She isnt about to do that, especially now that shes worked so hard to become a success. Why should Pat reap the benefits in any way?

So, shes stuck here for at least another ten years. At least they have only one child, thank goodness.Thanks to me.

By the time Ashley is in college, sh.e.l.l be pushing forty.

Another milestone.

But the pivotal one is right around the corner: sh.e.l.l turn thirty next month.

And Rachel Rachel would have turned thirty yesterday.

Would have?

Brynn wasnt so sure those two words were accurate.

Now Fiona tries the phrase without themRachel turned thirty yesterdayand a chill slithers down her spine.

She watched Rachel Lorent fall to her death ten years ago last night Or did she?

It was Tildy who immediately made her way down to the spot where Rachel had fallen, clutching a flashlight whose beam bobbed eerily in the night. The rest of them clung to each other above, sobbing helplessly and hopelessly.

It was Tildy who felt their friendstheir sistersneck for a pulse, and found none.

And it was Tildy who tearfully left Rachel at the base of the cliff exactly where she had fallen, on a thick bed of pine needles a few feet away from a stone marker at the edge of the hiking trail.

Back at the top, Tildy was visibly shaken, trembling violently.

They all were.

But after they had cried hysterically, and pulled themselves togetherthe others considerably more quickly than BrynnTildy declared that they couldnt tell anyone what had happened.

Are you crazy? Brynn protested. We cant just leave her there. We have to go call the police.

And tell them what?

That it was an accident, Brynn choked out in her grief, that Rachel was drunk out of her mind, and we warned her. We tried to stop her.

But we didnt stop her, Tildy pointed out. And now shes dead. And were involved. Look what happened to the Sigs, and n.o.body even died.

Sigma Tau was a fraternity whose chapter at a neighboring college was investigated for hazing last fall after a soph.o.m.ore pledge landed in the hospital with severe alcohol poisoning. In the end, he suffered permanent brain damage, the Sigs had their charter revoked, and several of their officers were still facing charges in a lawsuit.

That could happen to the four of us in a heartbeat, Tildy warned them. Ca.s.sie, can you imagine what your parents would say if you were arrested?

Ca.s.sie, the daughter of a high-powered New York politician mother and a neurosurgeon father, looked as though she was going to faint.

They all knew about her notoriously perfectionist parents. The Ashfords were let down enough when a learning disability, undiagnosed until her senior year at a prestigious Connecticut boarding school, prevented Ca.s.sie from earning Ivy League grades and attending their alma mater as her brother did.

Trouble with the law would put them over the edge.

What about you, Brynn? Tildy went on. Youre here on a full academic scholarship. Do you actually think the college will let you stay if youre involved in something this scandalous?

Brynn was silent. The answer was obvious.

What about you, Fee? Youre a local. You know everyone in town. And what about your parents? Look what they did to your sister last year when she came out and the whole town was gossiping about it. What do you think theyll do if your name is dragged through the local press in connection with something like this?

I dont want to think about that, Fiona said grimly. None of us can afford to get involved. This would ruin our lives.

Not to mention destroy the sorority, declared its loyal president. We owe it to our sisters to keep this quiet.

But we didnt do anything wrong, Tildy. We didnt force Rachel to drink, like the Sigs forced that pledge, Brynn protested.

Says who? Tildy asked.

What do you mean? Of course the four of us will stand up for ourselves and say were innocent.

Those Sig guys claimed the same thing. Who believed them?

That was different. They were hazing.

Do you think anyone will really care about the details, Brynn? Ca.s.sie spoke up at last, sounding almost frantic. All theyll see is a bunch of underage sorority girls drinking in the woods.

My G.o.d, Rachel is dead! Brynn cried. We cant just leave her here in the woods. Isnt that against the law?

No, Tildy said firmly. It isnt.

How do you know?

Because its not like weve murdered someone.

But leaving her here is wrong, Brynn said in desperation. Maybe its not against the lawwhich it might actually bebut its wrong.

Brynn, theres nothing we can do for her now, Fiona said gently.

Rachel would never want us to incriminate ourselves, Tildy added. We have to leave her. Anyone in our situation would do the exact same thing.

Brynn shook her head miserably, unconvinced.

Look, somebody will find her as soon as the sun comes up, which isTildy checked her watch with almost preternatural calma few hours from now. We all know that hikers are out on that trail every single morning, right? And shes lying right there on the path. n.o.body could possibly miss her. Sh.e.l.l be found, and the police will a.s.sume that she wandered up here alone, drunk and fell.

