Page 54 of It Happened on the Lake

“L ook, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought up Evan’s death.” Beth was backpedaling quickly, as if reading the shock and horror on Harper’s face, the telescope in the tower room forgotten. “It was tough for you, too. I mean you were there when it happened.”

“No!” Harper said so sharply Beth took a step back.

“But I thought . . .”

“I mean I wasn’t really there. I found him, but I’d been on the beach that night. I didn’t see him do it. I just found him.” That was the story she’d stuck with all these years, and she’d never mentioned she’d been with Chase.

No one had ever known about their meeting on the beach, and it didn’t seem the time to tell all now, about how she’d lost her virginity and ended up with the necklace. It had remained their secret.

As to the tram incident, she didn’t want to think about the gruesome scene the last time she’d seen her brother. So she spun the conversation around again. “I was just asking how you settled on Craig.”

“It was a quick decision,” Beth said, obviously glad not to dwell on Evan’s death, either.

“Not much thought went into it. Everyone was going off to college after graduation, and I couldn’t afford it.

My dad was of the opinion that girls didn’t need an education to get an M.R.S.

degree. He actually said that, so I was on my own.

I really didn’t want to leave Almsville, though the twins were driving me crazy.

They were such pains. I wanted to move out as I’d become my mom’s go-to babysitter.

” Beth was walking around the room, eyeing the artifacts and landing on a vintage French edition of the Kama Sutra.

“Geez, this was your grandfather’s?” “Yeah,” Harper admitted and sat on the arm of her grandfather’s leather chair that she imagined still smelled slightly of tobacco.

“He really got off on the sex thing?” Beth rifled through the pages.

“I guess.”

“How old were you when he died?”

“Fourteen,” she said uncomfortably. “Right before I started high school.”

“I remember. It was really hot that summer.”

Harper nodded, remembering. More than she wanted to. “You were talking about your brothers,” she said, changing the subject.

“Oh. Right.” After a peek at another illustrated page, Beth closed the book.

“Bobby and Billy were into all kinds of sports—football, basketball, baseball—oh, and Bobby took karate. And guess who got to drive them back and forth? Not to mention breaking up their fights—those were really brutal. Have you ever tried to pull apart two twelve-year-old boys intent on killing each other? God, it was scary. So I figured it was past time to find a place of my own, and I ran into Sharon Burroughs—you remember her—she dated Evan briefly—well, who didn’t?

—and she was involved in school government, I think, and was on the track team—or was she? Doesn’t matter.”

“She was.” Harper thought about Sharon, a bright, outgoing girl with wild red curls who just happened to be Matilda’s daughter. Sometimes, when Matilda was working, taking care of Gram, she brought Sharon with her.

“Anyway, Sharon and I got an apartment in Southeast Portland right after graduation. That’s when I got a job at a title company, and from there I kind of leapfrogged into becoming a Realtor.

I knew Craig, he was working in construction—framing, at the time—and we hit it off. As I said, the boy I loved was gone.”

“But didn’t you go out with Levi?”

Harper knew as much. She’d seen them together, if only briefly.

“Oh. Yeah. I thought maybe I would make Evan jealous.” She gave a sarcastic snort and ran her finger over the top of Gramps’s desk.

Coming up with a dusty fingertip, she frowned and rubbed her fingers together to clean off the grime.

“But of course, Evan barely noticed. And then after Evan died, it was kind of a rebound thing, I guess,” Beth said on a sigh.

“But Levi was just being nice to me, I think. After Evan, I was a wreck . . . well, we all were. And so I cried on Levi’s shoulder, but it just didn’t go anywhere.

Not then.” She seemed wistful as she grew thoughtful.

“I wasn’t really over Evan, and I think Levi was in love with someone else.

Levi never said so, but I could tell. I wanted to be with him .

. . maybe anyone at the time, and we made out, you know, but .

. .” She shrugged and gazed out the window where, Harper could see, a flock of geese were flying high in the sky, their wavering V heading south.

“Levi’s heart wasn’t in it. He wouldn’t even . . . well, you know.”

“Wouldn’t what?”

Beth looked at Harper as if she were stupid. “Go all the way. Duh!” She rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Not now. We were just dumb kids.”

“Right,” Harper said, though she wasn’t sure she meant it. “So are you friends now?”

Beth’s eyebrows rose, and an enigmatic smile touched her lips.

“Yeah, I think so.” She seemed on the verge of saying something more about it but cleared her throat and said, “Anyway, I was talking about moving out after graduation, with Sharon.” Beth glanced at the telescope again, then added, “But the apartment thing with her didn’t last long, not even the six months for the lease.

Her mother moved away, and Sharon went with her. ”

“I heard they went to Canada,” Harper said.

“Right. Somewhere . . .” Her eyebrows drew together. “I think it’s that place where they have the rodeo or whatever it’s called.”

“The Calgary Stampede.”

“That’s it!” Beth nodded.

“So, out of the country.”

“Umhmm—they had family there or something. Maybe her mom’s brother.

Not sure, but I heard that Sharon got married and has a bunch of kids.

Four or five or something. Can you imagine?

After helping out with the twins growing up, I wasn’t going to have any.

Billy and Bobby were brats! Nightmares, both of them.

Mom always just said, ‘Boys will be boys,’ but they were horrible.

Horrible! And I always had to babysit. So I wasn’t keen on the idea of having a kid, but Craig talked me into it.

And I’m glad he did. Max is great.” She smiled, her eyes bright.

“To tell you the truth, I can’t imagine life without him. ”

Harper knew the feeling about her own child.

“As for Sharon? More power to her, if that’s what happened. I don’t really know. We lost touch after the first couple of years. We each got married, and life went on.”

“Do you have an address?” Harper asked, rising from the overstuffed arm of her grandfather’s favorite chair.

