Chapter 5
Olivia must have kept herself busy with the food preparations because I didn't see her the rest of the day. Will, too, left me to my own devices and I wiled away the hours watching others have fun. Sometimes it was nice to watch the world enjoy itself, and in that enjoyment find some pleasure yourself. I soaked up the warm sun and in an hour later my head started to nod.
Before I knew it I'd fallen asleep, and didn't wake up until sunset. The crowds were gone and the laughter faded. The smells of extinguished camp and barbecue fires wafted past my nose and mothers called their children inside. I heeded the call of my inner mother and went inside for a bite to eat. Outside the darkness of night stretched across the lake and surrounded my cabin. A soft chill crept inside and I opted to light a fire inside the chimney. It took me half an hour to get a spark out of the kindling, and another hour to get a good blaze.
Snug as I was inside the cabin with the warm glow and crackling sounds from the fire, I found I wasn't sleepy. My afternoon nap kept me from going to bed, so I opted to shut off the lights inside the cabin and settled down in front of the fire to read one of the books I'd brought with me. It was a volume of ghost stories. I settled in for a long read with plenty of firewood to keep my light burning, and the hours ticked away.
It wasn't until midnight that I heard a noise outside. I looked up from my book and strained my ears. There it was again. Footsteps along planks. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight. Maybe it was a ghost out to get me. I closed my book. That was enough ghost stories for me.
However, closing the book didn't stop the noise. I stood and walked to the rear of the cabin. A bright moon shone over the lake and illuminated much of the ground. My dock was empty and I couldn't see any astral figure on the rear porch, so I stepped outside and up to the railing.
I heard a splash of water and glanced to my right to see Will's boat slip out toward the middle of the lake. There were two shadows in the boat, I guessed they were Will and his manservant If Will hadn't given me such a look-over earlier that day I would have thought they were a couple. One man rowed while the other sat at the bow and faced forward. They reached the center of the lake and the man at the front turned and bent down. He picked up a large bundle of something and lifted it over the side to slide it quietly into the lake. In a moment the package slipped below the surface to a watery grave.
The boat turned around and sailed back to the dock. I ducked down and peeked through the railing bars. The pair stepped onto the dock, but the one at the bow paused. I swore their head moved so their eyes settled on the porch. I stiffened and held my breath. It felt like an eternity before the other shadow took the arm of the one staring at me and led him up the path to their cabin.
The moment their door clattered shut I rushed inside my cabin and locked the door behind me. I leaned my back against the door and clutched my rapidly beating heart. My imagination ran away from me as thoughts of two murderers next door and dead bodies in cloth bags surfaced in my mind. I shook them out. No, it couldn't possibly be what I thought I saw. I'm sure they were just dumping their trash or doing some other illegal-but-definitely-not-murder act. Tomorrow somebody would find it floating with the wind current and there will be a few complaints, but nothing deadly serious.
Telling myself those lies was what kept me from calling the police. I made sure all the doors were locked and windows were locked, and tucked myself tightly into my bed still wearing my clothes. If anything happened I didn't want to streak out of the cabin in only my pajama top. After an hour an end to my adrenaline and the late hour allowed me to get some sleep.