Abigail barely recognized her own daughter as well. How could such a short time away from Hawthorne have changed her so much? She wondered if the transition had been taking place before Maddie transferred to the new boarding school. Who is this confident, stubborn young woman? Where is the shy, quivering mouse of a daughter who took off months ago? Abigail wondered. Maddie appeared to have shot up overnight. She seemed taller, but perhaps that was just because she stood straighter and with more confidence. She had a defiance in her eyes that shook Abigail to the bone.
This new version of her daughter seemed very different from the one who took off last June. The girl who could be startled and thoroughly shaken by the most common of occurrences: the tickle of a spider, the wail of a loon at dawn, the flutter of a bat or bird overhead. She was a girl who always looked over her shoulder, but now it seemed that she looked at life with her chin thrust forward, as if daring you to take one step closer, tempting fate to throw one more hurdle in her path. She had become more like…her. Like Cordelia. And that worried Abigail more than anything else.
“So, how does it feel to be back?” Abigail asked tersely as she shuffled Maddie’s bags farther into the hallway. Madeline Crane misjudged her mother’s illness. She knew that Abigail had been diagnosed with cancer—the silent killer that had worked its way through many of the women in town—the result of a town too close to a faltering power plant. Madeline always found that morbidly ironic. Most people from this town were too afraid to leave—scared of the evils that existed beyond the boundaries of Hawthorne—and yet the biggest threat came from staying too long in this town and being exposed to the harmful leakage from the power plant. Abigail Crane was dealing with a form of cancer that required bed rest. Maddie should have known that her mother wouldn’t listen to the doctor’s recommendations. Even though she was a sick, frail woman, not even cancer could stop her from doing things on her own terms.
“How are you feeling?” Maddie said, looking around and noting how nothing had changed at all in the house since she’d left.
“Never mind that. I’m fine. Now, let’s get your things upstairs so your bags don’t clutter up the hallway. When you unpack your clothes, you can put the empty suitcases in the guest room.”
The guest room was actually Cordelia’s old room, and yet Abigail still couldn’t bring herself to say Cordelia’s name out loud. It was as if the brief time that Cordelia had spent in Hawthorne was just a bad dream…a nightmare brought to life. And her mother would never forgive her cousin for all the unwanted attention on the family.
“Fine, I’ll put my bags in Cordelia’s old room,” Maddie said firmly, not just to hear her cousin’s name out loud again in this house, but also to gauge her mother’s reaction.
She turned back to Maddie, holding her gaze for a few beats, as if she was not quite sure what Maddie’s intentions were, and then continued up the staircase, spine perfectly straight, head held high.
“It would still be Cordelia’s room if she hadn’t run off the way she did,” she said sternly over her shoulder.
Okay, here we go , Maddie thought. It would be an interesting visit.
Later that evening, after they had eaten dinner, Abigail steered the conversation to the local gossip. She filled Maddie in on the big debate over Ravenswood and how the Endicott family was fighting the town to have it made into a hotel. The red tape that was expertly set up by the historical society was suddenly coming under scrutiny, and it seemed, as usual, that the Endicotts would end up winning in the end.
“You know that Kiki Endicott,” Abigail clucked. “She’s a pit bull, that’s for sure. She never gives up until she gets what she wants. Well, you know that with Kate. ‘Apples don’t fall far, my dear.’ You remember Tess was fond of that expression.” Abigail smiled softly at the mention of Tess. Though the women never seemed to get along in life, now that Tess had passed on, Maddie wondered if Abigail regretted her treatment of her mother.
Maddie felt as if she would start to cry if she spoke about Tess, yet she chose that moment to broach an even more delicate subject.
“Speaking of Tess, did she—had she known about…about me and Cordelia? That we were sisters?”
Abigail’s face hardened. “That you were half sisters? Yes, I’m sure that she knew. We never spoke openly about it. Rebecca and I made a pact to never discuss it. It was something that we all regretted. An unfortunate predicament, that’s for sure. But when Rebecca left with Simon, I thought it best to leave it all alone. After that, your father and I—well, let’s just say that some fences were never meant to be mended.” Abigail’s face soured at the mention of Malcolm Crane. “But you know your grandmother, she always seemed to know things that she’d have no way of actually knowing. Tess was a smart woman. She must have known. But she was wise enough to let it stay silent.”
Maddie remembered her mother’s philosophy and said dryly, “If you don’t talk about it, it’s not real, right, Mother?”
Abigail held her daughter’s gaze, lifted her chin, and then nodded firmly. Maddie sighed. Some things would never change.
Maddie decided to excuse herself, knowing that the conversation would only go downhill from there. She’d only been in Hawthorne for a few hours and already her stress level was rising.
After unpacking a few of her clothes, Maddie got ready for bed. Nothing had changed in this room. Her old oak dresser still contained the Crabtree & Evelyn scented drawer liners, making the room smell faintly of spring rain. It didn’t show the signs of all that had transpired over the past year.
