by Renee Marski
Denise looked around the table. "Has that been decided yet?"
The girls shook their heads, indicating no one had discussed it with them. Clara closed the journal and pulled it to her. "Well, I figured Maddy and Savannah would want to have their day together. If we can convince Katy to take the day with them, only one of us has to stay behind." Her eyes fell to the tabletop, a wood that someone had painted white many years ago-so many years that the paint was peeling in places. Clara picked at one of the spots, not wanting to ask any of her friends to stay behind and miss out.
Stacy blew out a breath. "I'll do it." Clara's eyes rose to her face. "It's not a big deal. I'm not really into this stuff anyway." She gave them all a reassuring smile. Hannah started to protest but Stacy raised a hand. "No, it's true. Clara, you and Hannah love this stuff. Your dads raised you that way. Denise seems to be really into it too. And Tracy, well, you might have a connection with this guy, which could come in handy. I'll stay back, distract the other girls. Heck, I'll ask Katy to spend the day with me. That way she won't think to try and go with you guys."
Clara smiled gratefully at Stacy. "You're the best."
Stacy shrugged and gave her a huge grin. "So Rodney keeps telling me." That got a chuckle out of everyone.
"How is my big brother?" Clara asked innocently. She hadn't brought him up much, wanting to give Stacy the chance to do it on her own. Now that the door was open, she was going to hop through.
Stacy's cheeks reddened, her blush creeping up from her neck. "He's good. Keeps telling me he misses me."
"Not sure why. You talk every night." Denise winked at Stacy, making her blush more.
"We haven't been apart this long before. It's hard on him."
Clara leaned forward, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "You think this will convince him to propose?"
Stacy shrugged again. "I don't know. I think he wants to. He's just afraid."
Hannah snorted. "Afraid of commitment, you mean. He knows you'll say yes. We all know you'll say yes. His fear doesn't have anything to do with you."
Stacy slumped in her seat and clasped her hands in front of her. "We aren't in any rush. I still have to finish college." Stacy had finally decided on a career, choosing to focus on early education and become a teacher. Clara knew that she was good with kids, so it was the perfect job for her.
Noise from the theater room pulled their attention away from the conversation. "Looks like the movie's over." Hannah sighed, stood, and reached her hands over her head to stretch. The other girls stood too and headed over to the theater room to grab their groups. As they led the girls to their cabins, Clara couldn't help but think that soon she'd be able to ask the cop about Gretchen. She couldn't wait to find out what he had to say.
***
The following afternoon, two days before the girls were to get the day to themselves, Stacy told Clara that Katy had agreed to hang out with her on Saturday. "Now we just have to make sure the other two want to as well." Stacy and Clara stood on the porch and took in the groups as they did outside activities. Savannah was teaching archery to some of the girls, although she was not having much success in getting them to hit anything. Maddy was over with the horses and watched as the girls took turns riding one. She said that she intended to take them on a trail ride next week and Clara offered to tag along. It sounded like so much fun.
"Think you can do it?"
Stacy leaned on a post, chewing on her lower lip. "I can give it the old college try. What's the worst that will happen? They'll say no?"
Clara nodded. "Yeah, then I'll have to take them into town with me and figure out how to get away from them long enough to talk to the cop." Clara didn't think the girls would care that she was asking around about Gretchen but until she got more information, she didn't feel comfortable mentioning what she was doing.
Stacy patted Clara's arm and stepped off the porch. "I'll convince them, don't worry." By that evening, Stacy had gotten both girls to agree to spend Sunday with her and Katy. She'd given Clara a triumphant grin and a thumbs up, making Clara relax. Now things would go the way she wanted them to go.
***
Saturday morning dawned bright and breezy. Birds chirped outside Clara's window, waking her up with the light. She hopped out of bed and dressed quickly, wanting to get to town as soon as possible. She rushed downstairs to the kitchen, where she found the other three girls frying up breakfast. She leaned over Hannah's shoulder, inhaling the smell of bacon. "Oh, man, that smells delicious."
Hannah smiled, flipping the pieces. "Almost done. I figured we'd eat breakfast here, then grab lunch in town." Clara nodded. She set her purse on the table and rifled through it. Finally, she pulled out the business card the deputy had given them.
