Stevie had never precisely been the outdoor type. They had camped once as a family, when Stevie was twelve and the neighbors down the street invited them to come on a week’s trip to a state park. Stevie spent most of the week huddled under their RV awning trying to read, while her parents and the other family drank iced teas and beers and talked about television shows and what was “wrong with America.” No one could swim in the lake because apparently there was some kind of brain-eating bacteria in it. Periodically someone would encourage her to walk through the woods or try out the mountain bike. Stevie viewed these offers with grave suspicion and declined. Stevie couldn’t listen to anything or talk to anyone because her parents had taken her phone in order for her to experience some “offline time,” which she had been anyway because they were in the middle of nowhere with no real signal and no Wi-Fi.
Camping sucked.
Stevie flipped to another part of the book slowly, to an even more graphic image.
“This is the most elaborate of the Nutshell Studies,” she said. “It’s called Three-Room Dwelling. Three rooms, three bodies. What’s key in this one is the blood splatter . . .”
“Where is this camp?”
“Somewhere in Massachusetts,” Stevie said. “Looks pretty, I guess. He even said I could bring my friends. Look
at the blood on this blanket here . . .”
“What’s it called?”
“What?” Stevie said.
“The camp. What’s it called?”
“Oh. Um. Sunny something. Sunny . . . Oaks. Some kind of tree. Wait. I looked it up on my phone last night.”
This was a careful calculation. Her parents had probably never heard of the Camp Wonder Falls murders, and the Sunny Pines website certainly didn’t advertise the connection, but she couldn’t risk them Googling it. She had it primed and ready to go.
Her mother looked at Stevie’s phone while Stevie continued her contemplation of the blood splatter on the tiny kitchen floor.
“It looks nice,” her mother said.
It did. Stevie had examined the site in detail. It was image after image of trees, kids leaping off a platform into a lake, kids playing instruments and making crafts, bonfires, cookouts, and toasting marshmallows.
“And they said you could bring friends?” her mom asked.
“Uh-huh.”
Stevie flipped to another part of the book, to an attic scene that featured a hanging.
“And this is a real offer?” her mom said, eyeing the pictures. “From the real owner?”
“Yup.”
“Let me see it.”
Stevie blinked, as if this request was a surprise.
“Oh,” she said. “Sure. I guess.”
Stevie reached for her phone and pulled up a message, then passed it back to her mom.
Stevie,
My name is Carson Buchwald, and I am the owner and founder of Box Box （you’ve probably heard of it）。 I also own a summer camp in western Massachusetts called Camp Sunny Pines.
I read an article about what you did at Ellingham Academy, and I thought it was incredible. How would you like to come and work here this summer? You could be a counselor. I think it would be great to have someone like you on our staff! Our camp is in some beautiful woods. We have a swimming lake, falls, and a great little town nearby with some of the best ice cream in the country. It’s a fantastic place with great kids!
You are welcome to bring friends, if that sweetens the deal.
If you’re interested, get back in touch with me. I hope to hear from you.