by Renee Marski
"Hey, are you okay?"
Maddy shook her head and looked over at the door through which Savannah had left. "I feel like I'm losing my best friend. After losing Gretchen, I don't know if I can handle that."
Clara placed a hand on Maddy's shoulder. "You won't lose her. My friends and I don't live near each other but we all make a point to keep in touch. You and Savannah can do that too." Clara wanted to ask about Gretchen, about why Maddy had pretended that they weren't friends, but seeing how distressed Maddy was, she decided against it.
Maddy just nodded and looked sad. She left the room and headed up the stairs. Clara watched her leave, feeling sorry for her. Change was hard for anyone. Clara worried that Maddy wouldn't handle it well.
A scuffing behind her made Clara turn to find Katy standing in the other doorway and leaning against the frame. "She had the same argument last year with Gretchen."
"It didn't work on Gretchen. Why does she think it'll work on Savannah?"
Katy sighed. "She's trying to guilt Savannah into coming back. By the end of next week, she'll be throwing Gretchen in her face, claiming that Savannah doesn't care about her. By the time camp is over, she'll be resigned to Savannah not coming back. That's how she reacted toward Gretchen."
"So, when did Gretchen disappear?"
Katy looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of the date. "Near the end of camp. Not the last week, but maybe the week before that?"
Clara took a deep breath. She knew that if she wanted to check out the woods, now would be a good time to ask. "I was thinking of going through the woods, seeing if I can find any trace of Gretchen. What do you think?"
Katy looked out the window. "I say go first thing in the morning when there's plenty of light. And take provisions with you in case you get lost."
Clara rubbed her hands together. "I can go Saturday morning."
Katy smiled. "On your free day? Really?
Clara shrugged. "I won't be able to relax until I figure this out." She patted Katy's shoulder and headed out to the cabin for the night. Maddy didn't look like she'd be up for staying with the girls and Clara didn't mind leaving her alone to get herself together. Maybe a really good cry would make her feel better.
***
By Saturday, Clara had convinced the girls to go with her into the woods. Tracy looked a little put-out and said that she'd wanted to hang out with the deputy but if they really wanted her along, she'd go with them. Clara felt bad but until she knew what had happened to Gretchen, she didn't want Tracy getting too close to the deputy. Hannah seemed to feel the same way, as she promised to take Tracy into town that night to meet him for dinner once they were done in the woods. Tracy accepted the offer of company, not seeming to think it was strange that her friend wanted to come with her. Then she grabbed her backpack, demanding that they leave immediately.
Katy saw them out and pointed toward the left side of the lake. "I took the hikers up that way the day Gretchen disappeared. She twisted her ankle about halfway up, so it shouldn't take you long to reach where she may have gone into the woods." Clara thanked Katy for her help and headed out. The girls followed her in a single file. Hannah brought up the rear, her head swiveling as she looked for anything out of place.
They walked next to the lake. Ducks splashed nearby. The ground squished beneath their hiking boots, making Clara grateful she'd suggested that they wear them. A slight breeze blew across the lake, bringing with it the sounds of the campers playing in the water. The girls didn't talk at first, focusing on their mission. Again, Stacy had stayed behind, offering to take her day with Katy, Maddy, and Savannah. She said that there was a store in town that Maddy wanted to take her to and she seemed to be looking forward to it. Clara was happy that Stacy was fitting in so well with the other girls.
Halfway up the trail, Clara halted and looked at the lake, then over at the woods. The trees were tucked in close together, not giving much room to move between. The underbrush was overgrown, most of it over knee-high. Clara took a swig of water before starting toward the woods, holding in front of her a stick she'd found. Who knew what they were going to discover in there?
Pushing through the brush bordering the woods, the girls headed inward and looked for any signs that someone else had been there. The crunching of their feet made any other sound almost impossible to hear. Tracy sneezed a couple of times and pulled out a tissue to wipe her nose. She glanced at Clara apologetically. "Allergies."
Hannah called to Clara, making the group stop. "We aren't going to find anything wandering around. We need to find an area that people might actually go to."
