Page 13 of Two Couples

“No. Not really.”

“Not really, what?”

She turned and walked across the pebbled concrete and up the steps, disappearing among the pine trees a moment later.

“What was that about?” Samantha asked.

“I don’t know.”

“What’s with the notebook? And someone was in our house? That’s scary. Do you think she made it up?”

“I think she might be a little off. I think she’s hallucinating, or imagining something. Earlier⁠—”

“It feels like there’s something she’s not saying.” Samantha said. “It’s scary, especially when you see this.” She grabbed my wrist and I followed her to the front of the house.

NINE

SAMANTHA

Emily stared at the note scrawled on the front window, then turned to me. “I don’t think we need to be scared, because we’re not calling the police.”

“It’s the second threat we’ve had.”

“That note by the pool probably wasn’t even meant for us,” Emily said.

“Who else would it be for?”

“I don’t know. We hadn’t even stayed here yet. No one knew we’re the new owners. It couldn’t be for us.”

She sounded so confident. Why couldn’t I share her confidence? “But this one is definitely for us.”

“Is it?” Emily said.

“It’s written on our window! And it happened after we arrived.”

“Okay, but they might not know who we are, or anything about us.” She sounded less confident.

“It means they know about the body,” I said.

“We’re not calling the police, so we don’t need to be worried. Or scared.”

She was absolutely certain she was right. She was certain I should follow her guidance. She was always certain. She’d been that way since we were teenagers. It wasn’t as if I was normally consumed with self-doubt. I wasn’t. But the things that had happened since we’d arrived had unbalanced me to the point that I still couldn’t seem to get my thoughts organized. Each time I came close, something new happened to unsettle me again. “I just⁠—”

“You know what I think?” Emily said. “We came here to relax and enjoy Tahoe. And our amazing new house!” She swept her arm behind her to indicate our home. “We need to put all this behind us and have some fun. The power will be on soon, the sun is out, everything is perfect. What happened was awful and sickening, but it didn’t have anything to do with us. If we report it, no one would believe us. Our lives would be torn apart. So we know we’re doing the right thing. We need to relax and put it behind us.”

“It’s hard. And Patrick⁠—”

“I’m going to get out one of those jigsaw puzzles I brought with us. I’ll ask Keith to give it a try. At home, he’s always too busy.” She turned and ran up the stairs to the porch. “Come on, Sam. Find something fun to do.”

“Patrick said we should drain the pool.”

“You just covered it. Besides, we need to get it professionally cleaned. We’ll deal with that Monday.” She ran up the stairs and went inside.

I followed her slowly. I went to the laundry room and got a bottle of window cleaner, microfiber cloths, and a squeegee. After I’d removed the writing from the window, I realized Patrick was going to be furious. He’d tell me I should have taken a picture to show the police.

I put the cleaning supplies away. In the living room, Emily and Keith were setting up a puzzle with an image of the San Francisco skyline on the dining table.

“Come help,” Emily said.