Deep Betrayal Page 0,64
fears and made me laugh. “Did you think you wouldn’t?”
She rolled her eyes in an exaggerated way and pulled her dark hair into a ponytail. “Phillip was driving the last hour. It was a leap of faith,” she said.
I hugged her. “You seem to be in one piece.”
“Barely.”
Rob came up behind her, his face tense—hopefully he was embarrassed by his behavior the last time I saw him. “Hey, Lil.”
“Hey, Robby. You remember Calder?”
“Yeah. How you doing, man?”
Calder didn’t answer. His attention was on Jules. “So you’re staying on Madeline?” he asked. “What side?”
“I don’t know,” Jules said. “Phillip said it’s past a marina and a golf course. There’s room for you two if you want to come stay at the house.”
I glanced at Calder, and then Jules was begging. “Please, Lily? We’ve got to catch up.”
“That sounds like a great idea to me,” Calder said.
“I’d have to ask my mom,” I said, hedging.
“She already said it was okay,” Calder said.
I looked at him, silently asking, She did? But Calder wasn’t looking at me. He was staring directly into Jules’s eyes, her pupils dilating. Hmmm. So it was Calder’s idea to invite us to the house—not Jules’s—and Rob wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea. He shifted in his shoes and scowled at the ground. What was Calder’s angle?
“The van’s kind of crowded,” Rob said.
“That’s okay,” Calder said. “We’ll find our own way there.”
Phillip came over as the ferry crew started loading cars. “Hey, Hancock!” He gave me a big hug.
“They’re going to stay at the house,” Jules said.
Phillip’s eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah? Hey, that’s awesome! My uncle’s got a ton of room, and it’s easy to find. Take Middle Road until it Ts. Hang a left and we’re on the lakeside. I’ll park the van at the end of the driveway.”
“Between Chebomnicon Bay and Big Bay Point?” Calder asked.
“Um, I guess,” said Phillip. “I only know the roads.”
“We’ll find it,” Calder said. “No problem.”
“Guys! We’re loading!” yelled Zach, now in the driver’s seat. Colleen waved at me through a back window.
“See you in a bit, Lily,” Jules said. “We’re cooking out. Don’t be late.”
“Absolutely not,” I said, and Calder raised a hand to wave goodbye.
Zach tentatively pulled his mom’s van onto the ferry and followed the crewman’s direction to even out the weight. The ferry groaned as it rubbed against the black rubber bumpers lining the pier.
“That boy’s a nervous wreck,” Calder said.
“That makes two of us. But you should cut him some slack. It’s his first time taking a car on board.”
Calder shook his head. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Maris hijacks the ferry and pulls them all out of the van and down to the bottom of the lake.”
He grabbed my elbow. “My God, Lily, that’s brilliant.”
“Brilliant?” I snorted. “It’s my worst nightmare.”
“No, it’s genius. You know how to catch a fish?”
“With bait?”
“You got it, babe. We want to catch Maris, and that van is the biggest can of worms I’ve ever seen.”
* * *
Later that afternoon, I was zipping a sundress, purple high tops, and a faux-fur shrug into a large waterproof bag. Calder watched me with amusement.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re serious? That’s what you’re packing?”
“It could get cold at night.”
Calder shook his head and added a pair of shorts and one of my band T-shirts to the bag, sealing it shut with duct tape.
The rich, tongue-coating smell of melted chocolate wafted upstairs. As soon as we’d got back from the ferry dock, Calder had, as promised, “helped” Mom deal with our revelation about Dad. In his usual way, he’d convinced her that Dad would come back soon and that baking would speed things along.
Five minutes later, she’d given in to a compulsive desire to feed people. Already there were six dozen peanut butter cookies cooling on the counter, and the oven was full of brownies, their molten crusts splitting, releasing an aroma that made me want to stay home.
“Why can’t we just take your car over on the ferry?” I asked.
“Swimming is faster. And cheaper,” he said.
“And wetter,” I added, grousing at the bag. I still couldn’t figure out how we were going to explain our soaking wet arrival. No doubt Calder could make it look good. Amazing, even. I was going to look like a drowned rat.
“True, but I want to test something out. You wanted to help. Let’s see how talented you are.”
“I told you. I’m not going to help you use my friends as bait.”
“Think of it as you getting to