We turned down a road lined with what looked like newer campers that dead-ended in a cul-de-sac. One camper in particular stood out because it looked very much like the one we were staying in, a log cabin exterior with a front porch. The lawn was a touch overgrown, but the grass was emerald green and perfectly edged. A small hummingbird feeder hung from a shepherd's hook in the middle of the yard and a gravel path had been laid from the street to the stairs of the camper.
“That's pretty,” I said, pointing to the cabin.
Jake nodded and started to stay something as we passed by. And then we heard glass break.
Jake tapped the brakes on the cart. “You hear that?”
I was still staring at the cabin. “Yeah.”
Then a clank echoed through the evening air, like a tool dropped to the ground. Then broken glass crunching.
Jake got out of the cart. “Stay here.”
I got out. “Are you crazy? I'm not staying here. And where are you going?”
“To see where the noise is,” he said and he pointed at the cart. “Just sit and wait for me.”
I shook my head. “Absolutely not.”
He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. He headed toward the side of the cabin and I closed in on his heels. Our feet crunched on the gravel path and we slowed our steps, trying to be quiet. Footsteps thumped on the deck and more glass cracked. Voices whispered. A sliding door opened.
Jake slowed and I bumped into his back when we reached the stairs.
“Hurry up,” a female voice whispered. “You're always so slow.”
“Shut up,” another female voice whispered back. “You're slower than me.”
“Well, you're dumber.”
“You failed sixth grade.”
“Whatevs.”
Jake turned to look at me. “It's your friends,” he whispered.
“Who?”
He took a couple of steps toward the stairs that led to the deck and spoke in a loud voice. “What's up, girls?”
I hustled behind him to see who he was talking to. One of the twins from the pool was standing on the deck with a hammer in her hand and a crowbar at her feet. The other twin was staring back at us on the other side of the broken kitchen window. They both had on black tank tops and the one on the deck was wearing hot pink denim shorts.
The one on the deck looked confused and quickly dropped the hammer to her side. “Uh, hey.”
“What are you two doing?” Jake asked.
The one in the broken window said, “Nothing.”
“Is this your cabin?”
“Maybe.”
“So you're breaking the window in your own cabin?” Jake asked.
Neither said anything.
“I can call the police,” I said. I dug into my shorts pockets. “I have my phone.”
The one on the deck looked at me and I thought she raised the hammer just a bit.
“You don't need to call the police,” the one in the window said quickly.
“Yeah,” the one with the hammer said. “We were just leaving.”
The one in the window glanced at her sister, irritated. “You are so stupid, Mary.”
Mary, the one on the deck with the hammer, glared at her sister. “You are so stupid, Carrie.”
“I'm calling them,” I said, lifting my phone up.
“No!” Carrie said. “Don't! Please! I can't go back to jail!”
“Me either,” Mary muttered.
“Go back?” Jake asked.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Carrie explained, her tone defensive. She tucked a long strand of blond hair behind her ear. “I was going to go back into the liquor store to pay for all the vodka after I loaded it into my car. No one was at the cash register and they just assumed I was stealing it.”
“And I was only sitting in the driver's seat with the engine running so the car would be cool,” Mary added. “It was like the hottest day of the summer. Well, night...but you know what I mean.”
Jake pinched the bridge of his nose, then shook his head like he was trying to clear his thoughts. “What are you doing here, then?”
Carrie sighed. “We just wanted something to remember him by.”
“Yeah,” Mary chimed in, nodding vigorously. “Like, a memento or something.”
“Remember who by?” I asked.
“Harvey,” Carrie said.
“This is Harvey's place?” I said, looking more closely at the cabin.
They both nodded.
“Get out of there,” Jake ordered. “Now.”
Carrie disappeared from the window and reappeared at the glass slider. She unlocked the door, opened it and walked out onto the deck, her shoulders sagging like a dog that had been reprimanded.
Jake looked at me. “I have no idea what to do here.”
I looked at the girls. “Did you take anything yet?”
They both shook their heads.
“I wanted a shirt,” Mary said. “He smelled amazing.”
“That's what I wanted, too,” Carrie said. “Or his toothbrush.”
I made a face. “His toothbrush?”
Carrie shrugged.
“Didn't you both tell me he'd broken up with you?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Carrie said.
“Then why would you want anything to remember him by?”
“We miss him,” Mary said, her lower lip quivering a little.
“Yeah,” Carrie agreed. “We miss him.”
Jake just gave me a look like we had wandered into Lunatic Land and I was in charge.
“You broke the window,” I said, pointing to the pile of shattered glass on the deck. “That's going to need to be fixed and paid for.”
“But no one lives here,” Mary said. “And we don't have a key.” She held up the hammer. “That's why I used this.”
“Yeah, I got that,” I said. Their logic was unbelievable. “But it's not your home and it doesn't matter that he doesn't live here anymore. You can't just go breaking into places that aren't yours to steal T-shirts.”
“Or toothbrushes,” Carrie said.
“Or those,” I continued. “So here's the deal. You're going to tell Delilah what you did.”
Mary's eyes widened. “She hates us.”
“Too bad,” I said. I folded my arms across my chest. “You need to tell her what you did and then pay whatever she tells you to pay to replace it. Otherwise, we can call the police and let them handle it and whatever happens, happens.”
“Delilah really hates us,” Carrie said. “And we hate her.”
“Can we just call the sheriff?” Jake interrupted. “This is ridiculous.”
I held up a finger in his direction, then looked at Carrie. “Why do you hate her?”
She looked at her sister.
“Because of Harvey,” Mary finally said.
I thought back to what Copper had said about Delilah and Harvey but I wanted to hear the girls' version of things. “What does she have to do with Harvey?”
She snorted. “Because Harvey broke up with me to be with her.”
Carrie snorted. “And he broke up with me to be with her, too.”
I looked at both of them. “He broke up with both of you to be with her?” My voice squeaked with disbelief. “That's what you're telling me?”
They both looked at each other, then nodded.
“So you saw them together?” I pressed. “In that way? Like, together together?”
They exchanged glances and I could almost see the non-verbal communication between them.
“Well, I don't know that we saw it,” Carrie said slowly. She picked up a lock of hair and twirled it around her finger and her sister mirrored her action. “Because they were totally secretive on account of Delilah being so old and all.”
“Yeah,” Mary said. “Ancient.”
My head was spinning. I still found it hard to believe that Delilah and Harvey had been a couple, but I certainly believed he would've tried to ditch these two nutjobs.