Page 48 of Death and Do-Overs

“Hi,” Imogen said, with a tight smile.

“What do you want?” Bernadette asked through the crack.

“Where is she?” I asked. Then louder, I yelled, “Nie!”

“Rude,” Bernadette said.

I didn’t care. I listened for any sound or hint that Nie was on the other side of this door.

Imogen flattened her lips into a line. “We were hoping you could tell us if you’ve seen?—”

I couldn’t wait for politeness, not with Nie’s life on the line. Through the crack in the door, I called, “Nie, are you in there?”

Bernadette slammed the door in my face.

“Have you seen someone who looks just like my friend Marnie? She’s the one beside me who keeps yelling,” Imogen called through the closed door.

No answer followed.

“You should bodysnatch her,” I said. “Make her let us in. It’s the quickest path to the truth.” The quickest path to finding Nie, before something worse happened to her.

“I can’t,” Imogen said.

I tried not to be angry, tried to remain nice and calm and not even a touch sarcastic.

“I know you want to be friends with everyone,” I said. “But some people are not friendship material.”

“No.” Imogen licked her lips. “I mean, I can’t bodysnatch someone when I can’t see them.”

Oh. There was no glass on the door to see through, so I looked around and spotted a window behind a flowerbed.

I pulled Imogen through the dirt. “Peek through the curtains.”

Imogen made a pathetic attempt at it, only half-looking at the window. Most of her attention remained on me. She never intended to bodysnatch the reaper at all.

“Try harder,” I said.

“I’m trying. I swear I’m being a huge creeper peeper right now.”

I took a breath and a look around. There was a small driveway, which meant there might be a garage.

“You keep creeping,” I told Imogen. “I’m going to check around back.”

“Don’t die.”

“You, either.”

I left Imogen wiggling around in the flowerbed and headed around the side of the house. Sure enough, at the end of the driveway was a small garage. I tried it, but the door wouldn’t lift.

Having an outbuilding wasn’t suspicious, but it was strange for there to be a driveway in a town where I had yet to see a single car. If the only way on or off of Nevermore was by train, the entire island was probably vehicle-free.

So again, why a driveway and why a garage?

Hanging from the side of the small outbuilding was a rope and a few gardening tools. All of it felt out of place given how little of a yard there was to garden.

I caught a glimpse of movement on the ground between the building and the fence. Curious, I approached the crack and peered around the corner.

A fuzzy orange backside and long, flicking tail greeted me before the animal disappeared into the next yard over.

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