“I don’t get reception at the barn. You know that. What’s up?”
Mark stepped forward. “I can’t find Cissy. She was supposed to be at the house all day. Win and I were on our way to Seattle, but the Bainbridge ferry was a mess so we turned around. When I got home, the front door was standing open and Cissy was gone.”
“You’ve tried her cell?”
“Of course,” Winona said. “She’s not answering. And we found this in her room.” She held out her hand. In her palm lay a strip of photo-booth pictures. In it, Noah and Cissy were smiling, laughing, kissing. “It explains why my dock is still covered in bird shit. They’ve been together all summer. Unsupervised.”
Mark looked like he was going to be sick.
“Let’s not assume the worst,” Aurora said, and Vivi Ann could have kissed her sister for her sensible voice. “We’ll find them. That’s the first thing. Then you can get to the bottom of how far they’ve gone.”
“Where should we look?” Winona asked.
“I used to take girls to the beach park at night,” Mark said. “There was that tree swing at the far end. And the logging road out by Larsen’s Turnoff.”
“Perfect,” Aurora said. “I’ll check out the far side of the fair-grounds, especially behind the grandstands.”
“I’ll ask around the midway, check the empty horse barns, and go home,” Vivi Ann said. Flipping open her phone, she called Noah’s cell and got no answer. She left an urgent message, then did the same thing on the home number.
“I’ll help Vivi Ann,” Winona said to Mark. “My sisters are right. We’re panicking over nothing. Chances are they’re at the fair.”
Mark didn’t look convinced, but to his credit, he nodded and gave out his cell number.
“We’ll meet back at your house in an hour,” Winona said.
At that, they dispersed in different directions.
Winona and Vivi Ann hurried down the busy midway, looking everywhere, calling out for Noah and Cissy. When they’d covered every game and ride and food booth, they separated and did it again.
“This is impossible,” Winona said. “They could be anywhere. Hell, we used to hide from Mom and Dad when they came looking for us at the fair, remember? All we had to do was see them coming and duck into the shadows. What if they’re doing that?”
“It makes sense, especially since they didn’t want us to know they were together.”
“Should we just go home and wait for them?”
Vivi Ann thought about that. “Why don’t you go to my house? Make sure they aren’t there and see if Noah left a note? I’ll make one more run through here. I’ll be a little quieter, though.”
“Okay.”
After that, Vivi Ann combed the midway and the empty horse barns but found no trace of the kids. Finally, she climbed in her truck and drove home.
Winona was waiting for her on the porch.
Vivi Ann knew instantly that this news was not going to be good. “What did you find?”
Winona held out a brochure. “It’s a bus schedule. In the corner Noah has written, Cissy/1:00.”
“Which bus leaves at one?”
“There’s no way to know. The Mason County transit system hooks up with Kitsap and Jefferson. From Belfair, they can go almost anywhere.”
Vivi Ann ran into Noah’s room and went through his closet and drawers. “All his stuff is still here.”
“Thank God,” Winona said. “That means they’re coming back.” She flipped open her phone and called Mark with the news. “He’s not happy,” she said when she hung up.
Vivi Ann felt seared by disappointment. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m not happy, either.”
“Let’s be logical. We’re pretty sure they’re together and that they took a bus somewhere. They must have planned to be home before us, and Mark told Cissy he’d be home at nine. There’s a bus stop about one hundred yards from my beach house, but how would Noah get home? Would he hitchhike?”