ON THE FERRY RIDE FROM the island to Weymouth they all sat together like the old days, a circle of friends, spread haphazardly around a big part of the upper deck.
Still, Nina realized, things had changed. In the old days she would have been the extra tagalong. She and sometimes Aisha, back before she’d met Christopher. Zoey would have been with Jake, Claire with Benjamin, Lucas . . . well, Lucas would still have been in the Youth Authority. And Nina would have come along as a sort of portable class clown to make jokes and then later to disappear when the couples started making out.
She slipped her left hand into the pocket of Benjamin’s jacket. He smiled. She smiled too, foolishly. He found her hand and entwined his fingers with hers. They sat there, some distance apart from the rest, listening to the others talk, Nina stealing secret glances at Benjamin and wishing they weren’t with the group because she very, very badly wanted to kiss him.
“We could kind of slip away downstairs,” Benjamin whispered.
Nina’s smile widened. Evidently Benjamin was thinking along her same lines. Was it true that people in love could read each other’s minds? “What would we do down there?”
He shrugged. “Discuss the situation in the Middle East?”
“I’d like that,” Nina said huskily. “You know how much I enjoy international relations.”
“I guess the others would think it was tacky,” Benjamin said, deeply regretful. “It’s getting harder and harder being around you.”
“Oh, really?” Nina snickered.
Benjamin laughed. “You know what I mean,” he whispered. “Stop that,” he chided sternly when she kept giggling. “You know perfectly well what I meant was that it’s hard being with you and trying to act in a decent, civilized way when what I really want to do is pretty much just make out constantly.”
“Me too,” Nina said.
“Yeah.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Hmmm.” A sigh.
“The moon came out, by the way,” Nina reported, tilting her head back. “It’s about half full, shining in a circle with clouds all around. If you want to know precisely what kind of clouds, you’ll have to ask Claire.”
“I don’t need to know that badly.”
“Good answer,” Nina said. It confirmed for her the confidence she’d expressed to Claire. Benjamin was over Claire. Really and truly.
“You look beautiful in the moonlight,” Benjamin said. “I mean, as I imagine you. The breeze lifting the ends of your hair, your eyes deep in shadow, mysterious but with the light from the stars and the moon reflected there, your lips—”
Nina cleared her throat. “Claire and Zoey and Aisha would think we were being disgusting if we went downstairs and made out.”
“Yes. All that stuff is supposed to come at the end of the date. I mean, if all we do on a date is kiss and so on we might as well have stayed home.”
“You’re right. Let’s swim back right now.”
Benjamin shook his head. “Actually, I have kind of a plan for tonight, if you don’t mind.”
“A plan?”
“Just a little side trip before we hit the party. It’s not exactly a date-type thing. More like a detective-type thing.”
“Oooh. Cool. Then afterward?” Nina asked.
“After the detective part comes the romance part. That’s how it works.”
“And . . . and of course the romance part, that will be the hard part.” Nina began giggling again. “I tried not to say it, but I couldn’t stop myself.”
“I’m very shocked, Nina, really. You are so immature and childish,” Benjamin said. “And if I don’t get to kiss you within about eight seconds, I may die.”
“Downstairs. You go first. I’ll follow in a minute so it will look casual.”
Zoey huddled deeper down in the neck of her sweater and drew her hands up into the sleeves of her coat. It was freezing on the ferry, and her behind was numb from contact with the metal bench. Lucas, Jake, and Christopher were talking about cars, and had been ever since Christopher had revealed his new pride and joy, a car that was frightening even by island standards.
She and Claire were studiously avoiding any conversation at all. Naturally, Claire hadn’t apologized for her extraordinary outburst on the stairs Friday, because Claire had almost never been known to apologize for anything. Which left talking only to Aisha, and Aisha was in some kind of waking dream state, humming to herself and occasionally sighing and saying things like “Wow, it’s such a beautiful night.”
“It’s mostly just about horsepower,” Jake said.
“I’m just saying with the Viper you’ve got the horsepower, sure, but that’s not the only important thing,” Lucas said.
“I’d still rather have a ’Vette,” Christopher said.
Claire was looking morose, Zoey observed. She was paying no attention to the guys and instead just focused on some indefinite point in midair. Like she was a million miles away.