I dont know Even Ca.s.sie looked uncertain. Why would she come up into the woods alone?

She was acting strangely all day yesterday, Tildy said. Brynn noticed it, and so did I, and I bet other people did, too.

I did, Ca.s.sie said.

So did I, definitely, Fiona agreed, and Brynn shot her a look.

Fiona shrugged.

Clearly, it was three against one.

Look, n.o.body knows we were up here with her tonight, right? Tildy asked. You guys didnt tell anyone where you were going?

All three shook their heads.

And swore each other to secrecy.

And the next morning waited uneasily for the news that Rachels body had been found in the woods below The Prom.

It never came.

As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Rachel Lorent had vanished into thin air. On the morning after her twentieth birthday, her bed in her room at the sorority house hadnt been slept in, she never showed up for cla.s.ses in short, she was never heard from again.

The campus was in a turmoil. Faculty and students formed search teams that walked shoulder to shoulder over acres of ground, searching.

They found nothing.

A few days after Rachels mother had filed a Missing Persons Report and fliers bearing her smiling face had gone up all over campus, Brynn, Fiona, Ca.s.sie, and Tildy walked silently up the trail to the spot where she had landed, dead.

It was empty. Not even a sign that Rachel had ever been there.

How was that possible?

As Tildy had said, there was no way anyone pa.s.sing along could have missed her body on the path and there was no way, with the beautiful late-summer weather, that the trail hadnt been traveled in all that time. Anyway, the searchers had repeatedly covered this ground in the past few days.

Maybe wild animals dragged her away that first night and devoured her remains, a fate too horrible for any of them to envision.

For months afterward, they held their collective breath, expecting some sign of their lost sister to turn up perhaps a disembodied limb found deep in the woods, or a shred of clothing, or even the mason jar But nothing ever did.

Rachel Lorent had never been heard from again.

Or had she?

CHAPTER 5.

It was Fiona who selected the meeting place: Glenview Springhouse, an elegant eighteenth-century country inn not far from where the Ma.s.s Pike and Interstate 91 converge. Its centrally located for all of them: a little over an hour west of Boston, ninety minutes north of Danbury, and almost an hour east of Cedar Crest.

It makes sense for Brynn and Fiona to go together. Fee insists on driving, though Brynn offered.

I cant leave the office until noon, and Ive got to get back for a three forty-five appointment, was her reasoning.

Brynn pointed out that they would get there and back in the same amount of time regardless of who drove.

Fee didnt dispute that, but Brynn could tell she wanted to And she would have been right.

The speedometer of Fionas silver BMW quickly rises to eighty as they leave Cedar Crest, and never falls until they pull off the exit.

You drive like the car was just catapulted out of a cannon. You know that, dont you? Brynn pulls her cell phone out of her purse as Fiona stops at a light and quickly snaps down the visor mirror to check her reflection.

Of course I know that. I cant afford to tool along taking in the sights. Who are you calling?

Garth. She pauses, about to hitSEND . Why?

Why are you calling him?

To see how the boys are doing.

Already? Fionas tone smoothly melds amus.e.m.e.nt with disapproval.

Brynn shrugs and dials anyway, needing the connection to her life back home. Especially now, when shes about to come face-to-face with the past.

She told her husband the truth about todays getaway, in a sense, saying she and Fiona are meeting two old sorority sisters for lunch near Springfield.

She just didnt tell him why.

Nor did he ask.

He merely told her he was glad she was taking some weekend time to do something for herself for a change.

She felt guilty that he was so sweet about it, and about the money sh.e.l.l be spending on a fancy lunch they cant really afford.

Hey, its me. How are the boys? she asks when Garth cheerfully answers the phone.

Theyre good. Where are you?

Just about to get to the restaurant.

That was fast.

You have no idea, she says wryly. What are the boys doing? Did you remember to give Caleb his antibiotics? Did they eat lunch?

She glances at Fiona, who is looking in the mirror. Her lips are pursed to apply more lipstick, but probably would be anyway.

Im making lunch now, yes on the medicine, and theyre on the couch watchingDora the Explorer .

Thats what I was afraid of.

She made Garth promise he wouldnt stick the kids in front of the television all day.

Its just to keep them out from underfoot while I make lunch.

She wonders what he can possibly be making thats so involved it might take longer than a minute or two, but doesnt ask. She would if Fiona wasnt sitting beside her in silent disapproval.