“Mmm . . . maybe, but it would be like, what? Fifteen years old. Maybe more? But I’ll check my Rolodex, if you want.”

“I think so, yeah.”

“You got it.” She glanced around the room once more with a critical eye. “Okay, I think I’ve seen enough. Let’s get out of here. But seriously, I’m sending Craig over to give you an estimate to fix up the place.” Beth started down the stairs, holding onto the rail as she wound her way down.

Harper followed, the pain in her hip nagging at her.

Once they were on the main level again, Harper said, “Look, I’m not sure I’m selling, but I do have to do at least minor repairs to the place.”

“At least—and let’s call them major repairs.”

“Fine, if I can afford them.”

Beth threw her a disbelieving look as they walked to the foyer.

“If you say so.” Beth didn’t sound convinced.

As they reached the door, Harper decided this was the chance to find out more about Beth’s husband. What made him tick. “So tell me about Craig’s construction company. How did he even get into it?”

“He’s a bit of a one-man band,” Beth admitted and opened her purse to retrieve a business card, which she pressed into Harper’s hand.

“He works with subcontractors—plumbers and electricians and the like—and has one guy who is kind of an extra handyman, I guess you’d say.

I, of course, am the bookkeeper, but he pretty much runs the show.

Things are slower right now, but there are times when he barely has any time off—even during hunting season, and that about kills him. ”

“He’s a hunter?” Harper pressed.

“Oh yeah.” Beth was nodding. “Major hunter. And he loves fishing and camping. Anything the least bit outdoorsy.”

“He has guns, then?” Harper asked, trying not to sound too interested.

“Guns?” She let out a little laugh that echoed in the tall foyer.

“Oh yeah. It’s way beyond that. He has himself a damned arsenal.

Loves any kind of weaponry. Knives, rifles, shotguns, you name it.

And, let me tell you, if there’s a gun show anywhere in the tri-county area?

He’s there! Like that!” She snapped her fingers.

“I swear if it was legal to have machine guns and bazookas, he’d be at the front of the line to buy one. ” She laughed at the image.

Harper thought about viewing him with the handgun on his nighttime canoe ride to the Hunts.

“So what about pistols?”

“Sure. He inherited a lot of that stuff from his father. But I don’t know the particulars as he’s always buying and selling and trading with other gun nuts.” Beth was already fishing in her purse for her keys.

Harper pressed, “What about cowboy guns, you know, pearl-handled revolvers?”

“Pearl-handled?” Beth asked, shaking her head. “Are those things for real?”

“Yeah.”

Beth shrugged. “I really don’t know. I leave all that weapon/army stuff to him. And I keep Max out of it, you know. Just because his father is a big gun nut—excuse me gun enthusiast —doesn’t mean he has to be. Nuh-uh.”

Once again, Harper wondered if she should tell Beth about seeing Craig on his night journey with the canoe, but that would mean she’d have to confess that she, like her grandfather, viewed the comings and goings of the houses across the lake, that she’d watched Beth cooking dinner, seen Max in his bedroom, and followed Craig’s activities.

All when they didn’t know they were being observed.

She decided to hold her tongue.

For the moment.

Harper opened the door.

As Beth stepped onto the porch, she said, “And whether you do repairs or not, get rid of all those dolls and the other collections that your grandmother kept. Freshen the place up with some new furniture and curtains. It’s a cool house, very cool, but . . .”

“But what?”

“I don’t know how you can stay here all alone. It’s so big and empty, and there are ghosts here, you know. A lot of people have passed. And now, you think someone is getting in and moving ugly dolls around. I don’t know. I wouldn’t stay here.”

“I fixed the window.”

“You temporarily fixed one. And there are dozens! And all the doors. You don’t even know if he came in through the broken window.

” She eyed the exterior of the house, gloomy in the rain.

“I just know I couldn’t do it. I’d be a nervous wreck.

I mean, what if he comes back? And this time he’s not just messing with those repulsive dolls?

What if, God forbid, he attacks you? You could be killed, Harper. Murdered.”

“You’re not making me feel better.”

“I’m just trying to talk some sense into you,” she said as a gust of wind rattled across the parking area, so fierce it blew wet leaves across the puddled asphalt. “You could live in the gatekeeper’s house.”

“Unlivable. Probably needs to be torn down.”

“Then . . . then a hotel or rent a place. The house next to us is empty right now, and I have the Musgraves’ phone number. We’d be right next door. Neighbors. Or wait a sec! What about spending some time with Craig and me? We’ve got an extra room!”

“Thanks, but it’s really not so bad,” Harper lied, thinking about how tightly she’d clutched the scissors as she lay in the sleeping bag listening to the huge timbers creak.

“Well, as they say, it’s your funeral. Oh God, look at the time!” Beth said as she glanced at her watch, then the sky. “Damn it all, my hands were full, and I left my umbrella in the car. Well, too bad. I’ve really got to run.”

And she did, dashing through the rain and slipping into her car.

As she slid into her BMW, she turned on the ignition and rolled down the window.

“You know, while you’re at the fixing-up and cleaning-out stage, you should really consider getting rid of those.

” She pointed toward the gargoyles at the far end of the bridge.

“You can put up planters on the pillars filled with flowers or large carriage lights, or anything a lot more welcoming.”

“I’ll think about it,” Harper called. “And hey, be careful. I’ve still got a missing cat I don’t want you to run over.”

“As if!” With a wave, she called, “Kisses!” And then she was off in her BMW, hitting the gas to race across the bridge.

Harper watched as the sports car streaked past the gate where the large, hulking gargoyles stood watch.

If she decided to sell, maybe Harper would get rid of them.

Because, regardless of what her grandmother had confided ages ago, they were doing a piss-poor job of guarding the island.