Already irritated with her mother, Maddie collapsed onto the bed. Why wouldn’t Abigail accept her part in Cordelia’s disappearance? Why was she acting like nothing had changed when their entire world had been flipped upside down? Cordelia was gone. Rebecca locked up. Tess had passed away. And Maddie had started a life far from Hawthorne. Things couldn’t be more different, and yet Maddie started to feel that familiar sense of dread.
Chapter 4
THE HANGED MAN
Loss. Lack of commitment. Preoccupation with selfish and material things. Despite drawbacks, a preference for the status quo. Oppression. Apathy in pursuit of goals. Failure to act with an inability to move forward or progress.
A s the sun spread lithe and steady across the pink-hued morning sky, Madeline sat up and looked at herself in the old vanity mirror that hung directly across from her bed. She imagined herself peering into the mirror before she left many months ago—younger, softer somehow. I guess that’s what losing people you care about does to you, she mused.
Maddie flopped back into the covers and stretched catlike in the bed before pushing back the covers and getting up. She pulled a silver-plated brush from the vanity table and started delicately brushing the pillow-kinks out of her hair. It was the start of a new day in Hawthorne and Maddie Crane had no idea what to expect.
She headed downstairs, surprised at the silence that filled the house. Abigail was still in bed. This was something that completely rattled Maddie. In her entire life, she’d never been the first one awake in the house. Maddie couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t come downstairs to a brightly lit kitchen, filled with the smell of breakfast cooking and coffee brewing. It was like a ghost house.
A list of groceries was waiting for her on the kitchen table.
Mom and her lists, Maddie thought.
But Maddie was happy for an excuse
to get out of the house—the quiet was too much for her to bear. Getting out and seeing people—even Hawthorne people—was better than the funereal silence that was all around her.
“That’ll be one hundred and sixty-four dollars,” the cashier said in a monotone.
“What? Are you feeding an army?” came a voice from behind her. It took Maddie a moment to realize that the comment was intended for her.
“Looks that way, doesn’t it?” Maddie laughed politely and turned to leave, angling her head toward the door so that she wouldn’t get caught up in a conversation. Not now, not this early, she thought. She was pushing the carriage toward the exit when a hand reached out and grabbed her firmly by the arm.
“Not even a hello. Well, I guess a semester away makes you too cool to talk to me,” said the guy in the harbor patrol uniform standing behind her.
Maddie had to blink her eyes before she could believe what she was seeing. Trevor Campbell? The last time she’d seen him was at Tess’s funeral. She’d managed to avoid him for all these months, and now here she was face-to-face with one of the many people responsible for Cordelia’s disappearance from Hawthorne. Trevor had raped Cordelia last year before she left; just one in a long line of indiscretions the town of Hawthorne managed to sweep under the rug. Not surprisingly, he didn’t seem the slightest bit self-conscious or guilty.
“How’ve you been, Crane?” he asked, beaming as he proudly wore his harbor attire. While in other towns being a harbor cop may have been looked at as a blue-collar position, it was a highly coveted position in Hawthorne, reserved for only the coolest and wealthiest kids. It was really just an excuse to hang out on the harbor all day in the sun and get paid for it. It came as no surprise that Trevor Campbell’s family had bought his way into this cushy position, because he was widely known as a troublemaker. Yet she had no idea why he would commit to the job over Christmas break. He must have done something to piss his parents off for them to make him actually work during his vacation. He definitely had some ulterior motive, yet she couldn’t figure out what it could be. In any case, he was the last person Maddie wanted to see. “I know, I know, I’m hard to recognize in uniform.”
“No, I could recognize an asshole even when he’s all cleaned up and in uniform,” Maddie said through clenched teeth. Trevor was Kate Endicott’s boyfriend and the boy who used to taunt Maddie and Cordelia mercilessly at Hawthorne Academy. He could even be the father of Cordelia’s child and it didn’t seem to affect him in the least.
“Ouch!” he said, laughing. “Is that any way to treat an old friend?”
“I’ll let you know when I see one,” Maddie said. “So, working for the harbormaster, hmm? What prompted the switch to the other side of the law? I didn’t know that assholes were given jobs to serve and protect.”
He smirked, shaking his head. Even in his crisp uniform of white oxford shirt, khakis, and closely cropped hair, he couldn’t shake the spoiled, party-boy image that existed in her memory. Maddie pictured him passed out on the floor in a drunken stupor at every party. Unless, of course, he was hooking up with one of the many girls that followed him around the halls of Hawthorne Academy. And yet how he managed to do it right under Kate Endicott’s perfectly upturned nose remained a mystery. Luckily, Maddie avoided falling under the spell of his baby-faced, all-American charms.
“Decided to clean up my act,” he said. “Fresh start. You should be familiar with wanting to start over. Right, boarding school girl?” he asked smugly, holding her gaze a little longer than what felt comfortable.
