The Leaving Part 20

SANTA. BEARD.

Would they have tattoos?

CLICK CLICK.

And if so, the same as his or different?

It was finally starting to cool off, and the sun had s.h.i.+fted from blue to gray as evening sank in.

Maybe his brother was right not to trust him.

Maybe Avery was, too.

Why did he know how to load a gun?

Kristen and Scarlett were sitting beside each other on swings, not swinging.

"Hey." He approached.

"Hey." Scarlett stood; Kristen pushed off gently on her swing, setting herself in motion.

"I'm so sorry." Scarlett walked toward him and then stopped as if encountering an invisible force field. "About your father."

He nodded, wis.h.i.+ng she'd come all the way to him. "Thanks."

Kristen said, "Yeah, sorry about all that," sounding like she was already over it.

"It's hard to even know how to feel about it." He spoke to Scarlett as if Kristen weren't there. "On the one hand I barely knew him."

"You can't really be a suspect," Scarlett said. "They have to realize it was an accident. Right?"

"They will." He had to believe it, himself. Then, "How are things with you guys?"

He couldn't ignore Kristen the whole time.

"I'm okay," Scarlett said. Her black tank top showed off her figure in a way he found distracting.

SKIN. VALLEY. BONES. LIPS.

A memory?

A fantasy?

She said, "My mother is a crazy person who thinks aliens took us."

He'd seen a note about that in the RV and had hoped it wasn't actually true. At least not anymore, not now.

"My parents, who are amicably divorced, vote for pervert with a bas.e.m.e.nt prison," Kristen said. "Mother is pretty much treating me like a foreign exchange student from some war-torn, G.o.dforsaken country, which feels right, in a way?"

"That's a lot to have to deal with," Lucas said.

"I'll manage," Kristen said.

"That explains why your address didn't sound familiar," he said.

"Exactly."

"You guys don't remember Max, do you?" Lucas asked.

Scarlett shook her head; Kristen, too.

"And do either of you know anything about a man carrying wrapping paper? Being followed? Anything like that?"

"No, why?" Scarlett said.

"I said I was being followed the week before. I told my brother about it. I thought maybe if you'd been followed but hadn't told anyone . . . I don't know. I remember stuff from before . . .

WALKER. SUPERMAN. CUBBIES. READY OR NOT.

. . . so I thought you might."

Scarlett said, "I told my mother we were going 'to the leaving.'"

Lucas nodded. "Do you remember saying it?"

"I don't." She seemed irritated. "Why would I say that?"

"I don't know," he said. "Yet."

He pictured that scene-a young girl telling her mother she was going on a trip, to the leaving, while they were tucked in bed and reading books.

Kids say crazy things, silly things, weird things.

She probably hadn't thought anything of it until . . . after.

"You are getting sleepy." Kristen's voice was an octave deeper. "You are getting very sleepy. When I snap my fingers, you will remember."

Lucas didn't like the pattern of freckles on her nose.

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

"We'll get there." Lucas turned back to Scarlett. "We'll figure it out. We have to." He could practically feel the cool metal of the gun in his hands when he said, "Someone has to pay. For doing this to us."

"Can either of you think of what kind of clothes I used to wear?" Scarlett asked.

He looked at her, that tank top.

SOFT. WARM. KISS.

Blinked.

"Really?" Kristen pushed off on her swing harder and started to pump her legs. She was going too high. "That's your concern right now? Fas.h.i.+on?"

Scarlett looked down at her clothes. "I just don't feel like . . . well . . . me."

Lucas knew what she meant-she somehow didn't look like her-but there were more important things to be thinking about. He was about to say something-about guns, or weapons in general-to feel out Scarlett and Kristen, but then Kristen said, "Look who decided to grace us with her presence."

Sarah seemed smaller somehow; she had expensive-looking clothes on.

"Hey," Lucas said.

"Hey," she said.

"Now we just have to wait for Adam," he said.

"He's not coming." Sarah shook her head. "I shouldn't even be here. I just. I just wanted to see you all."

"I guess we're lucky you had some time between interviews," Kristen said.

"Adam's parents pushed for that. I think it'll die down. I don't know. One of you obviously talked, too. Max's sister was on the news right before I left and said something about a carousel?"

HOW CAN YOU FORGET A PERSON ?.

STONES OF OPUS 6 REFLECTED IN AVERY'S EYES.

Why would she do that? How could he have been so dumb?

Don't trust people who don't trust you.

"That was me," Lucas said.

Scarlett sounded genuinely confused. "When did you talk to Max's sister?"

"She came to the house. Looking for help. It just slipped. Do any of you remember a carousel by the beach?"

They all shook their heads.

He waited for the dizziness to come back, but it didn't.

Scarlett said, "I remember riding in a hot air balloon."

Kristen said, "Horseback riding in a meadow."

Sarah said, "Playing with a puppy."

"What about Adam?" Lucas asked.

"A roller coaster ride," Sarah said. "He thinks they're just hallucinations we had. But I don't know. I feel like I can picture this gray house. An old-looking gray house. Adam says I shouldn't say anything to anybody. I wanted to know if any of you remember that? Like charcoal gray?"

Lucas didn't. Neither did the others.