“No, I didn’t. I remember that part. I didn’t lead anyone on. I was just having a good time with everyone. I never led anyone on.”
I cringed. There was a pretty good chance that he had led someone on. He didn’t even realize he did what he did; his flirtatious nature was simply just him. But still.
“You’re not the brightest bulb in the pack, are you?” Vivienne said.
“Hey!” Opie said, but Teddy continued to hold her securely behind him.
“Maybe not,” Teddy said, “but I’m smart enough to figure out what’s going on here, and it needs to stop. You’re partially responsible for this.” Teddy pointed to his face.
What did he remember? I wanted to jump in to defend his honor, but I didn’t want to interrupt if we were about to learn more about the beating.
“Hey, folks, what’s the problem?” Cliff said as he appeared from the crowd. I wanted to cheer at his arrival, but I didn’t.
“This guy’s a jerk,” Vivienne said as she pointed at Teddy.
“And that’s reason enough to cause such a scene?” Cliff asked. “Let’s calm down and we can chat amongst ourselves about the problem.”
Vivienne grimaced at Cliff. He wasn’t wearing his uniform, but he’d been around enough that she should have known he was a police officer. He caught the grimace and sent her back an authoritative glare. It worked. She either finally recognized him or decided he was probably right. She nodded and then stepped around Cliff and seemed to be leaving the campsite. Cliff nodded at Teddy and Opie, and then he spotted me and sent me a look that said “Take care of these two,” and then turned to follow Vivienne.
I followed up on that unspoken request immediately and hurried to Teddy.
“I leave you two alone for just a few minutes and look what happens,” I half-joked.
“She came out of nowhere,” Teddy said.
“What did she say—I mean, at first? How did all of that start?” I asked.
“She called him some horrible names,” Opie interjected.
“S’okay, Ophelia. I can take it.” Teddy smiled at her. She calmed and looked away where she could pretend to focus on something else. “Almost the second she stopped to say something to us, I remembered more about her involvement in this.” Teddy pointed at his face. “I think she was the one who lured me out into the woods.”
“For the firewood? She’s the one who hit you?” I said.
“No, I don’t think so. I mean, I think she got me out into the woods, but not for firewood. I do think there was a guy involved, and I’m not just saying that because I’d be embarrassed that a girl might have done this to me. I would be, but I know we need to get the story straight.”
“Remember what you said about getting the firewood? Remember that Norman wanted you to get firewood with him?”
“I do.” Teddy sighed. “I’m beginning to think that he didn’t want me to go out into the woods with him, though. I think maybe he just wanted me to help him get some firewood. I think there was a separate incident with Vivienne.” He scrunched up his forehead and reached to his blackened eye. “I’m sorry, but my memory still isn’t a hundred percent. But I’m almost certain she’s the one who got me into the woods. Her or the redhead, the one named Esther.”
It was my turn to sigh. Between the ghosts and Teddy, the reliability of memory recall was currently at nil to negative-nil.
“Teddy, you need to relax and quit trying so hard,” I said. “When you were talking to Vivienne just now, did you accuse her of luring you into the woods?”