She wasn’t even paying attention to Nina and Benjamin, who were sitting a little distance away and periodically erupting in giggles.
Zoey couldn’t believe how happy Benjamin seemed. How could he? Was he immune to all that was happening to their own family? It almost made her angry; in fact, it did annoy her. It wasn’t right. There should be a period of mourning for the death of their family.
“Zero to sixty in less than four seconds,” Lucas said.
“That’s like you’re standing still and then one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand, and boom, you’re doing sixty,” Christopher offered.
“That would be so excellent,” Jake opined.
Zoey noticed that Claire had focused on Nina and Benjamin. There was a bemused expression on her face that gave way slowly to an expression of sadness.
Nina had evidently made some joke, because now Benjamin was laughing, and Zoey bridled at the laughter. How could Benjamin be so cold about what was happening to their parents? To their family? He’d been affected by the spectacle of their father weeping yesterday, but he’d shaken it off in a way that Zoey could not.
Benjamin got up and made his way toward the stairs. Nina fidgeted in a bad parody of indifference for all of about five seconds, then sprang up and went after him.
Claire rolled her eyes and happened to meet Zoey’s gaze.
“That was subtle,” Claire said dryly.
Zoey managed a weak smile of acknowledgment.
“True love,” Claire said with profound sarcasm. “Can’t beat it.” She looked at Jake, who was entirely engaged with Lucas and Christopher, then looked away again with the sad expression Zoey had noticed earlier.
Zoey looked at Lucas. It hadn’t been long since she and Lucas were as nauseating as Benjamin and Nina were now. What had happened to change that?
He had wanted to push their relationship further than she’d been willing to go. That had been the start of it. But she was to blame, too. For neglecting him while she’d become preoccupied with the drama of her parents. He’d asked her—had it only been a couple of days ago?—when she’d spent a sleepless night, still reeling from the worst of the blowup between her parents, whether she still loved him. And she’d said she didn’t know.
Yes, there was blame enough to go around. She slipped her cold hand over his. He turned away from Jake and looked at her in surprise. She smiled. He squeezed her hand.
At that moment Jake fell silent. His eyes met Zoey’s and Zoey looked away. Claire turned sharply to look out at the dark sea. And floating up from the lower deck came a pearly laugh, suddenly smothered, then renewed an octave lower and quieted again.
“What are we looking at?” Benjamin asked.
“We are looking at a four-story building, Benjamin. Red brick, to be precise. On the bottom floor is a musical instrument shop called Strings. Also a little restaurant or coffee shop or something called Downtown Deli,” Nina said.
“I’m guessing it’s a delicatessen, then.”
“I said it was a restaurant, Benjamin,” Nina said. “Don’t get all technical on me when you haven’t even told me what we’re doing here.”
She watched his mysterious smile grow wider. He’d been acting strange ever since they’d gotten off the ferry and left the others behind. “We are in search of lost sisters,” he said.
“Zoey? She’s down at . . . Oh. Really?”
He nodded. “I was able to find out her address. This is the place, unless you’re playing tricks on me and we’re actually standing outside a McDonald’s. 729 Independence, apartment 402. She must live on the top floor.”
Nina looked up at the highest row of windows. “Four, five, six windows. Two have lights on.”
“You see an entrance anywhere?”
Nina looked around. “Maybe it’s around the back. No, wait, there it is. It’s just a little dark, so I didn’t see it at first.”
“We need a story,” Benjamin said. He stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“What kind of a story?”
“A story for why we’re wandering around in this apartment building, in case anyone sees us.”
“We don’t want to just tell people the truth?”
Benjamin pushed his shades back up on his nose. “Not yet. I want to spy out the situation first.”
“Cool. I’ve never spied before,” Nina said. “It adds an edge of excitement to my life.”
“Mmmm. We say we’re looking for Barney and Betty.”
“Who are Barney and Betty?”
“You know, the Rubbles. They live next door to Fred and Wilma. But we say they live at 739 Independence. Seven three nine. That way, if anyone questions us they’ll just go, ‘hey, you’re in the wrong building, this is seven two nine.’”
“Barney and Betty. Cool. Now what?”
“Now we go in. You lead the way.”
