by Renee Marski
"So, she's confident enough in her abilities to leave Katy here alone the rest of the time? No way. I don't buy it." Clara stood and stretched, her mug of hot chocolate forgotten. "I'm beat. You?" Hannah nodded and followed her up the stairs.
At Hannah's door, she turned to Clara, a curious look on her face. "Is this how it was with Betty? A gut feeling you couldn't let go of?"
Clara nodded and reached out to touch Hannah's shoulder. "Yeah, it was. It was like she was begging me to find her killer." Both frowned at that. Betty's killer had ended up being Anthony's younger brother Andrew, who'd been dating Clara's sister Jasmine at the time.
"Well, hopefully, we can put Gretchen to rest too." Hannah slipped into her room, leaving Clara to go to her room alone. Maddy was down in the cabin with the girls, so Clara climbed up into bed. Anticipation of her conversation with Katy the following day made sleep almost impossible. Instead, she tossed and turned all night, wondering what Katy would say.
***
Katy, Savannah, Maddy, and Stacy headed into town the next day. Clara had considered asking Stacy to talk to Katy about Gretchen but decided she wanted to hear the answers for herself. So, instead, she waited, playing games with the girls and watching three movies, one right after the other. She popped so much popcorn, she heard the microwave beep even when it was turned off. Right before dinner, she tried to convince the girls to go outside and get some fresh air-a suggestion that caused them to groan. When she suggested they brush down the horses, the groans changed into cheers. Clara followed them to the barn with a smile.
The van pulled back in a couple of hours after the girls had gone to bed. Clara sat in the cabin and watched as the four girls climbed out, chattering about their day. Stacy looked comfortable with them, which warmed Clara's heart. That girl could get along with anyone. Clara slipped out of the cabin and closed the door softly behind her. She approached the four girls, a smile on her face. "Hey, ladies, how was your day?" They all started chattering at once, talking about the food and the mall and the things they bought. Clara let them go on for a minute, waiting to speak until they calmed down. "Sounds like a lot of fun. Katy, can we talk a minute?" Katy raised an eyebrow but nodded, waving the other girls to bed. She followed Clara around the back of the cabin and set down her bags to lean against the wall. Clara realized she'd forgotten to grab Hannah, but didn't want to worry Katy by making her wait while she grabbed her friend.
"What's up?"
Clara tried to discern Katy's expression but couldn't see her face very well in the dark, so she gave up. "I wanted to ask about Gretchen." She saw Katy stiffen and continued before Katy could stop her. "I found her stuff in the attic. She had a journal. I haven't read the whole thing yet but I wanted to get your opinion on what happened. Yesterday, I spoke to the deputy whom she'd been seeing. He hasn't been able to get in contact with her and he says her mom told him Gretchen never came home. I just want to know what happened to her."
Katy sighed and looked out at the lake behind the cabins. The half-moon hovered over it, making the water sparkle. "I always knew this would come back to haunt me."
"What do you mean?"
Katy turned to Clara, her hands clenched at her sides. "Gretchen was troubled. Her mom is a mess and camp was the only constant in her life. Once the deputy broke up with her, she became a mess too. I tried to talk to her about it, but she clammed up every time I broached the subject. Then one day, she was just gone." Katy pointed out to the woods behind the lake. "I suspect she walked into those woods to die. There are bears there, although normally they're more afraid of us than we are of them. But if she went in there and got lost, she could have starved and we'd never find her."
Clara nodded, understanding what Katy meant. "And your mother came out here to cover for it?"
Katy chuckled. "Mom is eccentric, to say the least. And lazy. She lives off any extra proceeds for the camp. So, any money that doesn't get used on the camp, she uses."
"Isn't that embezzling or something?"
"Not when you list it as a wage. That's what she pays herself. My cut is significantly less, mind you." Katy shrugged. "Not a big deal. I don't need much. And I don't do it for the money. But Mom was worried that bad press would hurt the money influx, so she showed up here, created some lame cover story about Gretchen going home, and then left. I don't think anyone believed that story to begin with, but without a body, there was nothing anyone could do."
