to go ahead and find the keys and return and surprise everyone.
Any minute, she might come tromping through the woods, all wet and grinning, holding up the key case, saying, ‘Look what I found.’
She might be in the pool right now.
Maybe not alone. Maybe struggling, this very moment, with the guy who’d thrown their things in the water last night.
Sick with worry, Abilene shook Finley awake. As the girl groaned and mumbled, she twisted around and shook Cora. ‘Wake up. Quick. Everyone. Helen’s gone.’
‘Huh?’ Finley murmured. ‘Whuh?’
‘She’s gone! I think she went to find the keys.’
Abilene slipped into her moccasins as the others stirred and sat up.
‘Holy shit,’ Cora said.
‘We’ve gotta go after her. Quick.’
‘Helen’s gone?’ Vivian asked.
‘When did she leave?’ Finley asked.
‘I don’t know! I don’t know! I just woke up. She wasn’t here. She took her swimsuit.’
‘She must’ve gone to the pool,’ Cora said.
On her feet, Abilene turned slowly and scanned the woods. When she turned toward the east, she saw the lodge. It had been out of sight, last night, only because of the darkness. Now, bits of it were visible beyond the trees. It was no more than a hundred yards away.
‘My God,’ Abilene said, ‘it’s right there. She must’ve gotten up and seen how close we were.’
‘I can’t believe she’d go without us,’ Vivian said.
‘She sure went somewhere,’ Finley said.
Cora called, ‘Helen! Helen!’
No answer came.
Abilene rushed into the trees. As she dodged trunks and ducked under low limbs, she heard the others following. Soon, she left the trees behind. She raced through the high grass and weeds of the field. Vision jarring, she scanned the length of the lodge, its windows and porch and doors, the driveway and garage area off to the right. No Helen. No one at all.
Straight ahead, the front of the Wagoneer came into view. She ran toward the car. The springy foliage gave way to concrete that smacked her feet through her moccasins. Abruptly, she slowed, knowing that if she took the slope at full speed, she would probably tumble headlong. With short strides, she hurried down alongside the car.
And stopped behind it. There, resting on the pavement, was a cardboard box. One that they’d left in the car last night. The box contained packages of cookies, potato chips, crackers and cheese puffs.
Cora, halting beside her, looked at the box. ‘This explains plenty.’
Finley, huffing, said, ‘What’d she do? Stop by for a snack?’
‘Looks that way,’ Cora said.
‘Someone else might’ve done it,’ Abilene suggested.
‘Must’ve been Helen,’ Vivian said. ‘God, we should’ve just let her eat what she wanted.’
‘If she came here for food,’ Finley said, ‘where is she now?’
‘I still think she went to find the keys,’ Abilene said. ‘I mean, why the swimming suit?’ Without waiting for a response, she made her way down the steep pavement. At the bottom, she scanned the rear grounds. Seeing no one, she peered around the corner of the lodge.
Near the edge of the outside pool were Helen’s sneakers. Propped up between them was an open plastic bag.
She stepped over the flowing water of the drain channel, then followed it to the small pool.
The bag was a package of taco-flavored tortilla chips. It was half empty.
Squatting, she gazed through the archway. The interior pool was murky with shadowed light. A pale mist hung above the water.
‘Is she in there?’ Vivian asked.
‘I don’t see her.’ And all that Abilene could hear was the soft, hollow sound of lapping ripples. ‘Helen! ’ she yelled. She stood, kicked off her moccasins, then leaped off the edge. The hot water tossed her skirt up, clutched her body, splashed her hair and face. Pushing her skirt down, she trudged toward the opening. Her heart thudded painfully. Her bowels felt cramped.
She didn’t want to go in there.
What if Helen’s dead? Floating face down…?
Behind her, someone plunged into the water. She looked back and saw Cora. Still in her tank top. Hadn’t bothered to undress for this.
Her eyes were wide and scared. Her face was pale.
Let her go first?
No. Helen’s my responsibility. She wasn’t sure why she felt that way but, ever since that first week at Belmore, Abilene had seen herself not only as Helen’s friend but also as her protector.
She took one more step, passing through the archway. Then she stopped.
She swept her eyes over the surface of the pool. And saw only water below the gently swirling veils of mist. No floating body. No dark form suspended beneath the surface. Gazing through the white vapors, she scanned the walkway at the far side of the pool. Then the clear area off to the left. And the stools, and the bar.
‘Nothing,’ she said. Her voice reverberated through the silence.
‘She isn’t here,’ Cora called back. ‘Nobody’s here.’
‘Where is she?’ Abilene whispered, moving away from the entrance.
‘God only knows. She must’ve been here, though. She must’ve come for the keys, just like you figured.’
‘Are you coming back?’ Finley asked. ‘What are you doing?’ Cora turned toward the opening. ‘We’ll scout around for a minute. Are you two staying there?’
‘I guess so. Vivian’s still nervous about getting in the water.’
‘I will if I have to,’ Vivian said in a quiet voice as if speaking only to Finley.
‘That’s all right,’ Cora said. ‘Just stay put.’ To Abilene, she said, ‘We oughta see if the keys are still here. They shouldn’t be too hard to find if they fell out of her pocket.’
‘She might’ve already fished them out.’
‘Yeah, but maybe she didn’t. Who knows? We’re here. We might as well look.’
‘Okay. Over this way.’
Abilene in the lead, they pushed through the water toward the center of the pool.
The mist parted around them like smoke stirred and tattered by the mild breeze of their movements.
Peering down through the water, Abilene soon located the dark, barred mouth of the hot spring. As she stepped closer to it, she felt the hot currents roll against her legs and rub her panties. ‘I picked up the shorts right near here,’ she whispered.
‘Oh, great. What if the keys fell through?’
‘I know. I already thought of that.’ She took a long stride to the other side of the bars. ‘Right here,’ she said. She pressed the front of her skirt against her thighs, bent over, and lowered her face into the water. Her legs looked distorted: strangely white, bent at odd angles, undulating as if their bones had turned to squirmy soft rubber.
She could see the pale floor of the pool just fine.
She couldn’t see a key case. Not between her feet, or for a yard in front of her feet, or off to either side. Coming up for air, she glanced over her left shoulder and found Cora hunched down with her face in the water.
She pivoted to the right, ducked under again, and searched a different section of the bottom.
Still no luck.
For a long time, she and Cora hunted in the area surrounding the spring. They even searched the darkness below the crossed bars, diving down and grabbing hold, peering into the mouth of the pit. If the keys were there, however, they were out of sight and beyond reach.
