And now, all he had to do was get rid of the remains of all his mischief, wait till the rest of them were at the race and then go in and walk off with what was, after all, rightfully his; he bobbed his head this way and that and his lips moved as he mused silently to himself. Then to hide it … where? Where should he hide it? Somewhere right under their noses, like the basement freezer. No, Mr. Piet might just happen to look there. He’d think of something. Wait till they found it missing! He could hardly wait to see their faces. He would stand there with them, pretending to share their outrage. They’d underestimated him for the last time. Not one of them would even think to suspect him. They were all too stupid.
Teddy smiled dreamily at the helm, relaxed and handsome. He laughed out loud and the laugh caught up in the wind, abandoned and hollow. Atop the hatch, in a lean holding cubby, a pair of fresh dove gray gloves rested neatly one on top of the other, palms down, all set to go.
Claire
It was now or never. I reached up and touched Morgan’s cheek, “Answer me this. Are you planning to marry Paige?”
He flinched. At last he said, “I’m waiting for her to tell me she wants out. It can’t be me who breaks the engagement. She’ll feel like I’m ruining her life. No, it has to be from her.”
So that was it. How very noble. I stood. “Fine.” I flung my hair mutinously over my shoulder. “Let me know when she’s done captivating you.”
I scrambled over the cockpit, but he got up and grabbed hold of me. He bent me backward and kissed me right there in the bright of day, holding my arms in his hands to keep me from falling. When he stopped kissing me, my head fell back and he looked down at me, saying, venomously, “Do you like it?”
My head lolled.
He squinted hard at me. “Aye. There’s your answer. Because you’re straight. Didn’t you ever notice that Paige—Don’t you get it? She’s not.”
“What?” I tried to stand and he set me on my feet again.
“She’s not straight, Paige. She’s gay. Paige is a lesbian.”
“What?”
He took a piece of my flying hair and locked it behind my ear. “Look. I wouldn’t ordinarily betray a confidence, but you have a right to know. Remember when Jenny Rose saved Radiance in the water? Well, Paige had just told her she’d decided to marry me. You know how Paige is; she thought if she did, she could save her brother, save Daniel, save Twillyweed. She was trying to do the right thing. But for all the wrong reasons. She’d told Radiance down at the dock because she knew she’d make a great fuss. She’s so emotional, Radiance. Melodramatic. And Paige told her very gently. But Radiance bolted off in a mad fit and took out the boat.
“But you gave her a ring—”
“The ring was her grandmother’s. She weaseled her way into that one and, God knows, I couldn’t humiliate her.” He looked past me. “The truth is she only ever loved Radiance. They love each other. And Radiance—she’s such an idiot—after she went out to sea, she jumped overboard! Don’t ask me why. To punish Paige, for all I know. Oh, maybe she made some halfhearted attempt to kill herself. Maybe she did. Although I can’t imagine why. More likely fury—and spite, knowing her. And then found herself in over her head.”
I stood there, a dodo. This could not be happening again. It was so absurd. It had to be true. “So”—I bit the bullet—“you’d go ahead with this marriage? Out of guilt?”
“She’ll dump me.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Ach, Radiance is twenty-one now. Paige is not a bad girl. She’ll come around on her own. She’s afraid—Paige is—afraid to admit who she is. But passion is stronger than propriety. She’ll come around.”
We neared the dock. Different people floated by and waved and Morgan waved back. I wasn’t as convinced as he seemed to be. Paige was as mercenary a female as I’d ever met. But he was cheerful again. He smiled and chose a hard peach and ate it as he leaned his head backward and let out a laugh. There was the buzz of activity and the readying for the finish. It looked like Seawanhaka was going to come in first from the tumult and celebration and cries of the onlookers. I spotted Jenny Rose, Mr. Piet, Radiance, and Paige all running toward the dock at once. I cleat hitched the line for Morgan and while he tied her up, I jumped to the dock and made my way through the throng toward the marina. It was strewn with tipsy partygoers and I had to zigzag through. I waved.
