“Are you still mad at me?” Lulu asked.
“About what?”
“Not telling you about Beth and Jed.”
In the peace of the moment, Kate had almost forgotten.
“No. More at myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m obviously a hard-assed, judgmental witch, or Beth would have told me herself. Or you would have, or Scotty,” Kate said, half hoping Lulu would say she was wrong.
“What did your father say about him?” Lulu asked. The question instead of a direct response confirmed Kate’s statement and pierced her heart.
“He had no idea that Jed and Beth were involved. He introduced her to him, though.”
“Did he know where Jed might be?”
“Some vague ideas, but not really. Just that he’s from Rhode Island and is a talented artist, but I already knew that part.”
The sound of voices, excited and raucous, came from the direction of the path. It was dark now and hard to see, but Kate could tell it was kids. They were too far away to recognize, but Kate heard the clink of bottles as if they were drinking a toast. Then rattles that sounded as if they were all shaking maracas.
“Spray paint,” Lulu said, jumping up. “Hey, stop!” she called as she and Kate started toward the group.
The kids scattered, but Kate ran toward one and grabbed her arm. In the starlight, Kate locked eyes with her niece.
“Sam,” she said.
Sam didn’t reply. She lowered her gaze. In her right hand, she held a paint can. In her other, she gripped a half-empty bottle of Heineken. Lulu had cornered Isabel Waterston, and they came toward Kate and Sam.
“You did this?” Kate asked, pointing at the rocks.
Still no answer from Sam.
“It’s art—better than bare rocks,” Isabel said, slurring her words.
“Okay, you’ve been drinking, no point in talking about it. Come on; we’re going home,” Kate said, glancing at Sam, feeling both angry and scared, not knowing quite how to handle her being drunk.
The four of them walked through the path. Kate had been here so often she had no problem making her way in the dark, but for the sake of the girls, she turned on the light on her iPhone. When they got back to Hubbard’s Point, they headed toward a cottage on the boat basin.
Scotty, Nick, and Julie were sitting on the screened porch. Nick was reading, and Scotty and Julie were playing Scrabble. At the sight of Isabel, Scotty and Nick stood. Julie bolted into the house. Kate noticed she’d stopped in the living room, crept back to peek around the door.
“They were graffitiing the rocks,” Kate said, looking straight at Sam, worried out of her mind at what was going on with her.
“Along with a few others who ran away,” Lulu said. “Nice friends, leaving Sam and Isabel to take the blame. It was as if they weren’t even there. Disappearing friends.”
“We shoulda run too,” Isabel said, letting out a long burp.
“Where did you get the booze?” Nick asked. “Who bought it for you? You tell me, Isabel, right now.”
“They took it from here!” Julie called, still hiding around the corner. “Beer from the garage!”
“Sisters don’t tell on sisters!” Isabel said.
“That was always Kate and Beth’s code,” Lulu said.
Julie stared at her. “Why did you say that?”
“Well, because they are sisters too,” Lulu said.
“Not now,” Julie said. “The thing before. The disappearing friends. Talking to the air, no one there. It was bad and sad, your mother died, and . . .”
“Look how you’ve upset Julie,” Scotty snapped at Isabel. She put her hands on Julie’s shoulders and led her into the house, closing the door behind her. For a second, Kate thought she wanted to stop Julie from saying more. But when Scotty came out, she kept railing at Isabel.
“For God’s sake, do you know what you’ve done?” Scotty demanded.
“Scotty,” Nick said, “take it down a notch. We’ll deal with it.”
“Don’t shush me!” Scotty said, slapping his hand. “She’s drunk. She’s made a mockery of our family, acting this way. I’m ashamed.”
“Mom, sorry,” Isabel said.
“You should be. I’m disgusted!” Her voice was shaking, and her face was red. She turned to Kate, pulled her and Lulu away from Nick and the kids. “Hey, did that cop ask you about tea parties in Beth’s room?”
“What?” Kate asked. She had expected Scotty would want to talk about how to handle the girls and felt shocked by the change of course.
“Yeah, he asked me,” Lulu said. “He’s just ruling out fingerprints. He found all of ours in her room.”
“I found it offensive,” Scotty said, looking at Kate. “Didn’t you?”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” Kate said, feeling off balance, still thinking about Sam and Isabel.
“We were all best friends,” Lulu said. “Her room does have the best view in the house, and we did sometimes drink tea there.”
“Especially in the winter . . . ,” Kate said, remembering. “It was so cozy by her fireplace. She loved that.”
“Well I think it was outrageous,” Scotty said. “He made me feel like we went creeping through there after she died, to pick at her jewelry or something! I really feel like saying something to his superior. Find Beth’s killer—arrest Pete, if that’s who it is! They’re just wasting all our time.”
“Well, the investigation takes time,” Lulu said.
“They’re doing the best they can,” Kate said.
Scotty exhaled, eyes red with tears, sputtering as if she was the only person who really loved Beth, who wanted to see her killer brought to justice. Then she took a deep breath and hugged Kate. “I’m so sorry for overreacting. I’m just a wreck. Thanks for getting Isabel home. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,” Kate said, exchanging a wow, that was intense glance with Lulu. She said goodbye to Nick, gave Isabel a quick kiss. She had wanted a minute alone with Scotty—to get a mother’s advice on how to deal with the girls’ drinking and defacing the rocks—but Scotty was clearly not in a place to give it.
She, Lulu, and Sam walked to the parking lot. Sam seemed steady, as if the alcohol hadn’t affected her as much as it had Isabel. They drove to Pete and Beth’s house, but there were no lights on.
“Where’s your father?” Kate asked.
“Three guesses, and if one of them is with Nicola, you’re right,” Sam said.
“He went to Mathilda’s?” Kate asked, upset at the idea of Nicola letting him be there after Kate had gone out on a limb for her.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Then you’re coming home with me,” she said, trying to contain her out-of-control feelings. On the way to New London, they didn’t talk at all. Lulu tuned the radio to a nineties station with Smashing Pumpkins singing “1979.” I-95 was crowded, and they hit a traffic jam that lasted from Niantic through Waterford.
Back on Bank Street, Lulu stopped before getting into her Range Rover. Kate watched her press her forehead against Sam’s.