"Deputy Brayden Bianchi. Hmm, Italian maybe?" She glanced at Tracy and gave her a wink. Tracy's cheeks turned pink as she tried to cover her face. "Oh look, the address to the station is on here too. How nice of him to give us that."
Hannah set a plate of food in front of her and shook her head. "Eat, so we can leave." Clara gobbled down the food, savoring the eggs as they melted on her tongue and the bacon as it crunched. Once finished, the girls cleaned up the kitchen, then headed out. They took the keys for the van that Katy had informed them the night before they could use to get to town. Hannah drove, with Clara riding shotgun. Tracy and Denise sat in the back, both perched on the seats in anticipation.
The girls had all gone super casual today, with only Tracy dressing up a bit. She wore a jean skirt and green tank top while the other girls were all in shorts and t-shirts. Tracy had shrugged at Hannah's questioning glance, stating that she wanted to look pretty when she saw the deputy again. Hannah had rolled her eyes but kept quiet, knowing that anything she said wouldn't change Tracy's mind.
They drove most of the way in silence, too excited and nervous to do much talking. Clara had Gretchen's journal with her, just in case the deputy tried to weasel his way out of talking to them. She didn't think he'd done anything to Gretchen but maybe he knew who did. When Hannah pulled up to the police station, Clara hopped out first, barely waiting for the van to stop. As the others climbed out, Clara walked toward the front of the building, not waiting for them to catch up. The station looked like every other building in town: solid, square, and brick. Glass doors led into a lobby where an officer sat at a desk, typing on the computer in front of him. He glanced up as Clara approached and gave him her biggest smile. "Can I help you?"
She took in his brown eyes, the laugh lines surrounding them, and his rosy cheeks and decided that he liked to laugh a lot. She pulled out the business card and handed it to him. "This was given to me earlier this week. I was hoping I could speak with the deputy?" He glanced at the card, then back up at her. By then, the other girls had joined her.
"Friends of yours?"
Clara glanced behind her and smiled at the girls. "Yes. The deputy?"
"Let me see if he's busy." The officer picked up the phone on his desk, punched some numbers, and then waited. When the line was picked up, he muttered, "Is Deputy Bianchi there? He's got visitors." He waited, then continued, "A few girls. They have his card." He hung up and looked back up at them. "He'll be out shortly. Have a seat." He indicated the benches behind them, then returned to his computer before they'd stepped away from the desk. The girls all shrugged at each other, then took the seats and waited. Tracy looked nervous, her legs bouncing as she sat. Hannah reached over and placed a hand on the bouncing legs.
"Calm down." Tracy smiled at her, but Clara could see she was still nervous. Thankfully, the deputy didn't make them wait long. He strode out of a door to the right of the desk, a smile plastered on his face.
"Ladies. To what do I owe the pleasure?" His eyes stopped on Tracy for longer than the others and Tracy blushed, ducking her head.
Clara stepped forward and held out her hand. He shook it, his hand firm in her own. She liked a guy with a good handshake. "We just wanted to ask you something. We found a journal at the cam
p and we think you might be able to shed some light on it." She pulled the journal from her purse, showing it to him. His eyes widened but other than that he did not indicate that he recognized it.
"Follow me this way." He led them through the door and toward the back of the building. After several turns, he stopped at a door with "Interrogation" stamped on its window. He pushed the door open and turned on the lights. They flickered a couple of times, then stayed on, the buzzing from the fluorescent melting into the background. The deputy stopped at the metal table and leaned against it as the girls shuffled into the room. Hannah and Clara took the lead, with Tracy and Denise standing behind them. "Where did you find that?"
Clara held the journal in front of her. "In a box in the attic of the big house. We're counselors at Camp Summerville. It's Gretchen's. They boxed up all her stuff after she disappeared." He nodded, like he'd heard this already. "You knew her, didn't you?"
He rubbed the back of his head and looked at the floor. "I did. I met her when she came into town for her free day."
Clara flipped open the journal to a page she'd marked. "And then started meeting her secretly? This is you whom she describes in her journal, right?"