Paige called out, “Is Wendell with you?”
“No.”
“He climbed out the window.” She leaned against the tiers of piled canoes to catch her breath and gasped, “We can’t find him.”
Jenny Rose wailed, “Oh, my God! I wasn’t watching him! It’s my fault!” She fell against me.
Then Radiance, in front of everyone, turned around and grabbed Mr. Piet’s shoulder and flung him around to face her. “Non! C’est ta faute!” she cried. “It’s your fault! This is all your fault!”
“It’s not,” he said, grasping his chest.
“Oh, mon Dieu, it’s enough! Just admit it! I know you’re a thief! I found those moonstones in your room. I even put them in Jenny Rose’s pocket to save you from blame!”
“But why would you do such a thing?” He pulled himself free.
“Because I didn’t want you to go to jail again. But I’m finished protecting you! Tu comprends? Stealing is one thing … but murder!” She reared onto a piling and sank to the floor, sobbing. “I’m finished!”
“Radiance!” He fell to his knees “Believe me. I had nothing to do with any stones. I swear to you. On my mother’s grave, I swear to you!”
“Yes, you did! Teddy saw you. He saw you at Noola’s just before she died. He warned me.” Her shoulders slumped. “I only wanted to help you, Papa, but I can’t take it anymore!”
Mr. Piet took hold of her. “Teddy told you? And you believed him, chérie? You thought I would kill? Why would I kill Noola?”
Radiance looked at all of us. “For the jewels. For the money. Teddy even gave me the stones so I knew he wasn’t lying! He said—”
He put his arm around her. “But I don’t care about the money. I care about you! Why would Teddy tell you such a thing?”
I tried to think. The sun beat down and there was noise all around. Teddy. He would have been a child at Guardian Angel about the time of the abuse …
An older fellow who’d been canning bait came toward us. “That your little boy took off on the Dream Boat? That little guy wasn’t wearing no life vest! I yelled to the captain, but he paid me no mind.”
Jenny Rose lamented, “Wendell never trusted Teddy. He would never go off with him!”
The boy selling soft drinks on the dock piped up, “That was the Dream Boat just took off, all right!”
“He’d never go with him!” Jenny Rose protested.
Paige cried out and Mr. Piet took her hand. Jenny Rose, pale and frantic, came up behind them.
“Stay calm,” Jenny Rose said, trying to steady Paige. “I’m sure they’re just out for a sail.”
“Where would they go?” I asked.
“Anywhere, could be.” The old salt scratched his stubbled chin. The man’s wife came up behind him, a beautiful old blonde with skin loose and crumpled as an elephant’s hide. “That kid had no one watching him! They went west,” she said, pointing, “just around the point. Around Duffy’s Point. I seen ’em.”
Mr. Piet moved fast. He got up and ran down the dock to stop Morgan dropping anchor. He moved like an athlete, his small legs carrying his broad shoulders in a whiz of movement.
I ran after him.
“Be careful over there past buoy two!” the old man called. “That current’s mean!”
Mr. Piet jumped on board and as they pulled off so did I. If anything happened to Wendell, I’d take my share of blame. I was horrified to think how unfairly I’d judged Glinty—and to realize my prejudices were a
s conventional as my parents’. I hadn’t even thought yet of what might happen next, what danger Wendell might be in. I thought we’d just sail out and stop them. If I’d only known what would happen next … But Wendell was out there and we had to bring him back. I figured Morgan was reliving Daniel’s accident all those years ago. He’d rather die than let anything like that happen again. I shrugged into a life vest and the men rigged the jib and mainsail. We sailed out into the busy harbor and headed west, just as a fleet from Hempstead Yacht Club was making its way in. He was going too fast, too rash.
I shut my eyes, certain we would collide, but at the helm, Morgan maneuvered us through and we broke free, the sailors’ outraged curses cracking across the wind. The sun shone, blinding me as we flew across the water. I was so scared I didn’t realize the cold. We’d left Sea Cliff far behind. At last Morgan pulled around. “I’ve lost them!”
