Page 52 of What You Never Knew

I slap his hand. “Yes!”

“Could the album have been under the one you were playing and you put it away, not even realizing you left the Beatles one on the record player?”

I have to actually stop and think about that possibility. “I don’t think so. I played a couple of records last night, and I would have noticed if that one was still on the player.”

“Probably.”

“Anyway,” I say, in an attempt to get to the main part of the story, “after the record player woke me, I was checking to see if the doors were locked, and I saw a person out the window running into the woods. So I followed them—”

“Hold on,” he says loudly. “You saw some stranger on the island and you went after them? That’s incredibly stupid, June. And dangerous.”

“I took a fire poker with me,” I explain.

“June,” he practically yells. “A fire poker does not make you safe. Staying inside with the doors locked makes you safe. Calling the police makes you safe.”

I motion for him to calm down. “I did call the police. After.” He rolls his eyes and releases an exasperated sigh. “The person had a boat, one of those tin tippy kinds. They left it on the other side of the island, and that’s how they got away. I didn’t get to them in time, but—”

“In time for what, June? To beat them with a fire poker?”

“To see what they looked like. I wasn’t actually planning on accosting them.”

He throws his hands up. “Well, that’s good, at least.”

I glare at him. “Anyway. The police said it might just be some kid who thought that nobody was on the island and were looking for somewhere to drink or smoke up.”

That explanation seems to calm Ezra down but only a little bit. “I guess,” he says, but he sounds unconvinced.

“But then how do you explain the record player? And what about the dead birds? It seems a bit coincidental, don’t you think?”

“It does seem like a coincidence, those two things happening back to back like that. And you seeing someone on the island lurking around at night. But both the birds and the record player can be chalked up to cottage things. There are a lot of birds in the area, so dead birds are not so unexplainable. Old funny wiring in a cottage, also normal up here.”

“And there was this one night when I got locked in my bedroom and had to climb out on the roof to escape.”

“What? Why haven’t you told me about that before?”

“I don’t know. It’s kind of embarrassing but also really weird. I climbed out on the roof and over to the fire escape, and when I got back into the cottage, I found the key in my bedroom door, like someone had locked me in there.”

“Old fussy locks. Another cottage thing.”

I shake my head. “I know what you’re saying, and if anyone likes a no-drama, practical explanation for things, it’s me. It’s just …”

“What?”

“I feel like someone must have done all of those things. It’s just too random to blame them all on cottage things.” I make air quotes.

“Unfortunately, I agree. I want to tell you that it’s nothing, but it sure sounds like something. Either kids fucking around with you due to the whole haunted-island thing or maybe Leslie Swann, although her being in Boston doesn’t explain the dead birds.” He bends down to kiss my knee. “I’m thinking you should just move in here. Problem solved.”

I shove my hand deep into his thick hair. “I’ve already lost too much time at Avril Island. I’m not going to lose more.”

He nods. “I understand.”

I move my hand down to his neck and gently massage it. “How about you come and stay with me instead?”

“I would, but there’s the issue of my very senile, prone-to-outbursts, elderly mother to consider.”

“Was it really bad last night?”

“It took me a while to get her back in the house. She kept insisting that she had to go see my father.”