Clara nodded, wincing. "Sorry. I was just so happy that getting into the woods had been easier than I thought."
Hannah grinned. "What? You thought Katy would try to stop you?"
The girls exchanged glances. "Why would you think that?" Denise leaned forward, her eyes on Clara.
"Well, Maddy and Savannah made it seem like the woods were dangerous. I thought they may have been off-limits, but Katy never mentioned that."
Tracy looked around them, then flinched when a bird took flight nearby. "Maybe we should spread out, look around for signs of other people?" The others nodded in agreement. Each turned to face away from the group. As one, they started walking away, making sure to stay within calling distance of each other. Clara scanned the ground in front of her and looked for trampled grass or leaves. She knew they were probably wasting their time. With it having been a year since Gretchen's disappearance, the likelihood that any signs of her remained was pretty slim. Then Denise's voice rang out, pulling Clara's attention off the ground.
"I found something." She stood away from the tree line, the farthest from the lake. The other girls converged on her and glanced around. Denise pointed to the ground, at a log. Stuck to its side was a piece of cloth, the bright blue standing out against the green and brown. Clara bent down and pulled her makeup kit from her pack. She pulled out a pair of tweezers and used them to free the cloth.
She held it up for the other girls to see. "Definitely not natural to this environment. So, maybe she rested on the log, then headed that way?" Clara pointed farther into the woods and looked to the other girls for confirmation.
As they nodded, Clara stuck the cloth into a plastic bag, which she then placed in her pack. Once it was safely back on her back, she stepped forward, the girls with her. They fanned out, scanning the ground for any other signs that someone had been there. Clara saw brighter light ahead and aimed for that, thinking Gretchen may have done the same. When she broke through the trees, the sight that met her eyes made her gasp. The girls tumbled out after her, their gasps adding to her own.
Before them sat a clearing where the grass had been thoroughly trampled. A stone had been pulled to the middle of the clearing, and bowls had been placed on it. A wooden pentagram hung from the nearest tree. Clara walked past it, glancing up as she did. The pentagram swung with the slight breeze, making Clara shiver. "What is this place?" Hannah wrinkled her nose as she sniffed at the bowls.
"It looks like an altar, but to what?" Denise circled the stone and pulled out her phone to take pictures.
Tracy pointed at the pentagram. "And what does that mean?"
Clara pulled out her phone to do a quick search. "Pentagrams are a sign of protection in Wicca. So, maybe whoever put it up wanted to protect their clearing."
"Protect it from what?" Tracy stood near the stone and clutched her bag as she watched the others walk around.
Hannah shrugged. "Who knows? From discovery or someone who wanted to do them harm?"
"The real question is, who put it here?" Clara glanced at the bowls and noticed that they were empty. "It's close to the camp, so it was probably someone from there. But who could it be?"
Hannah sighed. "Anyone. We're going to have to ask everyone."
Clara shook her head. "And tip our hand that we found it? No way. We'll just have to watch everyone super close and see if they give themselves away."
> "Have any of them struck you as Wiccan so far?" By Denise's tone, Clara could tell that she meant that as a rhetorical question. Denise nodded. "Exactly. We're going to have to start asking questions. Someone is obviously keeping this a secret."
Clara tossed up her hands in surrender. "Fine. We'll ask. But how do we start?"
Denise grinned. "That's easy. It's religion, right? Start talking about your own religion and everyone has to comment on their own. We'll find our Wiccan in no time."
The girls moved away from the clearing and settled nearby to eat their packed lunch of sandwiches. As they munched, they discussed what little they knew about Wicca. "Guess we should read up on it, shouldn't we?" Clara's suggestion was met with nods, which made her smile. Her friends seemed to be down for anything to help her solve this mystery.
As they finished, Tracy looked back at the stone. "You don't think they sacrificed Gretchen there, do you?"
Clara frowned, her forehead wrinkling. "I hadn't thought of that."
Tracy blushed. "Sorry. It just occurred to me that the stone would be the perfect place to do that."
