On Saturday morning, Brittany arrived at Vivian's house with an idea that had nothing to do with notebooks or letters.
"We're not investigating today," she said from the doorway. "We're going out. End of story."
Vivian looked at her for a second, still holding the elastic band of her notebook.
"That simple?"
"That simple. Ana and Madeleine are coming on the bus. If we greet them with funeral faces again, they're going to regret crossing the county."
Vivian hesitated. The envelope with the four hundred dollars was still tucked between the last few pages. The rules from the night before were still weighing on her mind. But she was also tired of every meeting smelling like fear.
"Fine," she finally said. "For a little while. No talking about it."
Brittany smiled genuinely for the first time in days.
"That's what I wanted to hear."
Ana and Madeleine got off the bus near Morristown's small shopping center. It was nothing fancy: a few stores, a café with outdoor tables, and a half-full parking lot. Enough to spend the afternoon without thinking too much.
When they saw the other two approaching, Brittany raised her hand.
"Over here!"
Ana was wearing a light-colored jacket, her hair tied back. Madeleine, quieter as usual, carried a small backpack and had that way of looking around as if she were still measuring distances. Vivian noticed that both of them seemed a little tense at first, like people arriving in unfamiliar territory.
"Are you sure you didn't want to stay in Sussex?" Vivian asked, half-joking.
Ana raised an eyebrow.
"If I'd stayed there, I would've ended up cleaning my grandmother's house and thinking about stupid things. This is better."
Madeleine nodded.
"Just… don't make me talk about the other thing. At least for a while."
"Deal," Brittany said.
They were looking at shop windows when Brittany suddenly stopped.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Madison and Chloe were approaching from the other side of the walkway. Madison had her usual polished appearance, black hair, and carefully chosen clothes that didn't scream money. Chloe was beside her, laughing at something Madison had just said. It was obvious from a distance that the two were inseparable.
Vivian felt a moment of hesitation. Madison knew nothing about the Clown. Neither did Chloe. And Ana and Madeleine were new faces.
But Brittany had already raised her hand.
"Madison."
Madison spotted them and smiled politely, looking surprised.
"Vivian. Brittany. I wasn't expecting to see you here."
Chloe looked at them curiously, then glanced at the other two.
"Friends from out of town?"
Vivian stepped forward before the silence could become awkward.
"Yeah. This is Ana. And this is Madeleine. They're… from Sussex. They came to spend the day."
Ana offered a brief smile, a little stiff at first.
"Hi. I go to school in Newton."
Madeleine barely raised her hand.
"Madeleine. I'm from there too."
Madison nodded warmly.
"That's nice. We were heading to the café downstairs. If you want… you can join us. It's nothing serious."
Brittany looked at Vivian. Vivian looked at Ana. Ana shrugged in a way that said, better this than sitting around alone with our thoughts.
"Sure," Brittany said. "But we're paying for our own stuff."
Chloe laughed.
"Relax. It's not an exam."
The café smelled of coffee and sweet bread. They managed to get a table for six, a little cramped, and for a moment, the arrangement felt strange: two different worlds sitting together. Madison and Chloe from Blackwood High. Ana and Madeleine from another school, another county. Vivian and Brittany in the middle, like an awkward bridge.
At first, the conversation was cautious.
"What's Sussex like?" Chloe asked.
Ana took a sip of her soda.
"Quieter. Fewer people. Sometimes a little too quiet."
"Sometimes there's too much noise here," Madison replied. "Depends on the day."
Madeleine, who was quieter, smiled when Chloe asked if she liked cheerleading. She said she didn't know much about it, and Chloe eagerly launched into a ridiculous story about a practice where she had nearly fallen off the top of a pyramid. Brittany laughed. Vivian did too. Ana even let out a short laugh when Brittany imitated the football coach.
Little by little, the tension eased.
They talked about impossible teachers. Buses that were always late. A movie Madison had watched over the weekend that, according to Chloe, was "pretty but predictable."
Madeleine admitted that she liked mystery stories, then bit her tongue as if she had said too much. Nobody really noticed. Or at least, nobody pointed it out.
At one point, Brittany got up to ask for more napkins, and when she returned, she leaned toward Vivian.
"See?" she whispered. "We can do this."
Vivian nodded.
There was still some uneasiness, of course. Whenever someone casually mentioned "strange news" or "that thing in Trenton," her stomach tightened for a second. But nobody pushed the subject. Madison talked about school. Chloe talked about a guy who had no idea how to flirt. Ana explained how her grandmother always sent her to buy the same things. Madeleine listened more than she spoke, but she no longer looked like she was about to leave.
For a little while, they were just six girls sitting around a table.
They left the café as the sun began to dip lower. They walked through the parking lot without hurrying, still together.
Madison stopped beside her car.
"That was weird… but nice," she said sincerely. "If you come around here again, let us know. I don't bite."
Chloe pointed at Ana and Madeleine.
"And you two are familiar faces now. So don't act all mysterious next time."
Ana smiled crookedly.
"We'll see."
Madeleine simply said:
"Thanks for hanging out with us."
When Madison's car pulled away, the four of them stood in silence for a moment. It wasn't the heavy silence that came with the letters. This was different. Lighter. The kind of tiredness that felt good.
Brittany stretched her arms.
"We needed that."
"Yeah," Vivian admitted. "Even if the notebook will still be there tomorrow."
Ana glanced toward the bus stop.
"The notebook can wait a little longer tomorrow. Today… today was good."
Madeleine adjusted her backpack.
"Madison is different from how I imagined her. More… normal."
"She is," Brittany said. "Sometimes we forget that not everyone lives inside our world."
Vivian thought about the envelope inside the notebook, the rules, the word employees. The uncertainty hadn't gone away. It was still there, quiet, like background noise. But for the first time in days, it wasn't completely drowning out the present moment.
"Should we walk back to the bus stop together?" she asked.
Ana nodded.
"Yeah. And if anyone mentions clowns on the way, I'm leaving you all behind."
Brittany laughed.
"Deal."
They walked toward the bus, still talking about silly things: a perfume Chloe had mentioned, a math teacher Ana couldn't stand, whether the café's bread had been dry or not. Nothing important. Nothing worth writing down.
And that, for one afternoon, was exactly what they needed.
Six girls. A little time away. And the investigation waiting right where they'd left it.