Page 145 of It Happened on the Lake

A black bag was slung over one of his shoulders. He dropped it as he kicked the door shut, then shed his jacket. Working the kinks out of his neck, he walked to the kitchen, where he was in clearer view. He took a bottle of orange juice from the refrigerator and drank from it.

Harper couldn’t tear her eyes away.

So both he and Beth had been gone in the wee morning hours?

Possibly overnight?

But, seemingly, not together.

You don’t know that. They could have gone somewhere in separate cars.

But she hadn’t noticed Beth’s headlights. Only the dark street.

What does it matter? It is NONE of your business!

Harper started to put the binoculars down, then talked herself out of it. Adjusting the focus, she observed Craig scoop his bag from the front hallway floor and then start up the stairs. He opened the bedroom door, his silhouette visible because of the hall light filtering up the staircase.

A bedside light turned on. Beth’s doing. She levered herself up on an elbow and yawned. Craig said something to her from the doorway, then walked to the bed. Stretching, her hair mussed, Beth acted as if she’d been asleep for hours. Craig pulled off his T-shirt and stepped out of his jeans before sliding under the covers.

Don’t watch! Don’t be like your grandfather. These people deserve their privacy.

Still, she stood at the window, binoculars glued to her face.

They kissed, Beth’s arms wrapping around Craig’s neck as he rolled atop her.

Finally Harper walked away from the window and realized she was still holding onto the doll.

The doll that she’d found on the sofa.

Not on the side table by the Tiffany lamp. Where she’d left it a few days ago.

Hadn’t she seen it, still propped against the lamp just last evening, after the cleaning women had been in the house? They hadn’t moved it.

Or had they?

The hairs on the back of her neck rose in warning. Something was wrong here. Or maybe she was mistaken. A lot of people had been in and out of the house in the days since she’d nearly stumbled over the damned doll. Someone could have moved it and she hadn’t noticed.

But she thought back to the night before, when she’d sat on the sofa with a glass of wine and a paperback she hadn’t been able to get into. She hadn’t had to move the doll. It hadn’t been there.

So Toodles had to have been movedafterthe locksmith had been inside and changed the locks.

But that couldn’t be.

She tried to think, to come up with a different scenario, but couldn’t.

And then she lifted Toodles’s pink gingham dress. There on the white gathered panties were three red letters:ICU. Worse yet, when she lifted the dress, she’d realized there was something hung around the doll’s neck. A necklace of sorts.

Something hidden by her clothes.

Something coldly familiar.

Her heart stopped for a beat as she saw the silver disc, engraved with the nameJinx.

She bit back a scream.

Toodles was wearing Jinx’s collar?

Her blood turned to ice.

---