"Wow. I'm sorry."
Katy sighed. "Thanks. You're the first to say that. Gretchen was nice. I really enjoyed having her here. But her disappearance scared away several of my regular counselors. Savannah and Maddy are the only two who came back this year. Thank goodness you girls showed up." Katy gave her a grateful smile, then attempted to stifle a yawn behind her hand.
Clara patted her shoulder. "Bedtime. See you in the morning." Both girls headed to bed. Clara considered what Katy had told her. Suicide didn't strike her as something Gretchen would do, not based on the journal she'd been reading and the deputy's words. Gretchen had plans, a life she wanted to live. There was no way one break-up would make her walk into the woods. Clara decided she'd get to the bottom of this, even if it took the whole time she was at the camp.
7. RUNAWAYS
T he girls sat around the following night, during free time, discussing what they knew. Clara filled them in on her conversation with Katy. "It just seems so odd to me. I've been reading Gretchen's journal and she doesn't strike me as the suicidal type."
"Maybe she got involved in the wrong crowd after the breakup." Stacy filed her nails, only half-listening to the conversation.
Clara gestured around them. "Here? At camp?"
"Or in the town." Stacy blew on her nails, still not looking up. "Maybe someone preyed on her emotions."
Hannah looked over at where Savannah and Maddy were playing cards, talking amongst themselves. "Maybe they know something. They were here last summer. Maybe they saw something?"
Clara nodded, agreeing that was a possibility. Leaving the others at the table, Hannah and Clara made their way across the room to Savannah and Maddy. They pulled up chairs next to theirs.
"Who's winning?" Clara looked between the girls and gave them her best smile. She hadn't had much time to talk to Maddy since the first day, given that they never slept in the same room at the same time.
Savannah grinned. "I am."
Maddy rolled her eyes. "You only think that, Vannah. I'm gonna knock your socks off."
Savannah chuckled. She picked up a card that Maddy had discarded and used it to lay down three 8's. Maddy grunted and watched as Savannah discarded.
Deciding to just ask the question, Clara plunged in. "Do you guys remember Gretchen?"
Two pairs of matching eyes fell on Clara. She didn't squirm under the stares. She was used to getting funny looks when she asked questions like this. Maddy spoke first. "I already told you we knew Gretchen. We grew up with her. She was here every summer like we were."
Savannah nodded. "Nice girl. Kind of nerdy, but super smart. Loved working with the kids. And she was really good with them too."
"I think she wanted to be a teacher, didn't she?" Savannah nodded at Maddy's question. "She had a boyfriend last summer too. Cute deputy in town."
Hannah and Clara exchanged a look. "So, she told you about him?" Hannah tried to keep her tone casual.
Savannah snorted. "Told us about him? She gushed about him every chance she got. She couldn't get enough of him."
"So, what happened?" Clara leaned forward and watched both girls closely. Maybe Gretchen had told them something she hadn't written in her journal.
Maddy shrugged. "He did the responsible thing. He broke up with her. They didn't have a future together. She was going to go back home and he was never going to leave this town. She knew he was only doing what had to be done, but it crushed her."
"How badly?" Hannah gripped the table, her knuckles turning white.
"She cried for a couple of days
, then straightened her shoulders and said she'd be fine. She disappeared that afternoon." Maddy's sadness leaked into her voice. Clara raised an eyebrow at her, surprised at her tone. The other day, she'd acted like she and Gretchen were barely speaking.
"Any idea where she went?" Both girls had dropped their eyes, so Clara couldn't gauge their feelings.
"Katy thinks she went into the woods. Katy's mom claimed she went home. We know she didn't go home, as she didn't take anything with her. Maybe she ran off with someone new. Who knows?" Savannah laid down again, discarding her last card. She gave Maddy a triumphant grin.
Maddy groaned and tossed her cards on the table. "Not like she was coming back after last summer anyway." A look crossed her face, one that bore sadness and anger at the same time. It disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Not coming back?" Clara looked at Hannah, who shrugged.
