Chapter 3
A Sickening Sweetness
A tourist falls ill after eating ice cream from a rival shop. August and Bree notice the tourist's reaction seems unusual, sparking their suspicion about the boardwalk's underbelly.
The afternoon sun beat down on the boardwalk, turning the salt-laced air into a warm, humid blanket. August, her blonde ponytail bouncing with each scoop, handed a triple-chocolate fudge cone to a giggling toddler. The familiar rhythm of the ice cream shop – the whir of the blender, the clink of spoons, the murmur of happy customers – was usually a soothing balm. But today, a knot of unease tightened in her stomach, a sour counterpoint to the sugary sweetness of her family’s business.
Yesterday’s cryptic note, tucked into a crumpled dollar bill, had been a pebble dropped into the calm waters of her summer. “The sugar hides the rot. Look past the shimmer. They watch.” It was nonsensical, yet it clung to her thoughts like sticky cotton candy. And then there was Captain Finnigan. Gone. Just… gone. His weathered fishing boat, the Salty Dog, bobbed empty at its usual mooring. The Coast Guard had searched, the local police had shrugged. A fisherman went out, a fisherman didn’t come back. It happened. But August felt a prickle of something more sinister.
Bree, her best friend and partner-in-scoops, was currently wrestling with a stubborn spigot on the soda fountain, her brow furrowed in concentration. “This thing is possessed,” she grumbled, giving it a final, forceful twist. A stream of fizzy lemonade sputtered out, missing the cup