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check.
I hadn’t expected that. I thought Jesse would forgive me.
    “They don’t usually release these,” she said,
placing a photograph on the table in front of me. “In fact, Cooper
wasn’t even supposed to take it. But anyway, here it is.”
    I stared at the 8x10. It was of the dead man with
the mermaid tattoo. The man I saw in my dream.
    “Same guy, huh?”
    “Yeah, it’s him,” I said. It was hard to
believe.
    “That’s just so weird,” Kate said. “Seriously, Abby.
How could that be?”
    I shrugged. Kate sat down across from me.
    “The medical examiner found water in his lungs,” she
said. “So he did drown. Whether it’s a suicide or an accident, they
don’t know. The basic toxicology report came back, showed alcohol
in his system. But because it showed some other unidentifiable drug
too, they’ve sent for a more thorough tox report to a lab in
California.”
    “Well, that’s good, I guess.”
    “Yeah. At least they’re keeping the case open until
they get that one back. But those take weeks. They aren’t thinking
it’s murder, though,” she said. “He didn’t know how to swim.
Probably just tripped and fell into the river.”
    I had a strong feeling that wasn’t what
happened.
    “I think there’s more to it,” I said after a strong
chill shot through my body.

CHAPTER 9
     
    A huge Thanksgiving storm dumped over a foot of snow
on Bend and once again everything was white. But it was beautiful,
especially when you could stay home and watch it fall from the
windows. The house was warm and we blasted The Cure, Josh Ritter,
and Miles Davis as we cooked. Ten people were coming, making it our
largest Thanksgiving ever.
    Jesse never was able to make it because he went down
to San Francisco to visit his mom during the holiday. I had never
met his mom and he didn’t talk much about her. All I knew was that
she worked in a gallery and had left when he was little.
    Since confessing my love to Jesse, our friendship
was hanging in a strange kind of limbo. I didn’t see him much and
it made for super lonely days at school. I would catch him going to
practice or heading to class, and although he would wave, I could
tell it was strained. He didn’t sit with me at lunch either, and I
wondered if our relationship would ever be the same, if we could
even be friends anymore. The entire thing sat like a pit in my gut,
not feeling right and not going away.
    “Abby, focus!” Kate yelled as I drifted off. I was
stirring cranberries over a burner.
    “Got it,” I said. I hadn’t told Kate about the
incident with Jesse and I was planning on keeping it that way. I
didn’t know how to get back to our friendship. I would settle for
that now. I just kept blowing things.
    Kate looked great. She was wearing a tight black
dress that fit perfectly and stilettos that clicked with authority
as she walked across the wood floors.
    Matt showed up early and I was glad that Kate put
him to work. I was really glad that she covered him in a clean,
sterile apron and made him wash his hands for five minutes like he
was about to perform surgery.
    “Hey, Abby, you’re looking nice today,” he said when
we were alone in the kitchen. I was wearing my Lucky jeans with a
collared shirt and a pinstriped vest but I guessed I looked a
little more dressed up than my usual sweats. Matt was chopping
garlic and was in charge of the stuffing. Truth be told, I actually
liked Matt, but more as an eccentric older brother. Not as my
sister’s boyfriend.
    “Thanks,” I said. “How’s the new painting
going?”
    “Good. I’ll bring it over when it’s done.”
    “Cool,” I said. I was still unclear where Matt even
lived, let alone painted.
    Dinner was nearly ready and was going to be good:
roasted turkey with rosemary and thyme, creamy sweet potatoes with
maple syrup, homemade cranberry sauce and stuffing made with
cornbread, cashews, and dried apricots. The guests were all
bringing different desserts.
    The doorbell rang. It was