“Why didn’t you help me?” she cried. “My mother is going to kill me. Now I won’t be able to go to the grove tomorrow. I would have helped you. I hate you, Amy Hollister! I hate you!”

Cady sat up in bed, her body drenched with sweat. She swung her legs over the side of the bed. The dream was so real, so vivid. Maybe that was because the pigtail incident was just the way it had happened a long time ago.

Cady dropped her head into her hands. Why was it she remembered something like that and didn’t remember the day Jeff King had died?

Pictures.

Something flashed in her head, but she couldn’t catch the thought.

Her father had whipped her rear end good that day over her mother’s protests, but she hadn’t been grounded the way she’d feared. She’d gone back to the grove the next day and watched as Pete and Andy sent Jeff’s bike halfway down the zip line. Jeff had been as good as his word and tied her pigtail to his handlebars. Pete had given it back to her.

She’d stood on the sidelines that day, next to Amy, while the boys rigged the line. She watched as Amy snapped her pictures, pictures she showed to all the kids in the neighborhood.

Pictures! Amy would have taken pictures that day. But the papers said they weren’t there when the accident happened. That had to mean there were no pictures. She would never have gone to the grove alone. Never.

Unless something happened to make her go alone.

After the splashdown with Jeff’s bike she still went back to the grove, but she was no longer Amy’s best friend. She’d paired off with Pete, and the Hollister twins had hung together.

Maybe Lola was right, and it was time to visit with her old friends.

Pictures didn’t lie.

People lied.

Mandy poked her head in the door. “Hurry, Cady, the reporter from the Sentinel is due to arrive. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Mandy. I took a nap and had a bad dream. I’m fine. I just need ten minutes. Is Lola ready?”

“She’s been ready. The interview is going to be in the music room. Lola thinks it will be a perfect backdrop. Her fifth husband was a musician. She really liked him and his hippie ways. She wants me to serve cucumber sandwiches and green tea. Don’t ask.” She smiled as Cady raised an eyebrow.

“Atlas is with her. By the way, he’s sporting a jeweled collar. The fifth husband gave Lola a tiara that she traded in for a jeweled choker, but she said it didn’t do anything for her so now it belongs to Atlas. He seems to like it.”

“Oh,” was all Cady could think of to say.

Cady looked in her closet and groaned. Her clothes were so schoolmarmish. There wasn’t a bright color anywhere to be seen. There was nothing befitting this beautiful spring day, nor were there any summery clothes hanging in the closet. Clothes had never been a priority with her until she arrived at her grandmother’s and Lola had chastised her for looking and dressing like a drab, brown mouse. Obviously, she needed to go on a shopping trip soon. She ended up choosing a beige safari skirt with matching blouse.