes, the water…’

  ‘Let’s do it,’ Cora said.

  Spreading out behind the car, they opened their luggage. Abilene took out her toilet kit, then shut the case.

  Cora climbed into the car and knelt on the back seat. Abilene kept the door open by leaning back against it, her legs braced.

  The others passed suitcases to Cora, and she stowed them in the rear. She placed the wet, loaded towels on the floor in front of the seat. ‘Is that it? What about your camera, Fin?’

  ‘I’ll keep it, thanks. I’m not about to leave it in an unlocked car.’

  ‘You’ll leave your purse, but not your camera?’

  ‘Maybe we ought to take our purses,’ Abilene said.

  ‘Shouldn’t have left them here in the first place with the car unlocked.’

  ‘Good thing we did,’ Cora said. ‘They might’ve ended up in the pool.’

  ‘Well, I think we’d better keep them with us from now on. If we lose our money and credit cards, we’ll really
be up the creek.’

  Cora hunted around, and finally handed out the purses. She was holding a roll of toilet paper when she climbed from the car. She tossed it to Helen. Abilene stepped clear of the door, and it fell shut with a solid thud.

  After gathering their things, they trudged uphill past the side of the car. Vivian, holding the lantern, halted. ‘Where to?’ she asked.

  ‘First off,’ Cora said, ‘let’s kill the light.’ She reached out and twisted the knob at its base. The hiss went silent. The brightness faded until the only light came from the hot mantles. They looked like a pair of small, net sacks, glowing white then dimming to red.

  ‘If we’re not going to use the lantern,’ Finley said, ‘why don’t we leave it in the car?’

  ‘We might need it later,’ Cora told her.

  ‘You’ve got the matches?’

  She patted her belly. She had no pockets, so Abilene supposed she must’ve tucked the matchbook under the elastic of her shorts. It was out of sight under the hanging front of her tank top.

  Turning to Finley, Cora said, ‘This is your idea. You want to lead the way?’

  ‘Sure.’

  Cora offered her a flashlight. Finley accepted it, said, ‘You take this,’ and handed the video camera to Cora. ‘Be careful with it.’ Then she started walking. She kept the flashlight off.

  They followed her along the pavement that stretched in front of the porch. Where it met the main driveway, she headed to the right. Away from the lodge.

  ‘Just in case anyone’s watching,’ she explained, ‘we’ll make it look like we’re actually taking off.’

  Abilene turned around. As she walked backward, she gazed at the lodge. With the moon out of sight behind it, the building was masked in black shadow. Someone might be watching -from the porch, from the doorway, from a window, from anywhere. But she saw only darkness.

  She faced the front again. Soon, the driveway began sloping. downward. Gravity pushed at her back as if it wanted to send her running for the bottom. She shortened her strides. Her legs trembled, but she supposed that the shakiness had more to do with her fears than with the exertion of trying to control her descent.

  ‘Are we going all the way to the road?’ Helen asked.

  Finley looked back. They all did. The lodge was out of sight. Abilene could see nothing except the dim, rising lane of the driveway, a few patches of sky through the tree tops, and the dark woods on both sides.

  ‘This is good enough,’ Finley said. She strode to the right and stepped off the driveway. Her sneakers crunched dead leaves and twigs on the forest floor. She ducked under a low branch. Cora went after her, followed by Vivian. Abilene cast a final glance up the deserted lane, saw nobody, and followed Helen into the trees.

  Ahead, she glimpsed a flashlight beam. It dug a bright tunnel through the darkness to the right, then slipped aside and disappeared.

  They trudged along in single file, traversing the hillside, Finley leading them around brambles, boulders and massive trunks that loomed in their way. Nobody spoke. Abilene stayed close to the gray smudge of Helen’s back.

  There was no breeze. The heavy, sweet air felt nearly as hot

  as the water in the pool. It had to be much cooler, but it sure didn’t feel that way. She was sweating. Dribbles tickled her face and neck, her chest and sides. The back of her blouse and the seat of her panties were wet and clinging.

  In spite of the heat, she trembled.

  She supposed she ought to feel safe, surrounded by the woods. After all, the chances of being found in here were remote.

  Unless the guy had somehow followed them.

  Awfully unlikely.

  But if he had followed them, he could be close enough to reach out of the darkness and grab her.

  Would’ve heard him coming, she told herself. No one could possibly tromp through all this without making noise.

  The thought didn’t reassure her. She was scared. She supposed the others were scared, too.

  It’s my fault we’re here, she thought. God, how stupid, picking up the shorts like that. The damn keys were probably right inside the pocket till I did that.

  If only I’d taken my time. If only I’d been more careful.

  It’s little mistakes like that…

  We’d be safe in the car right now, tooling along the road, a nice wind coming in through the open windows. Out of here. Gone.

  Never should’ve come here in the first place.

  Helen must be nuts, bringing us to an abandoned lodge in the middle of nowhere.

  We were just as nuts, going along with it.

  I could’ve been home right now with Harris. Watching some TV, having some popcorn and a Pepsi.

  It wouldn’t be this damn hot, either. And if it was, we’d have the fan going, a nice breeze blowing against us.

