I pushed my way into the crowd, the smell of burgers and hot dogs and onions setting off a series of rumbles in my stomach – and then someone grabbed my arm.
‘Whoa! Chill, man. I didn’t mean to scare you.’ It was David.
I realised I had my fist drawn back, ready to punch him. He looked alarmed.
I let my fist drop.
‘I’ve been looking for you,’ I said.
‘Cool. And I’ve been looking for you. Come on, follow me.’
He began to walk off.
‘No, wait, David.’
But he was walking fast, threading his way through the crowd, and the band had switched to an even louder song, ‘Born in the USA’， so he couldn’t hear me pleading with him to stop.
I had no choice but to follow.
Chapter 29
I hurried along in David’s wake. We went past the reception building towards the area where the tennis courts and playground were located. The crowd didn’t thin and I realised that, along with all the vacationers, there must be a lot of people here from Penance. I guessed this event was intended to forge a connection between the town and the resort.
The lights that were strung between the branches of the trees that lined the path helped illuminate the way. Every step took me further from Frankie, but David wouldn’t slow down. We kept passing people who were obviously his and Connie’s fans. There were a lot of high fives.
‘Here we are,’ he said at last, a little out of breath.
We were in the archery field. A large tent had been set up, a dark shape squatting on the far eastern edge of the field. A couple of people with flashlights showed visitors where to go.
I wondered if this had been done with the blessing of the resort or if it was some kind of guerrilla event. A bit of both, I guessed. It seemed to me that, despite what Carl had said, Hollow Falls was happy to accept the dark tourists’ money and didn’t want to upset them, but they didn’t want to blatantly encourage them either. I could imagine Greg turning a blind eye to this, giving himself plausible deniability in case he was ever accused of exploiting the deaths of two people for commercial gain. I felt a flare of anger towards him. Maybe he hadn’t had time yet, but he clearly hadn’t done anything about Buddy and Darlene despite his promise.
I was still trying to get David to listen to me, but he was too busy greeting people, and I found myself following him into the tent. It was well lit, a generator humming in the corner. Plastic chairs, presumably borrowed from the resort, had been arranged in lines. All, apart from a couple at the back, were occupied; I estimated there were around forty people here, with more coming in all the time. A makeshift stage had been set up at the front, with a microphone stand at the centre. Connie stood behind it, smiling at the audience.
‘Take a seat,’ David said, gesturing to the unoccupied chairs in the back row. ‘It’s about to start.’
‘David, I need to speak to you. It’s about Ryan. He’s not—’
But he had gone.
That was it. I needed to get back to Frankie. But when I turned I found that dozens of people had crowded into the tent behind me, blocking the exit. I tried to push my way through, but an enormous man wearing a Chicago Bulls cap blocked me and wouldn’t, or perhaps couldn’t, move enough to let me pass. I was going to have to get across to the other side of the tent, which was blocked by all the rows of chairs. I began to pick my way along a row of tutting people. At the same time, onstage, Connie stood up, leaning on her stick.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ she began, speaking into a microphone. ‘Thank you for coming here. I know how hard it must have been to tear yourselves away from that barbecue, but I’m assured all that delicious food will still be there when we’re finished.’
‘Sit down,’ an elderly woman hissed at me. ‘I can’t see a thing.’
Everyone in my immediate vicinity was staring at me, shooting daggers. At the end of the row was a woman in a wheelchair. To get past I would either have to climb over her or ask her to move.
‘Hey, buddy,’ said a man with a red face. ‘Sit the hell down.’
Feeling I had no choice, I shrank on to the nearest empty chair.
Onstage, Connie was saying, ‘All right, I’m not going to keep you in suspense any longer. Many of you came to Hollow Falls because you wanted to visit the place where a terrible crime occurred twenty years ago. I know you wanted to pay respect to the victims, Eric Daniels and Sally Fredericks. I don’t know about you, but seeing how beautiful and peaceful this place is makes the crimes seem even more heinous. How could something so terrible happen in such a lovely setting?’