"Gretchen was going to college. She got a scholarship and was going to get her teaching degree. She said college would have her so busy that she wouldn't be able to come back to camp. She was going to have to work part-time to support herself. Counselors don't get paid, so she couldn't work here." Savannah glanced at Maddy, then at Clara. "It wasn't a big deal, we totally understood. We can't keep coming here every summer. We have to grow up sometime."
Maddy bit her lip and looked at the table. "She could've still come. Katy would've paid her."
Savannah sighed. "Maddy, we've been over this. What Katy offered to make her a full staffer wasn't enough. She needed a real job."
Maddy pushed away from the table and wiped at her eyes. "I'm going to bed." She stomped off, leaving the three girls to watch her go.
Savannah leaned back in the chair and shook her head. "She doesn't take change well. She wants everything to stay the same forever, not realizing that life doesn't work that way." She frowned and leaned forward. "This is my last summer. I haven't told her yet. She didn't take Gretchen's news very well last year. Spent weeks trying to convince Gretchen that she could come back. When Gretchen disappeared, she blamed herself, thought that she'd driven Gretchen away."
Clara scratched the back of her head. "I talked to Maddy about Gretchen a couple of nights ago. She acted like she barely hung out with her." Clara glanced toward where Maddy had disappeared. "You don't think Gretchen left on her own, do you?"
Savannah shook her head. "No way. Gretchen wasn't one to just up and leave. The girl was a planner. Everything had to be just so before she did it." Savannah's eyes focused on the stairs, where Maddy had disappeared. "I have to move on. I have a life to live. I haven't told Maddy yet because I know she'll spend every waking moment convincing me otherwise. I figured I'd wait until the last day and then tell her. That way it's quick."
"You don't see each other outside of camp?" Hannah sounded confused.
Savannah shook her head. "We live in different cities. Traveling to each other is difficult, especially when you don't have the money to do it. Camp is the one place we see each other every year. I know it will hurt her, but I feel it's time to move on for me, ya know?" She stood and stretched. As she gathered up the cards, she glanced between Hannah and Clara. "If you figure out what happened to Gretchen, could you let me know? I still worry about her and I know it would put Maddy's mind at ease." Both girls nodded and watched as Savannah walked away.
They headed back to the group and settled into their seats. Tracy leaned forward, curiosity written all over her face. "So?"
Clara sighed. "Well, they all have been coming to camp together for years. Last year was going to be Gretchen's last. She was starting college and needed a job that would help pay the bills. Maddy wasn't happy about it but Savannah says Maddy doesn't handle change well."
"They knew about the deputy," Hannah added. Tracy's eyes widened. "Gretchen gushed about him. Then cried over him. But Savannah said in the end that Gretchen had accepted his reasoning and moved past it. Or at least tried to move past it."
"Not that she really got the chance. She disappeared that same day." Clara drummed her fingers on the table. "How does one girl just go missing? And no one seems overly concerned about it?" The drumming got louder. "And Maddy's attitude is so off. She told me she barely knew Gretchen. Now Savannah is telling me they were all the best of friends. Why would she act like that?"
"Runaways." Five heads turned as one. Diamond stood behind them, her hands behind her back. They hadn't heard her approach. "A lot of these girls are runaways. Or were. They've run away from home, foster care, you name it. Gretchen was one of them. She ran away from every foster home she'd ever been in, always going back to her mom."
Clara tilted her head and took in Diamond's taut face. "You knew Gretchen?" Diamond nodded. Clara jumped up, grabbed her a chair, and set it at the table. "How did you know her?"
Diamond sat and rested her hands on the table. "Gretchen was my counselor last year. She was super sweet and very attentive. She always listened to us. She liked to share her stories to show us that she was like us. And that we could rise above what life had given us. She was going to go to college. She'd been dating that deputy. She told us we could do anything we wanted and we all believed her." Diamond took a deep breath. "But Gretchen was a runaway. She admitted that herself. Said that when things got rough in her foster homes or when she missed her mother, she ran home. Sometimes her mom was there, sometimes she wasn't, but it didn't matter because Gretchen always knew her mom would come home eventually."
