Again, strong morning sun shone through the sliding door, heating my room and waking me up. I had slept later than usual, and my arm had an awful, sore, stinging feeling. It hurt even more when I sat up and tried to pull my T-shirt on. Brownish blood had seeped through the bandage, making it stick to my arm. I tried pulling the bandage off, but it hurt so bad my eyes watered. So I just left it.
I went out on the back porch to look at the ocean, and below I saw a red fox trot by on dainty feet, its bushy tail hanging low. Before I could call Diana to come see, it skulked through the grasses on the dune, until it wove through a few stalks and disappeared like fog.
I usually slept later than Diana, so I was surprised when I peeked into her room and saw her still sleeping. One sandy foot stuck out from under the covers along the side of the bed. Then the thought popped into my head like a newspaper headline: Diana snuck out last night.
I could hear Daddy and Lynn downstairs talking, and I stood and listened for a minute at the top of the stairs before going down.
“He’s a very handsome boy, and he seems bright,” Lynn said. “It’s no wonder Stephanie is fascinated by him. He’s different from most of the boys she knows.”
“Stephanie is too young to have anything to do with boys,” Daddy said with sudden force.
“Oh, I agree. But you can’t stop her from being interested,” Lynn said. “Once it happens, it just happens.”
“I can keep her away from them.”
“No, you can’t, Norm! There are boys in her school, on the teams she cheers for … Boys are everywhere! Are you going to keep her prisoner in a castle turret like Rapunzel?”
“Yes!” said Daddy, laughing. “I think Rapunzel’s dad had the right idea!”
“Right!” Lynn said, with a soft chuckle. “And I’m sure Rapunzel and her dad had a wonderful relationship.”
“Who cares about our relationship as long as she’s safe?” Daddy said.
“Oh, Norm, you don’t mean that.”
“No, you’re right, I don’t,” he said.
“Besides, honey, as hard as you might try, you can’t protect her from a broken heart,” Lynn said. “She’s already been through your divorce and our marriage, and that will make a girl wise beyond her years.”
I waited a few heartbeats and then walked downstairs rubbing my eyes like I’d just gotten up. “Morning,” I said.
“Morning, sweet pea!” Daddy said a bit too enthusiastically. He stood and gave me a hug. “Did you sleep well?”
“Mmm-hmmm.”
“How’s your arm?” Lynn asked.
“It stings, and the bandage is stuck.”
“I can take care of that.” Lynn sat me at the counter while she got the first-aid kit. With a quick practiced swipe, she yanked off the bandage.
“OW!” My eyes watered.
“It’s easier if you do it quickly,” she said, holding my arm gently in her confident hands. She cleaned off the dried blood with warm, soapy water. “It looks better today.”
The wound felt tender and raw, and tiny pinpricks of fresh, bright red blood appeared. I felt more secure as Lynn placed a new, smaller bandage over it. “By tomorrow, we should be able to leave it open to the air.” She patted my arm. “I can’t believe Diana is sleeping so late. That’s unusual for her.”
“I know,” I said vaguely. “Weird.”
“Somebody needs to wake her up. We’ve got a lot to do today,” Daddy said. “I’ve been checking out the websites for both the aquarium and the Wright Brothers Memorial.”
“Stephanie, do you mind running over to the Clarks’ and seeing if leaving around ten will work for Cody?” asked Lynn. “That will give us time to get Diana up and get some breakfast.”
“S-sure.” I would have liked a chance to comb my hair before going over there, in case I saw Cody, but after overhearing Daddy’s conversation with Lynn about me and boys, I thought it would be better if I acted like it didn’t matter, so I skimmed down the front steps and headed across the packed sand to the yellow house. I passed the ATV in their driveway and quickly combed my hair with my fingers before knocking on the doorjamb.
I’d been hoping Cody would come to the door, but it was Mrs. Clark.
“Hi!” She smiled. Her brown eyes were warm and friendly. The aroma of pancakes wafted from inside the house. Mrs. Clark said she was making sea cookies, one of Cody’s favorites. I asked her if ten o’clock was a good time for Cody to head over to go to the aquarium, and she said yes. I tried not to crane my neck to see if Cody was anywhere in the room behind her.
“I’ve got to get Cody up,” she said with a conspiratorial smile. “He’s usually an early riser, but for some reason this morning he’s sleeping in.”
That was funny. Cody and Diana both sleeping in this morning.
“Okay, see you in a bit!” I said, without commenting or letting my expression change, and turned to run back across to our house.
And just then, a police car pulled into the sand-packed driveway. An officer got out, slamming the door, and stepped up onto the front porch.
I stood rooted to the porch. What’s going on?
“Can I help you, sir?” asked Mrs. Clark, wiping flour off her hands.
The officer stepped forward to shake Mrs. Clark’s hand. “Morning, ma’am. Sergeant Lloyd Stone. How are you this morning?”
“Fine,” said Mrs. Clark warily. “Is there a problem, sir?”
“A horse was hit on the beach late last night by somebody driving an ATV.” The sergeant was stocky and muscular, with almost no hair, and carried a shiny black gun. “I’d like to take a look at this ATV.” He stepped back into the yard and circled the ATV, with his arms crossed, looking real carefully at the tires and body. Then he snapped a few pictures of the ATV using a camera with a long lens.
