Esme drove her car through the center of town where people were stringing up holiday decorations. There were flags of red, white and blue in all shapes and sizes that hung from telephone poles, street lights and buildings. The town was ready to welcome the Fourth of July in the same fashion they did every year - with parties, a beauty pageant, fireworks and fun.
There was a collection of little shops that sat by the town green - one them, called Shivers, was own by Rosalie Hale's family. She wasn't sure if Rosalie was home for the summer or still up in New York but she knew her sister Elsa would be able to give her a form of contact information.
She pulled the car into a parking space on the side of the road and headed toward the small clothing store.
A bell jingled against the door as she entered and Esme spotted Elsa giving orders almost right away.
"It's glass," the blond bombshell with thick black rimmed glasses said to a man putting a sculpture down on the counter. "Remember it breaks." Heavy sarcasm lingered in her voice and then she noticed Esme heading in her direction. "Well, well..." Elsa placed a hand on her hip. "Look what the cat dragged in."
"Elsa... hi." Esme took in a deep breath. "I was wondering if you could give me Rosalie's New York number. I need to speak with her."
"Her New York number?'
"Yeah. It's important."
"Well, fact check Esme," Elsa went, "Rosalie doesn't have a New York number. If you'd like to speak with her I suggest you head to women's fragrances, ten feet to your left."
Esme turned her head and followed Elsa's stare to where Rosalie fumbled a handful of perfumes.
"Scary isn't it?" Elsa asked with a laugh, and then went on her way to continue with the inventory that was currently taking place in the store.
Rosalie looked down the way and she stopped what she was doing. "Esme?" she asked, prompting a quick nod from her friend. "When... when did you get home?"
"Yesterday," Esme said quietly. "What happened to New York?"
"I went... for awhile and... it didn't work out." Rosalie's face looked as tired and disappointed as Esme's did.
Esme dug in her purse and removed the letter she'd received in the mail the day before. "Somebody sent this to me."
Rosalie took a second to read the message and her eyes widened. She struggled to keep her voice down. "Oh my gosh - who?"
"I don't know."
"Esme, we were so careful."
"Were we?" she asked, "Were we? What if somebody else saw us? What if somebody else was there that night?"
"Who? It's been a year," Rosalie persisted.
"I don't know," Esme repeated quietly.
The two of them turned to see Elsa attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation before she slowly disappeared into a back room.
"Has Emmett seen this?" Rosalie asked.
They shared a look and quickly headed into the street, taking the car down to the wealthiest part of town.
Emmett's house was a massive, brick estate that overlooked the ocean. The girls parked the car and waltzed over the perfectly manicured lawn toward the front door.
"Do you ever see Emmett around school?" Rosalie asked.
"It's a big campus," Esme told her with a shrug. "Are you sure he's back?"
"I saw his car the other day at the gym."
"Did you guys break up?"
Before Rosalie could answer a deep voice bellowed from above.
"Hey!" Emmett called out, "What are you two doing here?" He sported a white tank top and leaned over a balcony from the top floor of the home.
The girls stared up and Rosalie responded simply. "Hi Em."
He glared down and quickly met them by the door before escorting the two of them to the back patio to get some privacy away from his mother.
Esme showed him the note and was shocked when he reacted far differently than the two of them.
"This is nothing," he assured them firmly. "I know what you did last summer... oooooo. What a crock of shit."
"We can't just ignore it," Esme told him.
"Come on Esme," Emmett said, "You did a lot of things last summer."
She leaned back in her seat, "Yeah, well only one murder comes to mind."
"We didn't murder anybody!" he barked, and then looked over his shoulder toward his mother who talked aimlessly on the phone just inside a set of double doors that lead out to where they sat.
"He was still alive when we threw him in the water!" Esme shot back.
Rosalie stepped between them. "Do we have to rehash it, it was an accident! The guy was in the middle of the road."
"His name was Riley Biers," Esme said.
"Who?" Emmett asked.
"Riley Biers. His body was found three weeks after we..." she failed to finish the sentence. "His body was caught in a shrimp net not far from Miller's Dock." She smiled and shook her head, hating to relive the events of that night. "I think the police called it an accidental drowning." Esme locked eyes with Emmett. "You can call it an accident all you want but he died because of us, that's certain."
Emmett backed down slightly and paused before taking a deep breath. "What about Carlisle? Have you talked to him? What does he think?"
"I haven't seen Carlisle since last summer. Last I heard he was in school up north."
"Alright... well let's suppose someone was there that night and saw us..." Emmett said, putting one foot up a bench that overlooked the water. "It's probably just some idiot screwing around." He shifted his eyes back and forth and then looked back at the girls. "James."
A light bulb seemed to go off in Esme's head and she stared at him open-mouthed for a moment. "What... James? You think?"
"Who else? He was there."
The three of them exchanged glances before Emmett gave a head nod and waved his hand. "I know where to find him."