Carolina Isle (Edenton 2)

“Thought you might need these,” Gideon said, holding up two flannel shirts, a man’s large and a woman’s small.

“We did good?” the little boy asked.

Sara swooped him into her arms and hugged him. “You did brilliantly. Wonderful. Fabulous.” She buried her face in his neck and blew raspberries until he was screaming with laughter.

“Me! Me!” the girl yelled as Sara put the boy down and grabbed her. She raspberried and tickled the child until she too was squealing.

When she set the girl down, Sara turned to Gideon. “What are their names?”

“Beatrice and Bertie.”

“Not what I’d call Nezbit names,” Sara said.

“Yeah,” Gideon said, “I’ve wondered if they’re their real names.”

“Knowing would make it easier to find their parents.”

R.J. was going through the items in the wagon and shoving them into two nylon backpacks.

“Want to go with us?” Sara asked Gideon.

“I’m sure he has other things to do,” R.J. said quickly, letting Sara know that he wanted the two of them to go alone. “But maybe you could draw us a map.”

“Sure,” Gideon said, though Sara thought he was disappointed at not being asked to go. As he and R.J. went into the cabin, the twins behind them, Sara looked at Gideon’s strong, young back and thought how much somebody somewhere had lost in not seeing him grow up.

Bending, she rearranged the contents of the two backpacks, then pulled on a pair of socks and laced up the heavy boots. Holding Ariel’s pretty sandals on her fingertips, she wondered how her cousin was doing. What had she thought when she awoke this morning and found a note from R.J.? What had the note said? Had it been nice, or had it been R.J.’s usual brusque style? You two are worthless so Johnson and I are going on without you. Have a nice day. R.J.

Sara hadn’t had time to think about anything since she awoke on a cold, hard cushion this morning, but she’d been glad to hear that David and Ariel hadn’t stayed cowering in Phyllis’s house, scared and trembling. Instead, Ariel had found a way to earn money.

“And hear gossip,” Sara said, standing up straight. R.J. had left them two hundred dollars, the money he always kept in his shoes. There was no need for Ariel to get a job, but she had. And not just any job. Ariel had set herself up as the person who every woman in town would want to visit. And talk to.

Sara looked up at the cabin and saw R.J. and Gideon inside, standing by the window and talking. From the arm gestures, R.J. was getting directions to the top of the center of the island. And what did he expect to find up there? A motive for murder? A reason that the people on this island didn’t want them to be here? Sara agreed with R.J. that it was more likely that they’d been accused of a false crime to keep them away from King’s Isle, not to make them like it. Even if the murder hadn’t happened, even if on Monday the judge said the dog case was ridiculous and threw it out, they’d still never want to return to the island.

If she was sure that whoever was doing this only wanted to make them go away and never return, Sara would want to return to Phyllis’s house and wait it out. But she wasn’t sure what was going on. Young Gideon was the only person who would talk to them, so it wasn’t as though they could go around town asking questions.

Like Ariel can, Sara thought, smiling.

R.J. came onto the porch and looked at her in question. Why was she smiling? She made a little gesture meant to say that she’d tell him later.

“I could leave the twins with Effie and the girls,” Gideon was saying. “They won’t like it, but I could do it.”

“No,” R.J. said. “We can do this by ourselves. Both Sara and I’ve had some experience climbing, so we’ll be fine.”

Sara’s eyes widened. Experience climbing? Did that include getting on and off the Fifth Avenue bus? Turning away so Gideon wouldn’t see her face, Sara slipped the lighter backpack on and tied the flannel shirt around her waist.

“You look funny,” Beatrice said.

“I feel funny.”

“Will you come back?”

“I certainly hope so,” Sara said, adjusting the straps to fit her height.

“Sometimes they don’t,” Bertie said.

“Great,” Sara said. “Thanks for telling me that. Would you guys mind not telling anyone about us?”

“We never tell what Gideon does. He has lots and lots of secrets, but we never tell them.”