He nodded. "Gretchen was sweet. And so very smart. She knew everything there was to know about anything. And if she didn't know, she'd teach herself about it. She was going places." He sighed. "Then she disappeared."
"But you broke it off first, didn't you? She says that you said you couldn't see her anymore." Clara paused and gave him a minute to follow her thinking. "Would she have hurt herself because of that?"
He snorted. "Gretchen, kill herself? Because of me? No way. She had plans. She wasn't going to let one summer romance get in her way. That's why I broke up with her. She wasn't going to come back here and I couldn't follow her. My life and job were here and I couldn't ask her to stay."
Clara frowned. "Why didn't you tell her that? Why ghost her?"
The deputy looked confused. "I didn't ghost her. I left her a note with one of the other counselors. She called me a few times after that, but I didn't answer, not wanting to drag it out and hurt her more."
Hannah placed a hand on her hip, tilting her head. "Then what happened to her?"
He ran a hand through his dark hair and blew out a breath. "I don't know. I searched and searched for her, but she was never found. The lady who ran that camp tried to say that she just went home, that she had a rough time fitting in and that she didn't want to talk to anyone from here, but I called her a million times and she never picked up. I finally found a number for her mom and called her. Said she hadn't seen Gretchen since she left for the camp and she didn't know when she'd be back, if ever." He shrugged. "Her mom was a druggie so it's not like she noticed when Gretchen was around anyway."
"She left her stuff behind too. Why would she leave without her things?" Clara held up the journal to make her point.
"That was exactly my argument. But everyone seemed to want to believe that she'd gone home or made a new home somewhere else. I've called every Gretchen I can find online. None of them are her." His eyes met Clara's, sadness pouring out of them. "I think she's dead. I don't know how or why, but that's my theory. I just wish I could find her body so I could bury her and give her peace."
Clara nodded. "I have to agree with you. Everything points to that." She handed him the journal. "You can keep this. I made a copy for myself already." He accepted the journal and gave her a grateful look. Clara glanced back at her friends. "Well, time to go enjoy our free day. Thank you, Deputy." She turned to go but his voice stopped her.
"Maybe I could join you ladies for lunch? Show you the best burger place in town?"
Her friends nodded, making Clara smile. "Lunch it is. Where should we meet you?" Once they'd worked out the logistics, the girls headed to the nearby mall to kill some time. Tracy seemed subdued while they walked around, so Clara dropped back, letting Hannah and Denise take the lead. She bumped Tracy's shoulder with her own and gave her a smile. "What's on your mind?"
Tracy looked at Clara, then back at the floor. "What if he still has feelings for her? Then he wouldn't be interested in me."
Clara wrapped an arm around Tracy's shoulders. "I mean, he'll probably always have feelings for her. But she's gone and you're not. I'm sure he'll realize that." Clara thought a moment, then continued. "But you heard him. His life and job are here. Do you really want to date someone you know won't move anywhere else? I mean, if this works out, you'd have to move here." Clara tried to laugh like it was a joke, but it was something she was genuinely concerned about.
Tracy shrugged. "I don't know. He hasn't even asked me out yet. Maybe he won't."
Clara squeezed Tracy's shoulder. "He'd be stupid not to."
By the time lunch rolled around, the girls were starving. Walking a mall will do that to a person. Deputy Bianchi was sitting at a booth in the burger joint when the girls walked in. He had a plate of fried pickles ready for them. They dived in, thanking him as the tangy flavors assaulted their tongues. "I figured you'd all be hungry by now." Tracy sat across from him, with Clara and Denise next to her. Hannah sat next to the deputy, keeping a good two feet between them. Hannah wasn't going to risk Tracy thinking she was interested in the deputy.
A waitress with badly dyed blonde hair approached their table and asked for their order. She gave the deputy a big smile, which he returned, then turned to glare at the girls. The deputy gave them his burger recommendations, then sat back as they ordered. Once the waitress had walked away and given them one last glare before she went, he leaned forward and clasped his hands in front of him. "So, how is the camp this year? Katy still in charge?"
