Sydney heard a whirring in her ears, as if she were in a wind tunnel. Letting the note fall from her hands, she gazed across the room at Emma.
Emma stared back, her blue eyes wide and frightened.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Sydney whispered, “This isn’t a nightmare. And I’m not being paranoid. This is really happening!”
Emma snatched up the note and read it herself.
Sydney drew her legs onto the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees.
“What are we going to do?” she cried hoarsely. “Somebody knows what happened, Emma! Someone knows that we murdered Jason!”
Emma raked her fingers through her long blond hair. “No one can prove we killed him,” she declared. “I mean, Jason hasn’t even been found yet. And when he is found, we have each other as alibis.”
“But, Emma,” Sydney cried. “If somebody was watching, then they must know where you put Jason’s body!”
Emma didn’t respond, but her face turned pale. She crumpled the note and tossed it into the wastepaper basket.
Sydney couldn’t sit still. She slid off the bed and began to pace the room, twisting a strand of hair around her finger as she walked back and forth.
“Sydney, sit down, will you?” Emma pleaded. “You’re making me even more nervous!”
“I can’t help it.” Sydney paced some more, then stopped suddenly. “My belt!” she gasped, spinning around to face Emma.
“Huh? What about it?”
“You used it to tie that rock around Jason. Emma, we have to go back and get my belt before anyone finds it!”
“No way!” Emma cried. “We’re not going back to the lake. I’m telling you, Syd, whoever sent that note doesn’t know what really happened. They’re bluffing!”
“What makes you so sure?” Sydney demanded.
“I … well …” Emma finally shook her head. “I guess I can’t be positive,” she admitted.
“So we have to go back!” Sydney repeated. “We have to get my belt. And we have to hide the body someplace else!”
Half an hour later, Sydney followed Emma through the thick tangle of weeds and bushes toward Fear Lake.
I’ve never been so scared in my life, she thought. Scared of moving Jason. Of touching his dead body.
Scared of getting caught.
Something brushed across Sydney’s face. She jumped back with a cry.
Emma glanced over her shoulder. “Just a tree branch, Syd. Come on. We’re almost there.”
Sydney forced herself to keep going. I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought. I can’t believe I got myself into this mess because of some stupid money!
Up ahead, Emma climbed over a fallen log, then disappeared through some thick undergrowth.
Sydney hurried to catch up. She jumped over the log, then scrambled through the tangle of bushes, emerging at Emma’s side.
Ten feet ahead of them stood Fear Lake.
A breeze blew across the water, making small waves that lapped against the shoreline.
It was late afternoon. Clouds filled the sky, and the water of Fear Lake lapped softly, dark and cold.
Sydney gazed out at it, her heart pounding. “Are you sure this is the right place?” she whispered.
Emma nodded. “I remember that log back there. I had to drag Jason’s body around it Didn’t you see how the weeds were flattened?”
“No.” Sydney shuddered and hugged herself. “I wasn’t exactly paying attention.”
“Okay. Let’s get it over with.” Emma took a deep breath, then stepped to the edge of the lake.
Sydney followed, her knees feeling like jelly. “How far out did you take him?” she asked.
“Not far,” Emma replied. “There’s a drop-off a little way out. You feel like you’re stepping off a cliff. But it’s really only a few feet down to a sort of underwater ledge. I rolled him down onto it. Come on.
Leaving their shoes and socks on the shore, they rolled up their jeans and waded into the icy water.
Sydney shuddered again as strings of algae wrapped themselves around her ankles.
Is Jason covered with algae? she wondered.
Have the fish discovered him? Will he be bloated and bitten, like bodies in the movies?
Don’t think about it, she told herself. You’ll go crazy if you think about it.
She wiped the slimy scum off and trudged forward.
When the water reached almost to her knees, Emma stopped wading. “This is it,” she told Sydney.
She pointed to an old wooden shed not far from where they stood. “I remember looking at that pier when I was out here. We’re in the exact same spot now.”
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
Sydney shoved her sleeves up, then plunged her hands into the water. Her fingers grasped pond scum, soft and slimy.
She stuck her arms down farther. Rocks. Sand. More pond scum.
No Jason.
She raised her eyes to Emma. “Did you find him?”
“Not yet.”
Emma’s long hair spread out across the water as she bent over, plunging her arms in deeper. After a moment, she straightened up. Her hair dripped and her hands held nothing but algae.
“He should be right here!” she cried. “This is where I put him.”
Sydney waded in deeper, until the water reached halfway up her thighs. We have to get my belt back before his body is found! she thought.
“He couldn’t be any farther out!” Emma gasped as she struggled through water up to her waist. “There’s no tide or anything.”
“I know. We’ll find him,” Sydney declared, her teeth chattering. “We have to find him!”
The sky grew darker. Sydney’s feet felt like blocks of ice. Her hands and arms turned numb.
“I don’t get it,” Emma sighed. “I just don’t understand why we can’t find him!”
Sydney’s whole body shook with cold. She stared out at the murky waters. It’s useless to keep looking, she realized.
Jason is not here.