“You went where?” Ethan asked, pulling plates out of the cabinet for our sushi. Good thing he’d gotten cold food. And he’d been sweet enough to pick up enough for all of us. Val and I had arrived home to find Ethan dozing off on the couch. He’d stashed the sushi in the fridge to wait for us. Now that was love.
Or he was just really tired and wanted a nap.
“Where’s Grandpa?” Val called from the living room, where she was hanging her coat in the closet. “I haven’t seen him all day.”
I turned away so no one would see my face as I pulled my own coat off.
“I haven’t seen him. Why are you so wet?” Ethan asked from the kitchen doorway, noticing my dilemma as to where to put my sopping coat and scarf.
“Long story.” I gave up and hung them off the closet door, hugging myself to try to stop the shivering. Even with the heat blasting at me in the car, I still felt chilled to the bone. Partly the weather, partly the sights, I was sure.
I turned the heat up, for once not caring about the giant heating bill that would surely be waiting for me next month, then put the kettle on for some hot tea while Ethan put the plates out.
“So what happened? Are you ever going to tell me?” Ethan said finally, looking from one to the other.
Val told him about the events that unfolded at the yacht club and how Craig had shown up. She told this part with a sideways glance at me, which I ignored.
“And then he took them both down to the station to talk. I have no idea what happened after that.”
“Huh,” Ethan said. “Then what?”
“I’ll let Maddie take that one.” Val picked up a California roll and popped it into her mouth.
I pushed a salmon avocado roll around on my plate, finally picking it up and dipping it in my wasabi-laden soy sauce before eating it. I always felt so awkward trying to eat sushi, especially when the rolls were so big. I used the excuse that I needed to chew a lot to stall for time. “After that we saw Thea Coleman’s car and we followed her,” I said when I finally swallowed.
Ethan looked puzzled by this. “Why would you do that?”
I shrugged. “To try to find out stuff.”
“So what’d you guys find out?” Ethan asked in his matter-of-fact tone.
I squirmed a little bit in my seat. On the one hand, I wasn’t sure I wanted to out Leopard Man to everyone, even if this was just Ethan and I trusted him implicitly. But I had a feeling Grandpa wouldn’t be happy with me if I started shooting my mouth off to everyone about what I saw, even without including the part about him. Especially since I didn’t know what any of it meant.
On the other hand, I couldn’t lie and say I’d seen nothing. They wouldn’t believe that. And if I said I’d seen only Thea going into this weird trailer, they might encourage me to call the cops. Heck, they might anyway. Not that I would.
“You can’t say anything,” I said. “I mean it. Like, we are so far in the vault right now that we can barely find our way out.”
Ethan nodded. “Okay,” he said.
“Okay. We followed her down this desolate beach road to a random lot with some tiny trailer on it. And in the trailer…” I paused for dramatic effect. “Was Leopard Man.”
Ethan didn’t look that impressed.
“Well?” I waited for a reaction.
“Well what?” Ethan asked.
“Did you hear me? The crazy lady met up with Leopard Man. Who’s our friend!”
Still nothing.
I leaned back, exasperated. “Does no one else see the problem with this?”
Ethan looked at Val, then back at me. “Didn’t you kind of already know that he knew her? Or at least suspect?”
“No! I thought she’d seen him on the street and was asking him for directions,” I said, but even as the words left my mouth I knew they weren’t true. Wishful thinking, maybe.
“There’s probably a good explanation, Maddie,” Ethan said. “One that you definitely weren’t going to find out skulking around in the dark.” His tone was affectionate, so I let it go, despite my instincts to defend myself. “Besides, you said she’s a regular to the island. I’m sure she knows a lot of people.”
I hadn’t really thought about it that way. It made me wonder if Grandpa did know her after all. Warning bells rang in my head as the thought drifted in. I thought back to the day she’d come to the cafe. They hadn’t seemed like they knew each other, but everyone seemed to be really good at keeping secrets lately, so what did I know?
I sniffed. “But still. It’s weird. And I want to know why. I feel like maybe it’s a conflict of interest or something. She’s nuts, and she definitely doesn’t have my best interests at heart. And he’s friends with us, so … he shouldn’t be harboring her. She’s like a fugitive!” I avoided invoking Grandpa’s name and wondered if anyone else might have noticed.
“Why is she a fugitive again?” Ethan asked.
I realized I hadn’t told them that part. I filled him in on the events of the day and Thea trying to break into Jason Holt’s hotel room. That raised his eyebrows.
“That’s kind of weird,” he said. Ethan, the king of understatement.
“Thank you.” Validated, I sat back.
“Are the cops really looking for her? She shouldn’t be that hard to find if she’s out driving around,” he said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know if she actually got into Holt’s room or if they found her and talked to her somewhere in between when Ellory threw me out and tonight when we followed her.”
“So what should we do?” Val asked, interrupting.
I looked at her. “I don’t think we can do anything right now. I think we need to find out more.”
Val rolled her eyes at me. “Clearly, you have to tell Grandpa. If they’re having a secret meeting, he should know about it. Especially if she’s, like, wanted or something.”
“No,” I said, so fast that they all looked at me a little strangely.
“Why the heck not?” Val asked.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I just told you. We need to figure some of this stuff out first. This is his friend. It’s different this time.”
“I still think you need to tell him. Look.” Val pushed her plate away. “That guy was sleeping here the other night when the police clearly wanted him for something. Questioning at the very least. I know Grandpa wouldn’t put us in danger, but he needs to know if this guy is up to something. I vote we tell Grandpa.”
“Tell Grandpa what?”