Southport High School's band played their instrumental version of "You're A Grand Old Flag" as floats and people paraded through the main street in town down by the water.

On the sides families gathered, children waved and everyone simply enjoyed the warm weather and July Fourth celebrations.

Rosalie had gotten an impromptu haircut that left her hair dangling nearly perfectly down an inch or so past her chin. She sported her crown and the same dress she had worn the year before for the Croaker Queen Pageant and sat perched at the top of a tall float waving to the residents in town that had gathered around.

Emmett sat the edge of the float as it cruised down the street. He still had bruised face and cast from his accident, though dressed up a little and looked as handsome as ever. His legs dangled off the edge of the float and he glanced up over his shoulder at Rosalie, smiling as he watched her giving her best smile and 'princess-wave'.

She turned, catching his eye and smiled at him for a moment and felt her heart flutter a bit when he finally gave her a big smile back.

Emmett motioned to her crown and winked, still grinning and finally turned back around.

Rosalie smiled again to herself, and then refocused on the crowd, both playing her part and looking for someone who might appear suspicious.

Despite the heat, there were fishermen in slickers that blended in with the crowd as they took a moment off from working the boats to join in in the festivities. Some men waved and smiled; other doted their young children on their shoulders; a few shoved hot dogs and hamburgers into their mouths, or a cone of ice cream.

A number of fishermen had caught Rosalie's eye, thought none of them appeared remotely suspicious. They were out and about enjoying the day just like anybody else.

Emmett, too, looked around, keeping his head on a swivel as he glanced from side to side from his lower position on the float. A few times he did a double-take, as he thought someone might have resembled the man who ran him over, but there was nothing to go on.

"Emmett!" Rosalie's voice shouted down to him and he whipped around to face her.

She pointed at a man who stood in the background of the people by the water. He wore a slicker, and his hat covered his face. His arms were crossed in front of his chest and he stared straight ahead.

"Over there! The man by himself in the back with the slicker!"

Emmett's eyes finally found the suspicious person, like a sick game of Where's Waldo, and he took off running as the man turned and began marching away from the parade down the dock.

"Move!" Emmett shouted, pushing through the herds of people who gathered on the sides of the road. "Move it! Get out of my way!"

People gave him dirty looks, but moved aside as he rushed through, nearly climbing over people in order to get through them to the docks.

In the distance the man in the slicker paced away, walking fast. He sported the entire ensemble as the man who ran Emmett over, and suddenly it felt more personal.

Emmett ran faster, quickly catching up to the man on a more secluded part of the dock. "Hey asshole!" he shouted, tackling him to the ground from behind.

The two of them wrestled for a moment before he ripped the man's hat off and balled his fists on top of him.

"Stop!" an older balding man put his hands up defensively. "Stop! What are you doing?"

Emmett saw the fear in the man's eyes and he released him from grasp before standing up, leaving the man in shock on the ground.

"I should call the police," he mumbled, snatching his hat away from Emmett and marching away angrily with his hand over his chest.

"Where the hell is he?" Emmett said to himself, looking up and down the docks.

He ran back up the way to try to catch back up with the parade.

Rosalie still sat on her pedestal and tried arching her neck to see what had happened between Emmett and the mysterious man in the slicker.

I hope he's okay, she thought.

A building took over the side of the road to her right, and the world behind that disappeared so she could no longer see if Emmett emerged from where ever he had run off to. She continued to stare over her shoulder and in turn caught a glimpse up in the balcony of the building that was now in the way.

Rosalie felt her stomach twist in fear and anguish as a man in a slicker rose a hook menacingly in front of his face from up in the overhang. He was masked by the shadows, and no one was high enough to even pay attention to him on the third level of the floor.

She couldn't take her eyes off of the man, and there was no question that he was the man stalking the four of them. The only question remained was his true identity. Who was he?

A part of Rosalie was happy that Emmett was no longer on the float. She knew he would have darted up into the balcony after the man, even though he was sporting a weapon.

What does he want? she thought. Is that Billy Blue?

Rosalie continued to look back until, again, the building grew out of sight. She prayed that Emmett was safe where ever he ended up.

...

Esme pulled into Missy's without a ready-made excuse and hurried out of the car with the yearbooks in hand. Like the time before, the front door was open and music played but no one was around to respond to her knocks.

She hurried toward the back yard and called out Missy's name one time, prompting the woman to exit a small shed with a bloody knife in hand.

Esme put her hand out defensively. "Missy... it's me... do you remember me?"

Missy stared straight ahead without blinking at Esme. "What are you doing here?" she placed the knife down and Esme immediately saw a turkey's carcass hanging next to the shed. She took in a deep breath to compose herself.

"Missy, um, you had mentioned the name Billy Blue the last time we were here..." She held the yearbooks out in front of her. "And I was wondering if maybe you could take a look through this yearbook and possibly point him out."

Missy looked at her skeptically. "What is this about?"

Esme sighed. "To be honest it has to do with your brother and last July Fourth."

"What about it?" Missy took a step forward and her voice got stern.

She hesitated. "What happened to your brother wasn't an accident... there's more to it than that."

"I know."

Esme felt her stomach drop. "You know what?"

"Well, he killed himself?" Missy said.

"What?"

"Yeah Riley... he went up there to die that night, that's where Didyme died the year before." She paused, "She was his girlfriend, and the town blamed him for her death."

Esme stared at her in disbelief. "How do you know if was a suicide?"

Missy took a rag and wiped off her hands before heading into the shed. "He left a note."

Esme felt her face grow hot as she waited to see the note for herself. When Missy came back outside she handed Esme a small piece of what paper.

"I had to hide this from the insurance companies because they wouldn't have give us the money if they knew it was a suicide." Missy sighed and looked away, "But the money's been spent."

Esme read the short message that was written in the same block lettering as the note she received. This one read: I WILL NEVER FORGET LAST SUMMER.

She shook her head and looked at Missy. "This... this isn't a suicide note. This is a death threat."

Missy's face twisted in anger and confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Your brother didn't kill himself. I was there I saw him." The words poured out of her mouth.

Missy's face hardened slightly. "What? Where? Where did you see him?"

"Last July Fourth... He was crossing the road, we hit him, it was an accident. Whoever sent this note was there too."

"No, my brother drowned."

"He had Didyme tattooed on his arm. I saw it that night."

"Tattoo?" Missy shouted, "Riley didn't have a tattoo!"

"But Missy I saw him-"

"You didn't see anything because he never had a tattoo! Now go!" She breathed in heavily, "Go and don't come back here."

Esme froze and tried to put it all together in her mind. If Riley didn't have a tattoo then that only meant one thing.

"Oh my God..." Esme knew she had to get o her friends right away. "It wasn't your brother that we hit."