Hey, cuz!” Mace was smiling like we were best friends instead of I don’t know what. “Sorry about being—What’s on your face? Never mind. Listen, Aunt Joan said to look for her as soon as we get to the train station, so we better hurry, okay?”
Not only was Trip the only person I wanted to see right now, but Mace was also the last person I would ever want to have by my side when I was looking for my Maybe No Longer Dead Mama.
Mace mouthed, Answer me.
“Huh?” I said.
“You two are cousins?” The cabdriver was studying us in the rearview mirror. “You two…”
There was a second of silence.
Mace crossed her arms and smiled at the cabdriver. “Oh, she’s adopted.”
“Wha—” I started to say, but Mace shoved me in the ribs.
She went on. “We’re meeting our aunt Joan at the station, and then we’re all going into the city to a big family reunion. It’s going to be great. Right, cuz?”
I tried again. “Aunt Jo—”
“Now, that’s nice,” said the cabbie, pulling out into the road. “Though I went to one of them family reunions once. Didn’t care for it—I’ll tell you why. My second cousin from my pop’s side married this no-good stinking lunatic—a real loon, I tell ya—and this nutjob thinks since he’s married into the family, he’s got a right to my great-great-grandpop’s wooden leg. Figured he could turn it into a lamp or somethin’.…” As the cabdriver yakked on, Mace just kept looking straight ahead.
I turned away from her and stared out the window into the black night.
Where was Trip?
Why was Mace here?
It was like being handed the worst Mystery Basket in the history of Mystery Baskets. And, just like on the TV show, I had no choice. I had to see what I could make of it. But if Mace thought I wasn’t going to come down hard on her the second we got out of that cab, she was wrong. She was dead wrong.