The Children on the Hill(53)

He looked at her blankly. “Most rocks ain’t round like that, Evelyn,” he said.

“That’s absolutely true,” Jess said.

“He’s got a point,” said Tom as he scratched at his bare arms.

“It doesn’t need to be perfectly round,” Miss Ev said, shaking her head like the whole thing was hopeless. “Just rounded. And more or less the same size. It looks funny when you’ve got a huge boulder next to a little baseball-sized rock, don’t you agree? That’s what I’m saying about symmetry.”

Old Mac licked his lips, adjusted his straw hat.

Vi looked at Patty. “Any other updates?” she whispered.

Patty sighed. “Well,” she said.

“What?”

Patty had her eye on Old Mac and Miss Ev as she leaned close to Vi and said in a low voice, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but someone came to the Inn yesterday. She showed up and started asking a lot of questions. Got your grandmother and my uncle all stirred up. Did your grandmother happen to say anything to you about it?”

“No.” Vi shook her head. Though Gran had been in a lousy mood when she came home from the Inn last night—she’d gulped down two martinis before she even started making tuna casserole for dinner. “Who was she? A family member?”

Gran said sometimes that family members were harder to deal with than the patients.

“I think she was a reporter. Or journalist of some kind.”

“A reporter?”

“Yeah.” Patty nodded. “She made kind of a scene in the front room, and Dr. Hildreth and my uncle whisked her away to the meeting room.”

“But what did she want? What was she saying?”

“I don’t know. But I do know it got Dr. Hildreth and Uncle Thad all upset. After she left, the two of them went down into the basement for hours.”

“I need to get down there,” Vi said. “Tonight. I’ll get down there tonight.”

“How?”

“I’ll take my grandmother’s keys.” Vi thought of the key ring in Gran’s purse—the purse that never left Gran’s side.

“You’re going to steal her keys and come over and get into the basement without her knowing?” Patty chuffed out a laugh like this was the most ridiculous plan she’d ever heard, and Vi sank a little, knowing she was right. “How exactly are you planning to pull this off?”

“I’ll create a distraction. Something to keep her busy.” Vi bit her lip, thinking. “How late are you working?”

Patty sighed. “I’m doing a double ’cause Nancy called out. I’ll be here till eleven.”

“Will you help me?”

“No way,” Patty said, voice firm.

“Come on, will you at least be a lookout? I’ll have the keys, I’ll just need to know the coast is clear.” She stared at Patty. “I’m gonna do this with or without you. If you help me, I’ll tell you what I find when I go downstairs. If you don’t, I’m gonna keep it all to myself, and you’ll just have to go on guessing about what might be down there.”

Patty shook her head. “You’re a little shit, you know that?”

“I know,” Vi said proudly.





Lizzy

August 20, 2019




DO YOU REMEMBER Gran’s lighter?” I asked as soon as Eric (Charlie!) picked up the call.

“Huh?” He sounded like I’d woken him up from a nap. He was the sort who took naps. Something I, always wired and unable to turn my brain off, couldn’t fathom.

“Gran’s lighter,” I repeated slowly, unable to hide the irritation in my voice. “You remember it, right?”

“Sure. With the butterfly.”

“Describe it.”

“Lizzy, what’s this—”

“Just describe it. Tell me what it looked like.”

There was silence, then a long sigh. “Let’s see. It was gold-colored. Tarnished. There was a butterfly carved into the front. Etched, I guess. And her initials were on the other side in kind of a curly old-fashioned script.”

“Right. Do you remember where she got it? Or anything else about it?”

“No. She just always had it. As long as I could remember.”

I was outside at the campsite, sitting at the picnic table, the lighter, note, and stone in front of me. I took a long sip from the bottle of beer I’d opened.

“I found it,” I said.

“What?”

“Gran’s lighter.”

“Wha-at?” he stammered. “How?”

“She left it for me.”

“She who?” Charlie said.

Who else could it be?

“I was right, Charlie. It’s her. She’s the one! The one taking the girls, using the other monsters. That’s how she gets to the girls. She pretends to be these other monsters, she makes contact. And it’s not just random. I think she chooses the girls carefully. She must—”

“Lizzy, please,” he said. “Stop.”

“I know it sounds crazy, and I’m still trying to get my head around it, but I’ve got Gran’s lighter! I’m holding it in my hand right now! It’s proof! And she left me a note. I think she—”