Cabin 9

Chapter 10

I wanted to ask Nadya about why she had the book, but I couldn't see her until after dinner. The anticipation was driving me crazy.

"Hey, Nadya!" I called when I finally saw her.
"Oh, hi Avery. Have you started the book yet?" she asked. I shook my head.
"I was actually wondering about that. I found this book in the camp office, with a newspaper clipping in it about the murder," I said. She looked a little guilty.
"So you were the one that took the clipping. Well, yes, that was me. I left it there when my counsellor asked me to get mail for our cabin."
"Do you have anything else that could help? I know you've already told us so much, but if you have anything else concrete, you should give it to Ben" I told her.
"Well I don't have anything else, but I'm still willing to help in any way I can" she told me.
"Thanks." I told her.

"Who was that?" said Cory, as I rejoined her and the rest of the cabin.
"Her name's Nadya. She helped Ben with finding out more about the murder," I told her.
"Amalia's murder?" Cory said, her eyebrows raised. Suddenly, I feel a little bad. I've been so preoccupied helping Ben and talking to Nadya that I've barely spoken to Cory.
"No, actually, there was a double murder here before it was a camp. That's what we've been looking into," I said. She just shrugged.
I was tempted to tell her about the box we found in the camp office, but I figured it probably would be best to keep that secret.

After dinner, I grabbed Nadya and snuck away to the camp office again. I grabbed her hand as she reached to knock on the door.
"Wait! Don't knock yet," I whispered. She pulled her hand back, confused. I took a step towards the door and pressed my ear to it. After a minute of listening, the only thing I could distinguish was one person breathing. Hopefully it was Ben.

I knocked on the door, and luckily it was Ben that opened it.
"Girls, come in," he said.
"What was in that book?" I said immediately, glancing towards the secret location we had found it last time. Ben closed the door.
"Listen, I wanted to talk to you two about that. You need to keep everything we do in here a secret. If you tell somebody, soon enough everyone might know, including the killer," Ben told us. We both nodded.
"From now on, I'm not telling any of the other counsellors about anything I find" he said.
"Now, let's take a look at that box"

He cleared away a bunch of files to reveal the little door in the wall. Nadya and I both craned our necks as he pulled it open.
"It's empty!" he nearly shouted.
"What? How is that possible?" I asked.
"We are the only three people who knew about it," Ben replied.
"And the killer," Nadya added quietly. We both turn to her.
"The killer probably knew about it too. He must be on to us."

As Nadya and I walked out of the office, we realized a few counsellors standing on the edge of the dining hall. I hastily pulled Nadya behind a couch.
"...he won't even let us into the office anymore, like how are we supposed to help? To keep the kids safe?" said a girl's voice.
"I know babe, but we just gotta do our best to keep the kids calm. Who knows how long it will be before we can get all this sorted out," replied a guy's voice. It sounded like the girl was starting to cry.
"I just can't believe that he killed Amalia. I mean, she was innocent! And now this freak thinks he can just take control of the whole camp," said the girl.
"Just be careful, okay? Ben is going to sort this out" the guy said. The girl laughed bitterly.
"Oh yeah, and what's he done so far? Scared the shit out of all of us? Become a mysterious hermit that spends all his time in that damn office? He's done nothing, Carl!" the girl said, he voice rising hysterically.
"Rosie," the guy said.

I'm not really sure what happened next, because Nadya hit me on the shoulder. She gestured for me to follow her. We snuck past the two people who we had just eavesdropped on - I then recognized them as counsellors - and into the dining hall, where she began to address me with an urgent tone.
"Avery, who is the only person at this camp who has an excuse to be there every time the killer strikes?" she asked me.
"I don't know," I said, frowning at her.
"Who spends almost all their free time in the office, where the creepy announcements where made from?" she continued.
"And who was in the office, just moment before we were locked in?"
"Nadya are you--"
"Ben, Avery, it's Ben!" she cried.
"What's Ben?" I asked confused.
"He's the killer!" she replied, her eyebrows raised and hands gesturing. I shook my head.
"No, he isn't Nadya" I said.
"Why would he be doing so much to figure out who the killer is if he is the killer?" I demanded.
"Well he obviously can't just ignore it, he's the camp director. And besides, don't you think that it's a little suspicious that he's spent so much time looking without finding anything? And that he won't let any of the other counsellors help him?" she countered.
"It's because the evidence keeps on disappearing, Nadya! We saw that for ourselves today. He doesn't want to involve any other counsellors because any one of them could be the killer. He's just doing his best to catch the killer, but it's hard running a one man show. That's why we need to do everything we can to help him, and accusing him of being the killer is not helping." I said sharply.
"Okay, fine. But you do realize that we are putting ourselves in a lot of danger by involving ourselves in this so much?" Nadya said, now trying a different angle.
"I know, everyone keeps telling me that, but isn't it worth endangering our lived to save this whole camp?" I asked Nadya. She nodded a little.
"Okay, then let's do this"