“Of course not,” I retorted, though it had crossed my mind. “It’s just an insurance policy. I have to see that picture, Jimmy. It’s important. And I’d just feel better knowing we have a backup plan.”
To my surprise Jimmy agreed to make the copy. His apartment was located next to an office supply store, he informed me. How fortuitous. I thanked whatever gods had intervened to finally make something go smoothly. Jimmy even promised to make the copy as soon as we got off the phone. He said there was a mailbox outside the store. So if all went as planned, it would take Jimmy only about fifteen minutes to make the copy and drop it in the mail. Before we ended the call, I gave Jimmy my Fade Island address, making him read it back to me three times to make certain he got it right.
Things were really starting to happen, but I wouldn’t rest easy until the picture was in my hands. If there was any hope of pulling this off without Adam finding out what I was up to, I had to tread carefully and pay special attention to every detail. Otherwise he’d put a stop to it. Now I wished Adam wasn’t returning later in the day, as it was going to make things trickier to get off the island tomorrow. His first full day back, I was sure he planned on spending it with me. But I had to get to Harbourtown, even if it was just for a short period of time early in the day. Therefore, I needed a plan to prevent Adam from catching on to what I was up to. I ran my fingers over the keys on my cell. Nate said Helena was in Harbour Falls…
Inspiration struck.
I hastily typed a text to Helena, explaining that I was going to be in Harbourtown tomorrow. I asked if she wanted to drive over from Harbour Falls and meet me for lunch. Of course I planned on telling Adam we’d be having lunch closer to Helena’s mom’s house to hopefully allay any suspicion.
After I hit send, I crossed to the living room window. As predicted the rain was starting to lighten up. But brisk winds were blowing the freshly fallen leaves, spinning them into tiny tornadoes that hinted at a bigger storm to come. A feeling came over me with a sudden ferocity, a feeling of dread. Closing my eyes I breathed in deeply, chalking up my skittishness to the Halloween heebie-jeebies. Strangely enough, though, it was at that exact point things started to get, well, strange.
First Helena didn’t respond for a solid hour. Usually I never had to wait more than five minutes for her to text back. Odd. And then the only thing she wrote in her return text was: Why are you going to be in Harbourtown?
The tenor of the text was off. Helena never asked questions like that, nor did she write such short, clipped replies. Something was wrong. Did Helena suspect something? How could she? Knowing how easy it was to misread the intent of the written word, I brushed it off.
With my fingers on the keys, I contemplated my reply. Helena wouldn’t be running into Adam over the next twenty-four hours. Hmm. My thumbs flew over the keys, I texted that I needed to go to Harbourtown to pick something up for Adam. Hoping she’d not ask what, I hit send.
Another lengthy twenty minutes passed, and then Helena texted: Let’s meet at the little Italian bistro on the corner of Leaf and Ninth. I think the name is Peppio’s. Is 2 o’clock good?
I knew the restaurant—it wasn’t far from Billy’s—so I confirmed with a return text, and then I placed the cell next to me on the sofa.
Well, that was unusual. Maybe Helena had been distracted, seeing that she was at her mom’s house and all. Apparently something was going on there, especially with the usual calm and cool Nate acting so tense earlier.
From the cushion next to me, my cell buzzed once again. This time it was Adam.
“Hey,” I answered, smiling, even though he couldn’t see me.
“Hey,” he replied curtly.
I ignored his seemingly annoyed tone and asked, “How’re things going? What time do you think you’ll be back?”
Adam cleared his throat. “Yeah, about that…” He hesitated. “Uh, I won’t be back until tomorrow.”
I glanced out the window, and though it was already almost dark, the rain had stopped completely. “Why aren’t you coming back tonight?” I