She Tried to Poison Me novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Founders' Day

On Saturday, at five to noon, I walked across the same lawn where I had turned thirty.

The white tent was up again, and the long tables, and the same banner snapped in the wind.

Forty Years on Harlow Point.

There were three hundred people on the grass.

I saw the mayor, and the banker, and half the families on the lake, with paper plates in their hands.

Every head turned as I came through the gate.

Seth walked at my side in a clean shirt, with Bishop pressed against his leg.

The silver recorder sat in my cardigan pocket, with the headlamp's batteries in it.

At the edge of the crowd, the neighbor from two doors down caught my eye and gave me one small nod.

Beside her stood the detective in her rain jacket, and a little behind her, the sheriff.

Fern stood on the low stage under the tent in a white linen suit.

Kit stood beside her.

Kit wore a pale blue dress and no makeup, and she looked like a girl who had been rinsed clean.

She didn't look at me.

Nolan sat at the front table with a black monitor strapped above his ankle.

He lifted his hand to me in a small, sad wave.

"Friends," Fern said into the microphone, and the lawn went quiet.

"Every year we gather here to honor this lake."

"This year, there are shadows on our family."

"A woman we all love is ill, and has said terrible things about people who only wanted to care for her."

She turned toward me with open hands.

"Emme, dear, you've come. Won't you say something?"

"Thank you, Fern," I said.

I walked up the aisle between the tables with every eye on me.

I heard the murmurs, the pity and the whispers.

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