Hannah hugged herself. "Okay, now I'm creeped out. Let's go." The others nodded and followed her out of the woods, Clara bringing up the rear. As they walked away, she looked back, sadness tugging at her heart. If Gretchen had died there, it had to have been a scary and painful death. Clara clenched her hands, determined now more than ever to find out what had happened.
9. FINDING THE BODY
T hat evening, after Hannah had left with Tracy to take her to her date, Clara sat across the table from Katy, playing cards while the girls huddled in groups around them, chatting and writing letters home. Denise had opted to go into town with Hannah and Tracy, as Hannah had offered to take her to a movie once she'd dropped off Tracy. Stacy had guilted Hannah into letting Tracy have a little alone time with the deputy. Clara had opted to remain behind, as she wanted to ask Katy what she knew about the clearing. She figured asking over a game of cards would be harmless enough.
Katy sighed as she looked at the hand she held. "You're a terrible dealer."
Clara grinned behind her cards, scanning the ones in her hand. "Sorry. My mom claims that too."
Katy's eyes met Clara's. "So, what did you find in the woods?" At Clara's surprised look, Katy nodded. "Your friends all headed into town, but you stayed behind. You had to have found something. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."
Clara chuckled. "You'd make a great detective."
Katy shrugged and glanced around the room. "You spend a lot of time with girls who try to hide things, you learn what clues to look for. So, what did you find?"
From her pocket, Clara pulled the plastic baggy containing the scrap of fabric she and the girls had found. "Does that look like something Gretchen would've worn?"
Katy picked it up and held it to the light. "Maybe? I didn't pay much attention to their clothes. Where did you find it?"
"In the woods, farther in than I had thought she would've gone. It led us to a clearing. There were some disturbing things there."
"Disturbing how?"
"Wicca? There was a pentagram, and a stone that seemed to be acting as an altar of some sort. Anyone here practice?"
Katy's eyes drifted around the room, then back to Clara. There was something there but Clara couldn't decipher it. "Wicca, you say? My mom dabbled in that for a bit, back in her younger years. Maybe it was left over from then?"
"Your mom dabbled? Dabbled how?"
Katy shrugged and glanced at the cards in her hand. "Not really sure. She wore beads and claimed to be able to do things others couldn't. Had a tarot deck that she loved to pull out for guests. Once the fun of it wore off, she stashed the deck in a drawer, got rid of the beads, and started meditating. She goes through phases. It's sad to watch sometimes."
Clara rested a hand on Katy's, sadness filling her. Katy's life hadn't been perfect, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Her mother didn't sound very stable. That made Clara wonder why she'd been the one to handle Gretchen's disappearance. Clara shook her head, trying to focus on what she wanted to ask. "Where did she stash the deck?" Katy looked confused, so Clara elaborated. "That clearing wasn't left over from your mother's time. It was fresh. The bowls were clean, like someone had just washed them. The grass was short, like someone had been tending to it. Maybe one of the girls here found the deck and decided to take up Wicca?"
Katy chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes darting around the room again. "That's a possibility. It could've been in any drawer in this house. Once she abandoned something, she wasn't picky about where she left it."
"So, maybe Gretchen stumbled onto something that someone didn't want her to see? Maybe a ritual that was being performed in that clearing? And she was silenced for it." Clara didn't think Gretchen had been sacrificed. From what she'd been reading, human sacrifice wasn't done in Wicca.
Katy leaned forward, the card game forgotten. "You really think that's a possibility? But who could it have been?"
Clara shook her head. "I don't know. I'd have to find out who was out in the woods with her that day. And most of the girls who were here last year didn't come back. Any reason for that?"
Katy waved her hand. "Most were considering not coming back anyway. We go through cycles. Girls who used to be campers come back for a couple of years as counselors, then decide to not come back, that it's time to move on. Maddy and Savannah have been coming back the longest. The other girls used Gretchen's disappearance as an excuse to move on."
"Did any of them maybe practice Wicca?"
Katy shook her head. "I wouldn't know. We didn't talk about that sort of stuff. As you can see, we're typically busy with the campers." Clara nodded as she gathered up the cards.
