Willow Point

Helena came out of the back room, wiping her hands on an apron covered in cartoon images of dancing reindeer.
“Maddy!” Helena exclaimed. “I thought I heard somebody coming in.”
She hurried to reach me, motioning to the paned picture window in the front. “Hmm, I see Adam gave you something better than his old car to tool around in.” She put her hands on her hips, considered as she gazed out the window. “Probably a good idea with all this snow. I have to say this is a bit much, even for Fade Island.”
I glanced over my shoulder. The big, silver Lincoln Navigator from Adam was quite the presence at the curb, even as snow covered it. “Yeah, the Lexus just wasn’t practical.” I agreed.
Adam had swapped out the previous car I’d been driving—a black Lexus that had been included in the lease agreement for the cottage—with this new, massive four-wheel-drive vehicle. I had to say, I certainly felt protected…by Adam and the Nav.
I turned back to Helena. “Wise choice,” she said. “Nate and I love those things. You can get through anything. Did you know the weather people are saying this is shaping up to be the snowiest December in decades?”
Just my luck, I thought, thinking of how it was probably seventy degrees and sunny back in LA. “Well, at least it’s pretty,” I conceded, glancing once more to the falling snow.
“But cold,” Helena said with a shiver. “Which reminds me, do you want to try a peppermint mocha? I made some cookies, too. Are you hungry?”
I was starving, so I said, “Both sound perfect.”
Helena nodded and headed back to the coffee bar. Her blonde hair was up in a high ponytail and it swished from side to side as she walked away. She seemed happy, upbeat. Nothing like when she’d visited. No, that day she’d been clearly troubled.
I sat down at one of the tables and enjoyed the festive decorations until Helena called out from behind the coffee bar, “Whipped cream on your mocha?”
’Tis the season, right? I yelled back, “Sure, load it up.”
Everything seemed so normal, like it had been back in the fall. It was as if the Harbour Falls Mystery and its outcome had been forgotten. Was that what Helena wanted me to think? She’d been up to Adam’s house to check on me after everything had come to light, but something in her demeanor had been off.
I had asked Adam what was going on, but he’d made it sound as if her sidelong looks to him had been nothing. He claimed Helena was just worried about her mom. Helena had been spending a lot of time over in Harbour Falls with her mother—then and more recently. And I had no idea why. Something was up, though. I’d gone through everything, thought of multiple scenarios, and came up with nothing. Well, I did have a theory or two.
Everyone knew that back in high school Helena and her mother had suffered abuse at the hands of her then-stepfather, Ron Mifflin. She and her mom had grown especially close since that time, understandably. But Ron had taken off years ago, about the time I was finishing up my freshman year at Yale. Close to a decade had passed since then, and nobody ever mentioned Ron. Not a word, nothing, ever. So I could only conclude Helena’s mom’s recent troubles had nothing to do with him.
A part of me, however, did wonder if Helena’s recent visits to Harbour Falls did have something to do with this deeper, darker secret Adam was supposedly keeping from me. Ami had said in her letter that trouble was brewing and Helena knew something. Did she? Was that why she’d been spending time over in Harbour Falls with her mom? Did that mean the secret involved Helena’s mother as well? It seemed unlikely. I mean, I couldn’t begin to fathom how Adam would fit into a scenario such as that.
“This should get us started,” Helena said, startling me out of my reverie. Smiling, she placed two minty drinks and a plate of decorated cookies on the table.
“Thanks,” I said as I picked up a somewhat lopsided gingerbread man and took a bite.
Helena sat down across from me and took a tentative sip of her steaming mocha. “I’m glad you stopped in today,” she said. “I hate that we haven’t talked much lately.”
“I heard you’ve been over in Harbour Falls a lot,” I ventured, treading carefully. “Is everything okay over there? With your mom, I mean. And with you, of course.”
Helena’s blue eyes held mine, but then she looked away. “Everything is fine, Maddy,” she whispered, her voice somewhat shaky. “Things are great in Harbour Falls.” I could tell she was lying. “And I’ve just busy with the holidays, shopping, decorating. Lots of decorating.”
“Helena—”
“Of course, Nate thinks I’m crazy,” she interrupted, her voice raising higher, filled with false gaiety.
Something was definitely up, and Helena was trying her best to conceal it.
I raised an eyebrow, but she continued, speaking quickly, “I mean, look around.” She flailed a hand, indicating the room. “All these decorations…but hardly anyone will see them. We don’t get too many fishermen stopping by for coffee and soup this time of year.” She put her head in her hands. “God, Maddy, sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing. Just trying to stay busy, I guess.”
Why? I wanted to ask. But, instead, I went with, “The decorations look fantastic,” since she seemed so upset.
Helena pushed a lock of blonde hair that had escaped from her ponytail back behind her ear. “Thanks.” She sighed. “I wanted to put wreaths and lights up out on Main Street, but that’s where Nate drew the line. He said Adam would think I’d totally lost it.”
At the thought of Adam’s reaction to a lit-up Main Street, in the dead of winter with no one around to see it, we both smiled. But I didn’t believe for a minute Helena was really this into Christmas. She was trying to keep