She turned back around toward the parking lot with every intention of heading straight to the cabin and then home to New Jersey. She’d return to work in the morning and beg Rose to cut her a break. She had only missed a couple of days. She was sure she could make it up to her.

But then she noticed a woman sitting on the hood of a car. Although her face was hidden in the shadows, Jo recognized her. She recognized the slumped shoulders, the bowed head. In that moment Jo knew she wasn’t going anywhere. She would stay until Sara was found. She would stay because she owed it to Billy to see this through.

“Do you mind if I join you?” she asked, and climbed onto the hood without waiting for a reply.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Caroline was hiding in her bedroom. Her hands were clasped behind her head, and she was staring at the ceiling. On occasion, in-between the chattering of Gram and the woman next door, the one with the two young boys, the sound of a plucked chord from her father’s guitar drifted into the room. Caroline wondered if the neighbor woman had brought her boys to the beach that day. She had heard people had been swimming and enjoying themselves even though Sara had not been found. Some of the newcomers even rented fishing boats.

It didn’t seem right. She wondered if it was her fault. If she hadn’t let the snappers go, the lake might’ve been off-limits while the fishermen searched. For the first time she felt a pinch of guilt and questioned whether she had done the right thing. Gram thought she did, although that was before Heil reopened the beach, the lake, and convinced people things were back to normal and life moved on.

She thought of Gram, how she protected Caroline’s secret and chased Sheriff Borg away by faking a heart attack. Caroline smiled with the knowledge that she now had two secrets she kept from her mother. Why should she tell her mother the truth about the turtles or Gram when her mother had never shared anything close to the truth with her?

She rolled onto her side. Her stomach growled. She wanted to get up and find something to eat, but she wasn’t in the mood for adults and their stupid small talk. She wished the neighbor woman would leave. She wanted to talk to her father about Billy. She believed her father would at least answer her questions. Wouldn’t he?

There was a light rapping at her window. She jumped up, thinking it was Adam. Maybe he had news from the lake. She pushed the window all the way up where it had been opened only a crack. She found Megan on the other side.

“Where have you been all day?” Megan asked. “Can you come out?”

She could, but she didn’t want to. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, I’ll come in. Should I use the door so your parents know I’m here?”

“Don’t bother.” Caroline pulled the screen out.

Megan climbed through the window and grabbed Caroline’s hands. “I have news.” Her face was shiny and flushed. Her neck looked burnt and her scalp red. She had been out in the sun too long, tanning. Caroline felt a pang of envy. She was sporting a farmer’s tan. She hadn’t been in her bathing suit in four days.

“Did they find Sara?” she asked.

Megan furrowed her brow. “What? No, not that kind of news. This is better.” She squeezed Caroline’s hands and shook her arms wildly. “I have a boyfriend.”

Now it was Caroline’s turn to furrow her brow. This was the better news? Really? “Who is it?”

“Jeff.” Megan smiled and batted her eyes, the lids covered in the same blue paint. “We sat on the pier together at the beach today.”

“Wait, you went swimming?”

“Not exactly,” Megan said, and shrugged. “It’s a little weird going in the water knowing, you know, what’s in there.”

“A little weird? God, Megan, it’s way worse than that.”

“I know, I know.” She pretended to inspect her pink fingernails. “But my folks say there’s a good chance they’ll never find the little girl now anyway. And what are we supposed to do? Melt in the hot sun all summer long?”

Caroline didn’t have an answer.

“Anyway, what do you think of Jeff and me? Don’t we make an awesome couple? His eyes are, like, the deepest brown. Oh, and wait until you hear the best part.” She clutched Caroline’s arm. “He held my hand. I swear, he did it for, like, a couple minutes. And you know what comes next, don’t you? He’s going to kiss me.”

“Do you want him to kiss you?” Caroline pulled a face.

“Caroline! Of course I do.”

“But you don’t even know him.”

“I know he’s cute.” Megan picked up Caroline’s pillow and turned it over. “Have you ever practiced kissing?”

“No.” She yanked her pillow from Megan’s hands. “And you’re not going to practice on my pillow. I sleep on that. Gross.”

Megan rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a baby.”

“I’m not being a baby.” She hugged the pillow close to her chest.

They sat quietly, the silence becoming uncomfortable. Caroline tried to think of something they could talk about, something other than boys or Sara. What did they do other summers when things weren’t strange and difficult?

“Want to play cards?” Caroline asked. They used to play cards, eat popcorn, and watch old movies with Gram. Maybe by doing the things they used to do, they’d stop talking about boys and kissing, she’d get her old friend back, and things would return to semi-normal.

“I don’t think so. Do you want me to paint your nails? I brought some polish with me.” Megan pulled a small bottle of pink nail polish from her shorts pocket.

Caroline shook her head.

“Do you have any magazines? Teen Vogue?” Megan asked.

She shook her head.

They were quiet again until Megan stood and said, “Well, I guess I’ll get going.” Before she crawled out the window, she turned to look at Caroline. “I’m meeting Jeff at the Pavilion tomorrow. You can hang out with us if you want to. Or not. It’s totally up to you.”

She found herself saying, “Yeah, okay.” Or rather, whatever.

*   *   *

Once Megan had gone, Caroline no longer heard voices in the kitchen. She found her father sitting alone at the table. The guitar was in his lap. He was smoking another cigarette. His brown wavy hair looked messy, as though he had raked it with his fingers more than once.

“Where’s Gram?” she asked.

“She went to lie down.” He turned a guitar pick over in his hand.

She opened the refrigerator and stared at its contents, not finding much of anything other than old sandwiches. Normally, the shelves would’ve been stocked with leftovers from dinner: meatloaf, baked beans, potato salad, rice pudding.

It was the first time she became aware that maybe Gram had been affected by the events at the lake, more so than she had let on. Otherwise, Gram wouldn’t have let their supplies run so low. Caroline decided she would offer to go to the Country Store for Gram tomorrow. It was a perfect excuse to search more newspapers for a headline she might’ve missed.

She grabbed an apple and sat across from her father. She eyed him up. He seemed faraway, but if she was going to talk with him, it was now or never while she had him alone.

“Hey, Dad.” She bit into the crisp apple and said while she chewed, “I didn’t know you were friends with Billy.” She meant to shock him, or at least surprise him with the little knowledge she had about the mysterious boy from his past.

But his face remained neutral. He didn’t answer for a long time. Instead he continued turning over the pick in his fingers. Then he took a drag from his cigarette before snuffing it out in the ashtray.

For a second Caroline didn’t think he had heard her. She was about to repeat the question when he looked up. His face took on an expression she had never seen before.

“Who said we were friends?” he asked in a voice she didn’t recognize.