“Um…yeah,” Maddie muttered, “I guess so.” She willed herself not to let Trevor Campbell under her skin—not again. Strangely, Maddie could almost feel the shy, awkward Maddie Crane—the one she thought she had disposed of years ago—gingerly rubbing her eyes and coming back to life.
“So,” he chuckled, “what brings Maddie Crane back to Hawthorne? Was Maine life too much for you? Did you get sick of all the maple syrup and mountain climbing?”
“Uh, that’s Vermont, Trevor,” Maddie said slowly. She could barely stomach sticking around much longer talking to this bastard. She couldn’t believe that he was related to Reed, the only person she had had feelings for until Luke came into her life. Yet Trevor was one of the few who knew what she had done to Cordelia on Misery Island—who had witnessed the act that she so regretted when she had thrown that stone at Cordelia’s head. And for that, she hated him even more. “Actually, if you really want to know, I came back to take care of my mom for Christmas break.” Then she added, “She needs help with my aunt Rebecca.”
“Oh yeah,” said Trevor. “How could I forget about that crazy aunt of yours?”
My God, Maddie thought, some people never change. She was just about to storm off, but not before she told him where he could shove that smug attitude of his, when he caught her off-guard by saying, “It’s good that you’re here to take care of your mother. Especially after what happened this past fall.”
“This fall?” Maddie asked. She had no idea what he was talking about.
“Wow, your mom didn’t tell you? That’s weird,” he replied to her confused look. Maddie wanted to punch that smug look off his face, but her desire for information got the best of her.
“It was the strangest thing. I was at the station, playing a game of poker with the boys. So, it was a Tuesday night, not much really goes on during the week. The bars are empty and the high school keggers don’t really happen until the weekend. Do you remember the parties we used to throw out on Misery? Man, those were the days.”
“Focus, Trevor,” Maddie said impatiently, wanting to physically hurt him for even mentioning Misery Island, but at the same time she desperately wanted to know what he was talking about.
“So,” he continued, “this crazy 9–1–1 call comes in. Turns out it’s your mom on the phone just crying and screaming and going on and on about someone in the house, and they need everyone, even me, to help contain the situation. That’s what this is for.” He pulled out a Taser gun and Maddie shivered at the thought of Trevor Campbell, a guy with a drinking problem, a history of assault and rape, and an overwhelming sense of entitlement, being allowed to carry a weapon. “So, Sully—er, do you remember Officer Sullivan? Garrett Sullivan?”
Maddie bristled. Trevor obviously was aware that she knew Garrett Sullivan. He was the one who was a part of that awful night at Ravenswood. Trevor was just taunting her.
“Anyway, he tells her to get out of the house and get to a safe place, and she just kept on screaming ‘It’s not my fault,’ blah, blah, blah. Sully barely understood a word of it, y’know? Then, nothing. Silence. He said it was like the phone’s just ripped from the wall.”
At that point, Maddie couldn’t hide her emotions. Why hadn’t anyone mentioned this before? “What happened?” she yelled.
“I’m getting to that,” he said, suddenly appearing excited to have such a rapt audience. “So, we pull up to the house and there aren’t any lights on. We knock and knock…nothing. Then they force entry into the house with backup”—he pointed to himself with a self-satisfied grin—“ ’cause they didn’t know what they were walking into. We were pretty jacked by this time, because nothing really happens around here. Well, at least not in a long time.”
Maddie inhaled sharply, painfully, knowing that he was referring to Cordelia and the night at Ravenswood, the night that ended in her aunt’s attempted suicide and the revelation that Cordelia and Maddie were tied together by a bond deeper than either of them ever could have imagined—they shared a father.
“Once we got int
o your house and looked around, well…it was a total disaster. The furniture all tipped over, books were everywhere, smashed glass, and that smell…like something burning. So Sully called out to your mom. And there’s just nothin’. No sounds, no one, nothin’.
“We started picking our way through the mess when Sully stopped short ’cause he heard this hollow tapping sound. It was coming from the basement. So, we go down to the basement, and man, that is one creepy place. Dirt floors, stone walls, it’s like a dungeon. Then the tapping just filled the room. It was everywhere, all around us, freakin’ us out.
“So, finally, we head back upstairs, and there’s your mother at the top of the staircase, actin’ like she was half drugged, her hair all crazy and wild. The first thing she asks is, ‘Is it gone?’
“Sully asks her, ‘Who did this to you, Abigail?’ She just stared at us. Man, I’ve never seen anyone stare like that before—like she just saw the devil himself….” His voice trailed off and he shifted his gaze over her shoulder for a moment.
He visibly shuddered and then continued. “So we went back into the living room and started picking up the furniture and putting everything back in place. Then your mom walks downstairs like nothin’s happened. Sully wanted to take her down to the station for questioning, but she wouldn’t have it. She just looked at us for a long time. Said it wouldn’t be necessary.”
“So they never filed a report? They never found out who did this to her? Trevor, who the hell broke into my house?”
The Lost Sister Page 5