"So, you were here when she disappeared?" Denise took up the questioning, leaning around Clara.
Diamond nodded. "We were hiking around the lake and Gretchen twisted her ankle. Savannah and Katy sent her back to the camp to wrap it and prop it up. When we got back from the hike, she was gone."
"Where were the other counselors?" Denise smiled at Diamond, hoping to put her at ease.
"Maddy and the other girls were dinner-prepping, as Katy and Savannah had taken us all hiking. Sometimes the counselors cook the meals by themselves." Diamond stood and glanced around the room. "It's getting late. I should head to bed." The girls nodded at her, wishing her goodnight.
They sat back, all rubbing their faces. "So, she was injured. An injured girl just wandered off into the woods for no good reason?" The doubt in Denise's voice mirrored everyone's feelings.
"Yeah, I'm not buying it. Something happened here. I'm going to find out what." Clara glanced around the table. "You girls mind helping me?" Grins and nods greeted her. Of course, they'd help her. Clara's heart warmed at what great friends she had. Together, they'd get to the bottom of what had happened to Gretchen.
8. THE CLEARING
T he next several days were spent on swim lessons, horseback riding, and hiking. Clara took on the hiking, wanting to get a look at the woods. Savannah offered to join her, as she didn't really know where she was going. Clara accepted, thankful to not have to hike out there by herself with a group of girls. Savannah led the way, with Clara bringing up the rear. This way, Clara could watch the girls and have a look around with no one the wiser.
Things in Clara's room were awkward. Maddy was barely talking to her. When Clara tried to ask what was wrong, Maddy just shrugged and left the room before Clara could ask any more questions. Clara was unsure whether it was the Gretchen topic that bothered Maddy or something else. Clara tried to find something in the journal but all mentions of Maddy and Savannah were positive, although Gretchen did write that Maddy's constant nagging about coming back to camp the following year was getting tiresome.
Clara pulled out her own journal and finally wrote an entry. Writing used to come easy to her, like second nature. But after being attacked in her apartment the previous fall, writing had been a struggle. So much of her life had been violated, she just couldn't put it down on paper. Still, her therapist had suggested it as a way to work through her feelings. So, she wrote, not really knowing what she wanted to say. "First week of camp down. There seems to be a mystery here for me to solve. Not sure if that's a good thing or not bu
t now that I've started it, I can't stop. Gretchen deserves justice. The girls are helping, which is nice. And Tracy is seeing the deputy, which may prove useful. I'll follow this to the end." She closed the journal and placed it under her pillow along with the copy of Gretchen's journal she'd made and kept. Clara considered glancing through it again, but wasn't sure what else she could glean from its pages. What she really wanted to do was check out the woods. Maybe there would be clues as to where Gretchen had ended up. By now, if she'd died in the woods, animals had probably scavenged the body, but maybe there was something they could bury. Clara drummed her fingers on her thigh, trying to think of a good reason to go to the woods. She couldn't take the girls, as that would be too dangerous. She'd have to venture there by herself. Sighing, she climbed out of bed. She needed coffee to help her come up with ideas.
At the bottom of the stairs, voices stopped her in her tracks. They were muffled, but she could make out what was being said. "You can't just never come back." The voice sounded full of pain.
"Look, I get it. Camp has been important to both of us. But Gretchen was right. Eventually, we have to move on." Clara figured that must be Savannah, which would mean the upset voice was Maddy's. Clara leaned against the wall, not wanting to eavesdrop but also not wanting to interrupt their conversation.
"Yeah, she wanted to leave and look what happened to her."
Savannah scoffed. "Come on, Maddy. Gretchen probably ran off with some guy and is living it up somewhere far from here. Camp has served its purpose. It's time to move on."
"But we'll never see each other." Maddy sniffed like she was crying.
"We'll see each other. I'll make sure of it." Clara heard footsteps, then a door open and close. Sniffles told her that Maddy had stayed while Savannah had left. She popped around the corner, not wanting to be caught listening to the two of them. Maddy glanced up at her, red-eyed.