“We’ll take it with us.” Levi was firm. Not to be deterred.
“I don’t know—”
“Well, what about your grandmother? Didn’t you say you were taking care of her tonight.”
Gram!
Yes, she thought guiltily,I have to get back.
Harper had been so consumed with worry for Chase she’d forgotten about Gram. Her grandmother would be getting up soon and need help getting out of bed before demanding her first cup of coffee, her cigarettes, and whatever pills started her day. “Okay,” she finally said. “Yeah, I have to get back. But what will happen? Will your dad come to the island?”
“Probably. I mean, I don’t know. It depends when he finds Chase, I guess. And if not, yeah, he’ll want to talk to you.”
“Oh God.”
“Look, once I get back and scope out the situation, see where we are, if anyone knows where Chase is, I’ll call you,” he promised, and she knew, deep down, she could trust him. Hadn’t she before? “I’ll phone your grandmother’s place. That’s where you’ll be, right?”
“Yeah.” She was nodding.
“Okay, let’s go.”
She climbed back into the truck and huddled against the passenger door as he slipped behind the wheel on the driver’s side. She told him where she’d left the canoe, and he drove to the park, left the truck idling before scaling the swim park fence. Within minutes he returned. He managed to get the canoe over the fence and into the bed of his pickup, refusing her help as he strapped it down and left the tailgate open.
“We won’t go through town,” he said and turned up the hill, taking Southway past the viewpoint and around the far end of the lake to the north shore. They met a few cars, early commuters, and as his truck approached the turnoff to the island, Levi cut the lights.
The sky had turned flinty, clouds low, the mist forcing him to use his wipers. “You have to open the gate,” he told her, “if you want me to haul the canoe back to the dock.”
What were the choices? No matter what, she’d have to tell her parents what happened. She watched as a wavering V of geese flew over the mansion, seeming to nearly skim the top of the turret as they passed.
She opened the gate and Levi drove through, picking her up before driving across the bridge. Silence stretched between them. He parked near the garage, then carried the canoe down to the dock, she a step behind.
Once on the dock, he glanced across the lake. “They’re up,” he said, staring at his house before turning to leave and staring up the steps again. Harper followed, noting that Earline, Gram’s one-eared tabby, eyed them from beneath the branches of an overgrown rhododendron. Once back at the garage, Levi shut the tailgate, then paused. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” he said, catching her eye. “But I think it’s gonna be rough.”
“I know. Thanks,” she whispered unsteadily.
He paused.
“Harper—” He seemed about to say more, holding her gaze for a quick second, the truck’s engine softly ticking as it cooled. But whatever he was about to share, he thought better of it and climbed into his truck.
She watched as he started the engine, made a three-point turn, and drove back across the bridge, his taillights fading as he passed the gatehouse.
Bracing herself, she turned to go into the house to face the music.
Oddly, the strains of the intro to “Light My Fire” sifted through her brain.
There was something in the lyrics about being a liar.
So sad.
And, in her case, so true.
Chapter 7
The mansion was quiet. Harper slipped off her shoes and looked in on Gram.
Still lying on her back.
Not awake.