Sunscreen.
A paperback mystery.
Nothing unusual.
I almost closed it.
Then my fingers brushed against something inside the side pocket.
It was flat and stiff.
I unzipped the pocket.
Inside was a white plastic key card.
A small green pine tree was printed on it.
Beneath the image were the words:
**LAKEVIEW INN — ROOM 12**
My hands began trembling.
The men always stayed at the Pine Rest Motel.
That cheap place near the highway with the unreliable ice machine.
The Lakeview Inn was somewhere else entirely.
A beautiful old Victorian hotel overlooking Loon Lake.
It had a wraparound porch, rocking chairs, and large windows facing the water.
I knew that hotel.
Because twenty-six years earlier, Mark and I had spent our honeymoon there.
In Room 12.
I stared at the key card.
The memory hit me so hard I almost couldn’t breathe.
Our wedding night.
The brass bed.
The lake outside the window.
Mark laughing as he carried our bags into the room.
**Had he taken another woman to the place where our marriage began?**
I reached into the pocket again.
There was a folded receipt.
I opened it carefully.
**HOLLOWAY & SONS FINE JEWELRY**
Birch Falls.
A town about twenty minutes from Loon Lake.
The receipt was dated Saturday morning.
9:15.
Around the same time Ray had photographed the others eating pancakes without Mark.
The amount was more than $2,000.
The description simply said a custom order had been paid in full.
I turned the paper over.
Someone had written a note in careful handwriting.
*Ready September 14. Engraving as requested. Congratulations, Mr. Ellison.*
I stared at the final word.
Congratulations.
A jewelry purchase.
A hotel room.
A new ring.
