She left her bloody blouse and panties beside the pool, and followed Finley toward the stairs.
Vivian, behind her with the shotgun, said, ‘You’re bleeding all over the place.’
‘You can patch me up when we get upstairs.’
‘I can try.’
‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll be out of this place in a few minutes.’
‘The four of us, anyway,’ Finley muttered.
They began to climb the stairs.
‘But not Helen,’ Vivian said. She sounded as if she might start to cry.
‘I don’t know,’ Abilene said.
They didn’t ask what she meant by that. Just as well. This wasn’t the time to talk about such things.
Wait till we’re out of here.
‘That’s just about the best sound I’ve ever heard,’ Cora said when the Wagoneer’s engine roared to life.
Vivian and Finley had left her stretched out on the porch, then headed for the car.
They’d gone there once before and returned to the lobby with the Coleman lantern, a bundle of clothes, and the first-aid kit. By the bright glow of the lantern, they bandaged the cuts on Abilene’s legs. There weren’t enough bandages for all the cuts on her back, but they’d come prepared for that. They folded two sweatshirts into heavy, square pads and lashed them to her back with belts and Jim’s ropes. When the pads were secure, Abilene had dressed herself in shorts and one of Helen’s big blouses.
She’d led the way outside, carrying the lantern.
After Vivian and Finley had lowered Cora to the porch, they’d taken the lantern and hurried away to bring up the car.
They’d been gone a long time. Abilene, standing beside Cora, had started to wonder if something might have gone wrong.
What could go wrong?
she’d told herself.
Jim’s dead. Batty’s dead
.
Someone we don’t know about?
What if Jim had been lying about Hank?
They’re probably just clearing off the back seat for Cora
, she’d thought.
But with the noise of the racing engine, she knew that everything must be all right.
She looked toward the sound and saw headbeams slant into the night from beyond the far corner of the porch. The bright paths slipped lower as the car nosed into view at the top of the driveway. When it turned, the beams swept sideways and lit the pavement that stretched like a road across the front of the lodge.
The approaching car looked almost as good as home.
It swung over close to the porch and stopped. The engine went silent. The headlights went dark, but a light came on inside the car as the front doors swung open. Vivian and Finley hopped out.
‘Anybody feel like a ride?’ Finley asked, pulling open the back door.
If only this had happened last night, Abilene thought.
If Jim hadn’t thrown their clothes in the pool. If she’d been more careful dragging Helen’s shorts up from the bottom. If they’d kept on hunting, afterwards, until they found the keys. If Helen hadn’t gone off by herself to look for them.
If if if if
.
If they’d simply driven away after their first encounter with Jim down at the pool.
If they hadn’t come to this damn lodge in the first place.
It was Helen’s choice.
A different choice, and she might still be alive.
But maybe not.
Maybe things would’ve turned bad even if they hadn’t come here. Maybe it was just time. Maybe Helen’s number was up, no matter what.
Abilene stepped out of the way as Vivian and Finley crouched beside Cora. They pushed their arms under Cora’s back and rump, lifted her, and rushed her down the porch stairs. They sat her down on the back seat. Then Vivian hurried around to the other side of the car. She climbed in and dragged Cora backward while Finley carefully raised her legs onto the seat cushion.
‘You get in front,’ Finley said, looking over her shoulder as she shut the door for Cora. ‘Vivian’s riding in back.’
Abilene made her way around to the passenger door. She climbed into the car, wincing as she lowered herself onto the seat, groaning when she leaned sideways to pull the door shut.
Finley got in behind the wheel and slammed her door. She started the engine. She pulled a knob on the dashboard, and the headlights shot out into the darkness. ‘I hope the peedunk town has a hospital for you guys.’
The car lurched forward.
‘Ow!’ Abilene blurted.
‘Shit!’ Cora snapped from the rear. ‘Take it easy.’
‘Don’t be such wooses.’
‘Just drive carefully,’ Vivian said.
Abilene caught a last glimpse of the Totem Pole Lodge before the car swung away from it. She thought about Helen down in the shower room, and suddenly wished they hadn’t left her there in the dark with Jim.
Helen isn’t there
, she told herself.
It’s just her body.
Helen is somewhere else.
Maybe here with us. Or maybe out roaming the night. She’d called it ‘a gorgeous night.’