"Thanks for the info. I'll see what else I can find out about that clearing." Katy smiled, then stood. She gathered up the girls and ushered them out to their cabins. Savannah, Stacy, and Maddy followed, leaving Clara to head up to her room alone. As she snuggled under the sleeping bag, Clara kept wondering who could've possibly found those cards and what they were doing out in that clearing.
***
The next morning, Katy and the other girls got ready to head into town together. Clara and her group had planned a day of fun, starting with swimming and ending with horseback riding. No one was interested in hiking-not after what they'd found in the woods. Clara sat at the kitchen counter, enjoying a cup of coffee before the campers got up, when Savannah popped in and glanced around. Then she slid in next to Clara. "I heard you found the clearing."
Clara nodded and took a sip of the warm, bitter brew. It had helped wake her up after a troubled night's sleep. "We did. Do you know anything about it?" Since Savannah had approached her, Clara decided to be direct.
Savannah nodded. "Several years ago, Gretchen, Maddy, and I found a tarot deck. Probably tossed in the drawer by Katy's mom. Really pretty deck. We decided to keep it and learn more about it. We got really into it that summer, going out to that clearing and setting up that stone altar. We honestly didn't know what we were doing, just pretending and stuff. It gave us something different to talk about that wasn't home or camp."
"Someone's been out there recently. Any idea who's still maintaining it?"
Savannah shrugged. "I don't know. I stopped going the year before Gretchen disappeared. She and Maddy were still kind of into it, but even Gretchen was tired of it. Said that it wasn't truly what the beliefs were about and that we were getting too old for pretend." Savannah bit her lip, like she wanted to say something more, then shook her head. "I don't know any more than that."
Clara nodded her thanks. She wished Savannah a fun day, then turned to finish her coffee. Katy honked the horn on the van, signaling it was time to go. Savannah slipped out, leaving Clara with more to think about. Clara took another sip of coffee, letting the ideas slide through her head. Maddy knew about the clearing too. Maybe Maddy thought she could cast a spell of some sort that would make Gretchen stay? Frustrated
, Clara rinsed out her mug and got started on breakfast, deciding everyone needed a really large helping of eggs.
By the time the campers had eaten and cleaned up the kitchen, the sun was warming up the lake and everyone was excited to get wet. Clara led them out to the water. The more experienced girls swam to the floating dock while the younger girls stayed near shore, practicing their backstrokes and floating. Clara and the other counselors sat on the dock, their feet in the water. Clara leaned back on her elbow s and sighed. "I talked to Savannah this morning." Three sets of eyes turned to her. "She knew about the clearing."
"How?" Denise leaned closer to Clara. The sun reflected off her sunglasses.
"They set it up. Savannah, Maddy, and Gretchen." She sighed. "They found a tarot deck in a drawer. Decided it would be fun to pretend they were Wiccan and set up the clearing to do just that. She didn't go into what they did there, but she claimed it was just pretend, that none of it was serious. Also mentioned that she stopped going last year, that she found it childish. She did say that Gretchen and Maddy still went, but she said that Gretchen also thought it was childish." Clara let her head fall back. She enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her throat. "Issue is, I haven't seen anything about the clearing mentioned. Gretchen talks a lot about the deputy and the other girls, but she never mentions the clearing. Which just seems odd to me."
"Unless she stopped going too." All eyes cut to Hannah. "Maybe when Savannah stopped going, Gretchen did too. So, to Gretchen's mind, it didn't exist anymore. She wouldn't write about something that wasn't a part of her life."
Tracy raised a hand, like she was still in class. "But if Gretchen stopped going, why did Savannah think she still was?"
"Maybe that's what Maddy told her." Clara lay flat on the dock, her hands behind her head. "Maybe Maddy thought that if she and Gretchen were still going to the clearing, Savannah would come back. She really doesn't like change."
"Who does that sound like?" Hannah uttered the words so low, Clara almost missed them. Clara's eyes cut to Hannah's, a knowing look in them. Anthony's brother, Andrew-the one Clara had figured out was a serial murderer-had hated change. It was part of the reason for his killings.