“Well, that’s impossible,” said Mrs. Clark. “No one was driving this ATV last night. I’m quite sure.”
“I’d like to ask you and your family members some questions, if you don’t mind.”
Mrs. Clark knitted her brow. “Well … I would never let Cody drive the ATV at night. And everyone in our house was in bed by midnight last night.”
“Someone called 911 from a cell phone in the wee hours of the morning to report an injured horse but hung up before identifying themselves.” The sergeant gave a cell-phone number and said it was registered by Malia Clark. “Is that you?”
Mrs. Clark put her hand over her mouth. “That’s Cody’s phone. So, you’re saying he was out on the beach last night and made a call to 911?”
What? Cody called 911 last night?
“I’m saying that phone was used to call 911. I’d like to speak with Cody, please.”
Mrs. Clark glanced at me, and her face had turned pale. “Stephanie, maybe you should go home. Please tell your parents that the earliest Cody can make it today will be ten–thirty, and he may not be able to make it at all.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I started across the sand, warm now beneath my bare feet.
“Wait, we’d rather you didn’t leave, young lady,” said the sergeant. “Were you out on the beach with that young man last night?”
“No, sir,” I said, in sudden shock. A roaring started in my head.
“You’re sure about that? The voice on the recorded 911 call was female and sounded about your age.” The sergeant loomed closer to me now, taking off his sunglasses and squinting at me thoughtfully in the bright sun.
“I’m sure,” I said in what I know was a scared voice.
What happened last night? Did someone use Cody’s phone to call? Was Cody out on the beach? Was he with Diana? Did they hit a horse with the ATV?
“Where are you staying, young lady?”
I pointed at our house. “Over there.” The blood had gone to my head, and I kind of felt like I was going to faint.
“And how do you know this young man?” The sergeant leaned against the car, patiently, holding the camera.
“We met on the beach, that’s all. We just started talking, and he offered me a ride on the ATV.”
“You realize that in this county you have to be sixteen to ride an ATV? Are you sixteen?”
My mouth dropped open. “No, sir. I don’t think Cody knew that either.”
“What happened to your arm?”
I cupped my other hand over the bandage. “I scraped it when I fell off the ATV yesterday afternoon.”
“Some people I’ve interviewed did say that they saw some young people driving an ATV behind the dunes in a somewhat reckless manner yesterday afternoon. Was that you and Cody?”
Someone told the police that they saw Cody and Diana and me on the path when we fell off the ATV?
“Well,” Mrs. Clark glanced at me. “That was purely an accident, and this young lady can certainly assure you of that, can’t you, Stephanie?”
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. It was an accident. Cody was really sorry.”
The sergeant regarded me with his narrow eyes. “All right. You go on home, but I’d like you and your family to stay put so we can ask you some questions in a few minutes.”
I looked back at Mrs. Clark, and she gave me a nod.
“And now I’d like to speak with Cody,” said Sergeant Stone to Mrs. Clark.
“Just a moment, I’ll get him,” she said. “I’m sure this is all a big misunderstanding, and we’ll be able to straighten it out very easily. I know Cody didn’t hit any horse.” She turned to go back inside. I started running back to our house, my heart beating all out of time.
As I was running, my brain was whirling like crazy trying to figure everything out. Had Diana snuck out last night and somehow ended up hanging out with Cody? I just couldn’t believe it, since Diana had said more than once that she didn’t even like him. And she knew how I felt about him! So why would she do that?
And if they’d been riding the ATV on the beach last night, it seems like we would have heard them.
I turned around and looked at Cody’s house just in time to see Mrs. Clark go inside with the sergeant. And he was going to be over here soon, as soon as he talked to Cody. And what would Cody say to him?
A hot breeze blew, whistling around me, stirring up the sand and whipping the sea grass. My hair stung as it blew into my eyes, and I raked it away.
I slowed to a walk as I got to the yard at our house. The more I thought about it, the madder I got at Diana. How could she have sneaked out with Cody? And when had they planned it?
She was so tough to get along with, and I had tried so hard. I’d gone along with what she wanted to do last summer and gotten into trouble with the wolves. I’d tried to be loving toward her, and now look!
I went inside and quietly closed the front door. Daddy and Lynn were in the great room, facing the ocean, and wouldn’t have seen the sheriff’s car unless they came to the front door and opened it.
“There you are!” Lynn immediately began cracking eggs into a bowl.
“Stephanie, what took you so long?” Daddy said, looking up from his computer.
Diana was sitting at the counter, eating cereal, in that old, faded Heineken T-shirt of her dad’s.
“Sorry.” I stared at Diana, willing her to meet my eyes, but she was either paying no attention or purposely avoiding looking at me. In that very second, I was almost sure: she had sneaked out with Cody, and she was trying to keep it a secret from me.
Well, I wasn’t going to keep her secret.
“A policeman is over at the Clark’s house,” I said in a really calm voice. “A horse was hit on the beach late last night by an ATV, and he thinks Cody did it.”
“What?” Lynn, who was stirring eggs, stopped. Daddy stared at me. Diana, though, just kept eating, which completely convinced me.
“And the person who called 911 from Cody’s cell phone was a girl.”
Now, like a shot, Diana looked up at me, holding her spoon in midair. Her mouth was open and her eyes burned into mine.