The girls nodded. "She seems to be pretty good at it." Clara popped another pickle into her mouth, chewing slowly.
He smiled. "She's had a lot of practice. Her mom got out of there as soon as Katy was old enough to manage it. Not really her thing, I think, but she did it because Katy's grandmother had."
"But she came back after Gretchen disappeared?" Hannah took a swig of water, her eyes on the deputy.
"Yep. I think Katy had called her in. Definitely not a normal situation." His eyes moved to Tracy, who turned pink under his steady gaze. "What's your favorite shake?"
"What?" Tracy's voice came out in a squeak. Clara grimaced on her behalf.
"Your favorite shake? I want to know what it is so when I take you out, I can order it for you."
Hannah snickered behind her hand while Denise tried not to fall out of the booth with laughter. Clara pressed her hand on Tracy's leg, hoping to give her the confidence she needed to answer. "I like cookies and cream." Tracy ducked her head, her red hair falling in front of her face.
He grinned. "Me too. So, say tonight you and I get a shake together before you head back to camp?" He looked around the table. "If that's alright with you ladies?"
All three girls nodded. "Totally fine with us." Hannah gave Tracy a grin and a wink.
The deputy looked at Tracy. "So, you want to have a shake with me?"
Tracy nodded, her cheeks flaming. He gave her a smile, which widened when the waitress dropped off their food. She leaned over Hannah, trying to give the deputy a look at her cleavage, but his eyes were on Tracy's face and the food. The girls dove into the burgers, practically moaning as the juices ran down their chins.
"Holy crap, these things are good." Denise took another bite and closed her eyes as she chewed. Clara nodded her agreement, licking some of the juice off her hand. The deputy bit into his own burger and watched as Tracy ate hers.
"Best burgers in town. No one makes them like Dave does." He pointed to the window near the back, where the girls could just make out a guy in a white coat standing in front of a grill.
After lunch, they bid the deputy goodbye, promising to drop off Tracy at the shake place that evening. He said he would bring her back to the camp and they parted ways. The girls giggled and talked about him for the rest of the afternoon. Tracy kept asking if her outfit wa
s okay and the other girls kept reassuring her that it was. Clara joined in, but at the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder why Katy's mom had brushed off the disappearance so easily. Something about her excuses felt off. Clara decided she'd talk to Katy about it next, when she could get her alone.
Hannah bumped her and pulled her back to the conversation. "Hey, where were you?"
Clara bit her lip and watched as Denise and Tracy talked about topics she should bring up with the deputy. "Just wondering why Katy's mom brushed away Gretchen's disappearance. It seems odd that she'd insist the girl had gone home when she hadn't."
Hannah shrugged. "Avoiding bad press? This camp is supposed to be good for these kids. If people go missing, the sponsors will stop supporting them and the money dries up."
Clara blew out a breath. "True. It just irritates me." She smiled. "I'm gonna ask Katy about it tomorrow night. Wanna help?" Hannah nodded, linking arms with Clara. Between the two of them, they'd get answers for sure.
6. DIGGING FOR INFORMATION
T he girls got back to camp late that night, Tracy even later than the rest of them. They waited up for her, wanting to hear all about her shake date. She couldn't stop gushing about how sweet the deputy was, how he'd held open doors for her and pulled out chairs. He'd even given her a kiss goodnight, which made her blush every time she mentioned it. Denise finally had to usher her up to bed. She shook her head over Tracy's shoulder as she walked her up the stairs. Hannah and Clara giggled at Tracy's excitement. It was so cute to see.
Hannah looked at Clara over a steaming mug of hot chocolate and took in her ratty pajama pants and oversized shirt. "So, you think something bad really did happen to Gretchen?"
Clara nodded. "It's just a gut feeling right now, but this whole disappearance thing isn't adding up. I'm going to talk to Katy tomorrow night when she gets back. If she was in charge here, why did her mother have to come out to lay down a cover story? It just doesn't make sense."
"Maybe her mom didn't think she could handle something like that. Didn't want bad press for the camp." Hannah and Clara sat on couches in the game room, Hannah's long legs tucked up under her, her pajama shorts showing off her tan.