"Oh, that's right. There's no reason you could have known about Madison. Dillan never talks about what happened." Em looked as if she might talk about it though.

Cici wondered if she dared to pry. What would Em think of her? After all, Cici had just met Dillan this morning. And now here she was, asking his sister more about his dead girlfriend? Rude! But curiosity ate at her. Oh, the heck with it! "How did she die?"

"Well, let's just say I can see why Dillan wanted to help you out." Em shuffled side-to-side like a nervous cat."Look, I'd like to tell you more, but... I really need to pee. The water pressure's probably built up enough, although we might have to prime it. Is it okay if I use your bathroom and test it out?"

"No harm in trying, is there? Go to it! After all, it's your mom's house," Cici admitted.

As Em disappeared into the back room, Cici had a disturbing thought. She didn't use the restroom in town, as she'd planned. That meant she hadn't gone in almost twenty-four hours. Wow! After that tonic water, now she needed to pee too!

She wondered if Em would be long, when she heard her shout. "Don't be alarmed if it's brown."

"I didn't need to know that!" Cici called back to her.

"No, silly! I meant the water. It's very dark." Em laughed. "God, your sense of humor! It reminds me of my dad. We can turn on the the taps to clear the lines, but it'll take a while to clear up."

After Cici had her turn in the bathroom, she and Em let the faucets run until water came out fine and clear. All the while, Em told Cici where to get the best codfish sandwiches on the island (the Town Pump where she worked, of course!), and the best beach for swimming when it wasn't fall and 45 degrees outside, and even about the fossils she encouraged Cici to see at the Glacial Grooves.

But Em still didn't explain about the mysterious Madison who had captured Dillan's heart, and then who had broken it with her death. Maybe if Cici persuaded Em to stay a bit longer, she might reveal the secret of Madison's death.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Cici offered. "It's only sardines and whole wheat bread, but..."

Em sighed, "I can't. I gotta head to my second job at the marina."
Ouch! Cici was certain Em wasn't lying about heading to work again. Lord knows, Cici constantly felt she needed a second job too, to make ends meet. So why did Em's decline of Cici's dinner invitation feel like rejection?

Em paused in the doorway and studied her face so intently, Cici wondered if she had something on it. Or perhaps, Cici's disappointment was painfully obvious, because Em issued an imperative. "Don't look so glum though, Cici. Can you offer me a raincheck on Tuesday? That's my only day off."

"You're working tomorrow too?"

"Sunday mornings are our busiest day."

"Tuesday then?"

"That works the best. You can enjoy my sparkling wit and glamourous company then, okay? I can also see if you need any more help. Mom's not the best at keeping this place running, obvs. So I'm sure you'll find plenty more broken stuff around here."

"I'd appreciate that so much." More than I could ever say out loud, Cici thought to herself.

Cici watched as Em carried her bike down Cici's porch steps, and had a moment of envy because Em knew not to leave her bike by the road where it could be picked up on Maribel's trash truck route. Then Cici noted with even more jealousy, Em's bike was in so much better shape compared to Cici's, no one would have mistaken it for "trash" anyway.

"I gotta get ready for classes anyway," Cici thought as she waved goodbye to Em. As Em biked away, Cici felt a sudden emptiness. She was alone again, inside this messed up cabin. Thank goodness she'd thrown away all the wine last night, because she might not have had the strength to do it now, when she was feeling eve more alone than last night.

"But Tuesday. I can hang on until Tuesday. And maybe these feelings will pass."

What feelings? Doubt. Indecision. Feeling as if people were putting too much stock in her abilities. How could she take the stress, alone on this island?

She wondered briefly if Em lived on the island too, or commuted from the mainland, as some did. And Madison. She had died here, but did she live here too?

Without Em's explanation, Cici spent the entire evening pondering why Dillan's girlfriend had died. She hoped it didn't have anything to do with the cabin. That would be too creepy.

"I hope Dillan's not some psycho axe murderer." Cici chuckled to herself. "That would be absurd."

In spite of her uneasiness about a possible death related to her new abode, Cici slept well, and she even got up early to try to plant some seeds in what looked like an overgrown garden behind the well-pump housing. "Maybe it'll keep my mind off the woman who'd captured Dillan's heart."

She found a shovel leaning next to the porch and used it to clear away a patch of grass. It was slow going, and she was sweating and swearing by the time she'd turned over an area big enough to plant a few lettuce seeds.

She marked off a small row and was about to dig up another one, when her shovel hit something hard. So many rocks were in the soil here. She pried under the object with her shovel, in an attempt to lever it out of there. It had just given way with a satisfying "Pop!" and that was when Cici's senses were assaulted by a powerful stench.


(to be continued)