Nina guided his hand to her arm. “You know what we could do, if anyone asks us what we’re doing. I could pretend to be blind, too. Then they’d say ‘no wonder you’re lost, it’s a case of the—”
“‘—blind leading the blind.’ Uh-huh.”
Nina led him up to the doorway and gave Benjamin a dirty look, which, naturally, was lost on him. “You know how long I’ve waited to be able to use that line? The blind leading the blind. For years I’ve waited for the right setup.” She tried the door and it opened. Inside, a stairwell leading straight up. “Stairs.”
They climbed carefully. “Okay, we’re on the second floor. Swing around right and we have another flight.”
“What’s it like in here? Smells like someone’s been cooking with curry. I hate curry.”
“What’s curry taste like?”
“Like curry, Betty,” Benjamin said.
“Very funny, Barney. Okay, swing right again and we have still more stairs.”
“Someone’s coming,” Benjamin hissed. “I just heard a door open up on the next floor. Run up ahead and see if you can tell which door. I’m going back down to the second floor.”
Nina raced up the rest of the stairs and craned her neck around the corner. A guy and a girl were just coming out of one of the apartment doors. The guy was cute in a scruffy garage-band kind of way. He had major Patrick Stump hair. Nina’s first thought on seeing the girl was that she looked familiar. Probably she’d seen her around on the streets. Nina went past this area twice a day on school days.
The girl spotted her. “Looking for something?” she asked, sounding a bit belligerent.
“Um, yeah. The uh, um, Fred and Barney. I mean, Barney and what’s her name. Wilma. Betty. Barney and Betty.”
“Not on this floor,” the guy said sarcastically. “Try Bedrock.”
He and the girl brushed past. “Yeah, Bedrock, ha ha,” Nina said. “They hear that all the time.”
The couple disappeared down the stairs. Nina ran over to the apartment they’d just left. 402. So, it was Benjamin and Zoey’s half-sister. Unless Benjamin had the wrong apartment. Or unless these were people who’d been visiting the people who actually lived in the apartment.
She waited till the couple was down the stairs, then ran after them. She found Benjamin at the far end of the second-story hallway, pretending to examine a fire extinguisher.
“Hey, it’s them,” Nina announced breathlessly. “At least I think it is.”
“Where are they now?”
“Should be down to the street by now,” Nina said.
Benjamin grinned. “Then the game’s afoot!”
“A foot?”
“The game’s afoot! Haven’t you ever read Sherlock Holmes? Whenever something major’s happening, Sherlock says it to Dr. Watson and off they go.”
“The game’s afoot!” Nina repeated.
“Except I’m Sherlock. So I get to say it. Let’s go before they get away.”
Nina led him quickly down the stairs and they burst out onto the street. Nina looked left and right, then spotted the couple walking away at an easy pace, arm in arm. “They’re heading downtown, back toward Portside. Maybe half a block ahead of us.”
“Okay, we follow. But try and be cool about it. Don’t let us get too close.”
“No prob, Sherlock.” Fortunately, the Saturday night street traffic was fairly heavy, with the pedestrians growing thicker as they got closer to the fashionable Portside district.
“What does she look like?” Benjamin asked.
“I just saw her for a few seconds,” Nina said. “Brown hair.”
“I have brown hair,” Benjamin said thoughtfully.
“No, you don’t, you have blond hair,” Nina said, lying automatically.
Benjamin sighed patiently.
“Okay, she has brown hair, a little lighter than yours. Lots of it, kind of a trashy, puffed-up do. Blue eyes, I think.”
“Zoey has blue eyes,” Benjamin observed thoughtfully.
“She’s tallish. Dresses kind of bar-slutty, no offense if she is your half-sister. I’m seeing a very short mini and cowboy boots.”
“You don’t approve?”
“A mini with boots? Please. It’s a major fashion don’t. I think I read it in Glamour. Oops. They’re stopping to look in a window. Here, sit.” She pulled him down beside her on a wooden bench. “Look innocent. I have an idea.” She grabbed his face and kissed him.
“That’s how you look innocent?” he asked wryly.
“There they go. Up. Darn, I can’t really see them now in the crowd.”
“Damn.”
“I’ll continue leading you in the same direction they were going in,” Nina said carefully. “But since I can’t really see them . . . it’s almost a case of the blind leading the blind. Ha!”
“Are you happy now?”
“Ha!”