  Nobody put a gun to my head, she reminded herself.

  They’d always had great times with their adventures. They’d done stuff that was a lot more crazy than coming to an old lodge. Though Abilene regretted some of the things they’d done, nobody had ever gotten hurt and they’d always gotten away with their stunts, no matter how wild and dangerous.

  We’ll get away with this, too, she thought.

  This time tomorrow, we’ll be in a nice motel.

  If we find the damn keys.

  If we don’t, we’ll hike out.

  Either way, we’ll be gone from this place.

  Abilene suddenly realized that she was walking uphill. ‘Hey! ’ she called in a loud whisper. ‘What’re we doing?’

  Finley halted. The others continued toward her. As Abilene approached, she noticed that neither flashlight was on.

  ‘We’re going uphill,’ she whispered.

  ‘Yeah,’ Finley said. ‘I know. Have you ever tried sleeping on a slope?’

  ‘But we’re heading back toward the lodge.’

  ‘Where the ground is level. Don’t worry, we’ll stay in the trees. As long as we keep quiet and don’t use our lights, nobody’ll be the wiser.’

  ‘I don’t want to get any closer to the lodge.’

  ‘We’re almost to the top of the hill. Just a little bit farther, then we’ll find a good place to sack out.’ Without waiting for approval or more objections, Finley resumed her trek up the slope.

  Cora followed. Vivian shook her head and Helen shrugged.

  ‘We should be going the other way,’ Abilene muttered.

  ‘I knew this’d turn into a Goddamn campout,’ Vivian said, and started after Cora.

  ‘At least we won’t have so far to walk in the morning,’ Helen said.

  ‘We keep this up, we might as well sleep on the front lawn.’

  ‘The whole thing was a big mistake. I wish we hadn’t come here.’ With that, Helen turned around and hurried to catch up with Vivian.

  Abilene stayed close behind her.

  This is what we get, she thought, for letting Finley take the lead.

  Before she could get too annoyed, however, she found that the group had come to a halt.

  ‘Are we close enough for you?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s nice right here, don’t you think?’

  Abilene looked around. They were in a small clearing surrounded by a wall of trees and low bushes. There appeared to be barely enough room for the sleeping bags. Peering into the darkness, she could see no trace of the lodge. ‘I guess it’s okay,’ she whispered.

  ‘Okay? It’s perfect. Perfecto.’

  In silence, they set down their things. They opened the sleeping bags and spent a while arranging them. Three could fit side by side. Two fit crosswise.

  Finley’s bag was in the middle between Abilene’s and Helen’s. She dropped down on it and crossed her legs. ‘Great, huh? Now, if we just had some margaritas and chips.’

  ‘Feel free to go back for them,’ Abilene said. ‘I’m sure we’re not far from the car.’

  ‘Did anybody bring food?’ Helen asked.

  ‘We should’ve,’ Finley said. />
  ‘But we didn’t,’ Abilene said.

  ‘Geez.’

  ‘You’re trying to lose weight,’ Cora reminded her.

  ‘That was before.’

  ‘You can survive till morning,’ Vivian said.

  Helen sighed. ‘Yeah. Sure.’

  ‘Just forget about it,’ Cora said. ‘Let’s brush our teeth and get some sleep.’

  ‘And take a leak,’ Abilene added.

  ‘Not necessarily in that order,’ Finley said.

  They gathered their toothbrushes, paste, the big plastic water bottle and the roll of toilet paper. Helen passed the roll around, and they each tore off some paper.

  ‘We go that way,’ Abilene said, pointing back the way they’d come.

  They crept into the trees. A short distance from the clearing, they crowded together in a circle to share the water while they brushed their teeth.

  Then they separated. Glad that she’d changed into a skirt instead of shorts, Abilene slipped out of her panties. Poor Helen, she recalled, was still in her swimsuit. Everything would have to come off. While she squatted close to the ground, she heard the others nearby: footsteps mashing forest debris, muttered curses, splashing sounds.

  Done, she backed away and stepped into her panties. She didn’t go looking for the others. Instead, she made her way to the clearing. Cora and Finley were already there. As she was putting her toothpaste and brush into her toilet kit, Vivian returned.

  Abilene sat on her sleeping bag. She was pulling off her moccasins when Helen came slouching out of the trees.

  ‘What a pain,’ Helen muttered. She carried her swimsuit and Bermudas in one hand. She wore only her blouse and shoes. The blouse hung open, its front bouncing and swaying with the motions of her loose breasts.

  ‘The Tipton girl,’ Finley said.

  In spite of Helen’s miserable appearance, Abilene found herself grinning. Helen really did look like some kind of bizarre parody of the Tipton shirt commercial that, during the past year, had made Vivian something of a national celebrity.

  In the commercial, Vivian strides languidly across a veranda, leans her shoulder against a pillar and gazes out at swaying palm trees, combers rolling in toward a deserted beach. A breeze caresses her thick, auburn hair and stirs the front of her white Tipton dress shirt. It is a man’s shirt, too large for her. Its sleeves are rolled partway up her forearms. Its tails drape her buttocks and thighs. She seems to wear nothing except the shirt. Only a single, closed button prevents it from blowing open.