Dear Diary,
Aaron’s asleep. I can’t blame him (it’s been a hell of a day) but my brain won’t shut down. You’ve been such a help to me, so I figure I might as well try to lay it all out.
After Percy dropped me by the side of the road and told me where to go, he had Jonathan drive around some more. He told him lefts and rights, and Jonathan obeyed, because Lydia was tied up in the back seat. I don’t know if that would work on every husband. I’d like to think so, but I also think some of them might’ve called Percy’s bluff: go ahead and hurt her. Or kill her. Just to see if Percy really meant it.
Jonathan suspects all the twists and turns were to make sure the van was basically out of gas by the time he pulled into this cabin or camp, one of those off-the-grid places people have up here because they like doing the retreat thing every summer. There was another car there, but Jonathan didn’t get a good look at it, and Percy laughed and told him not to count on that license plate, anyway.
They had Emily get in the trunk.
Jonathan had to sit there, hands on the wheel, or else they’d shoot Lydia. Lydia had to stay in the back seat or else they’d shoot Jonathan. Emily had to get out and get in the trunk or else they’d shoot her.
Diary, it doesn’t make any sense. Jonathan and Lydia didn’t have their real names, but Emily didn’t, either. And she wasn’t the only witness.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Jonathan and Lydia had to wait 10 minutes after the others drove away. They said that Mary’s face was still all bandaged, but they couldn’t have driven very far that way, right? All the police have to do is keep an eye out for an old blue Subaru that looks like every other Subaru around here, except the person in the passenger seat is a mummy, which doesn’t look like every other Subaru around here.
Lydia made Jonathan wait for the van’s clock to say 15 minutes before he came back and got her out of the ropes and stuff. He checked the little shack just in case there was a phone or something (no dice) and Lydia checked the van in case Jonathan forgot one of their cell phones in there (also no dice). They agreed, generally, where they were, and decided to drive until the gas ran out and then walk, so that’s what they did.
And here’s what they learned before they got back here: Percy and Mary robbed a bank. And Emily was at the bank when they did it. What sort of freaky coincidence is that? They wore masks, which I thought were maybe knit ski masks, except Jonathan said Mary’s mask slipped and some people saw her face. Including Emily.
When did Percy first see Emily here? I’m trying to think back, but I can’t really remember. It’s all jumbled. But Mary wasn’t dead in their cabin. I guess the thought is those bandages are from plastic surgery, and then someone wanted our real names, and …
It’s weird that they didn’t kill any of us, isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong (I’m not complaining) but when two people scheme to knock over a bank like a far more successful twenty-first century Bonnie and Clyde, and plan ahead with fake identities to pass muster for Loon Lake, and bring a gun, they’re determined to keep that money.
They could’ve killed all of us. Think about it: kill us all, and maybe someone misses Jonathan first, but that still takes days. Nobody comes here during the month. I don’t think anybody comes in during the changeover between months, either. It’s all internal, and Jonathan’s the only one who goes back and forth. So how long would it have taken anyone to come in and find us?
Days. Maybe more than a week. Aaron would’ve tried to call on Monday and got no answer, but how many times would he call before he panicked?
Alyssa’s here. She’s his one remaining daughter. I’m pretty sure he would’ve panicked if she didn’t answer.
But diary, it doesn’t make sense. None of it makes any sense. Percy and Mary robbed a bank, okay. They decided to come here under fake names until the heat died down, okay. But then, what, they see Emily? Or Percy sees Emily. Emily has no clue who they are, because she would’ve said something, right? But she doesn’t know, and instead she decided to play with Henry, who thinks she’s Annabeth instead.
God, it’s so messed up.
Percy sees me and gets me in the van, but then he dumps me. It takes me a while to get to the police, but I still get there. Same with the Meyers: he just holds them longer, but they didn’t know who the Shelleys were until the police told them.
God, all their files are going to be gone through, aren’t they? At least the Shelleys. And then Henry. Ugh. Whatever he got while he was here is gone. Alyssa and Aaron saw him with a lawyer this morning. They know she’s a lawyer because she gave them her card. Her freaking business card.
Aaron would’ve already passed it on, except this is Loon Lake. He even reached for his phone right away because he brought his, but it’s useless. I’m not necessarily looking forward to going back to having a cell phone all the time. To being available all the time. I’ll want to keep up the diary (a new diary, where I don’t call myself Agatha between the covers) but I don’t know. I don’t want to leave all of this behind.
Rebecca Frost 
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