“We must have gone past them,” Mr. Piet shouted, scanning the shore.
“They can’t have gone in there. It’s a sink bog. Tide’s too low!” Morgan cried.
“There’s that old loading dock in there behind those weeping willows. He could be there.”
“No way. That place is condemned. Anyway, it’s way too shallow!” But we couldn’t see where else they could have gone.
“He’ll run her aground!” Mr. Piet raged. “I’ll kill him!”
“He can’t be there,” Morgan protested again. “It’s been locked up for years.”
Mr. Piet was peeling off his sweatshirt. “He shows the real estate, doesn’t he? He’ll have keys.”
Then, off in the dense grove of willow, practically hidden, something red moved. Silently, we watched, trying to make it out. There were the cheers off in the distance from the marina, but the slosh of the tide and the hurling wind was the only near sound. The red figure moved again.
“It’s Wendell,” I said, recognizing his jacket.
Morgan looked through binoculars. “It’s him all right, and it’s Teddy. He’s carrying Wendell.”
Mr. Piet reached down and took off his shoes.
“Take care,” Morgan warned, “that spot has been sinking for years. It’s shallow and if you step down, it’ll suck you up like quicksand.”
Before I knew what was happening, Mr. Piet dove soundlessly into the water and the back of his head appeared in there near the weeping willow.
“Stay here!” Morgan flung off his shoes and his shirt not a moment behind him. Within seconds he, too, swam through the shallow green water. “You can’t leave me here on my own!” I cried out to no one. Trembling, I tugged off my shoes, vest, and sweater and belly-flopped in. The water stung. Disoriented, I came to the surface. The wind was horrific and I lowered back in, dog-paddling toward land. It seemed to take forever. My legs, still dressed, were heavy and sluggish. Finally close, I stepped frantically for land and my foot sunk in muck to my knee. Remembering Morgan’s warning, I floundered with horror and fright and yanked myself out, trying to float and paddle my way in now without touching bottom, and without touching the cold air.
Teddy had slipped the boat into a tunnel of shade, camouflaged by draping willow. Where was he? And where were Morgan and Mr. Piet? They had to be in that hollowed lament of a building, the place half sunk in ruin. Skeletons of rusted girders squared off three floors of empty rooms that the wind gored through. condemned, its peeling signs warned. Backwater trees grew every which way from the moldy openings, its gates and rusty edges jagged. There was nothing but saplings and rubbish, rubber tires flung here and there. I climbed onto a pontoon of dry rotted plank and held on to a piling, then managed to get up on a cement aqueduct. I crept with tentative footfalls, edging along the side of a deep green pond. Chartreuse scum furred the top.
The wind died down, and it was quiet except for a profusion of birdsong. On another occasion, the remote beauty would have struck me. A duck had its head down, fishing underwater. But the duck stayed down, squirming, its tail wriggling in distress. It wasn’t fishing. I realized a turtle must be under the scum, pulling it down. I tried not to look, waiting until the duck was gone. It took so long. My heart beat fiercely. Where had Morgan and Mr. Piet gone? I couldn’t see them. Idiotically, I took out my phone. Of course it was soaked. I threw it at the turtle. And then I saw it. A heavy gate, camouflaged with branches, had been moved aside, and a gray cellar door gaped partway open.
I picked up a large stone and edged toward it, lifting the door the rest of the way open. It was dark down there. I sure as hell wasn’t going down those broken stairs. No way.
I hesitated. Why didn’t they call out? What had happened? The wet oozed up my socks and into my legs. The wind took up again in a frenzy, but the sun shone confidently and I was staying out here with it. On the landing a plastic bag of recent takeout was riddled with ants. I spotted something blue on the ground and bent toward it. A wet knapsack. It was Wendell’s. So now I knew I had to go in. I picked it up and fumbled through it. Cupcakes. A juice box. A flashlight. I put the flashlight in my pocket and made sure the door wouldn’t blow shut by pushing it all the way open. Shivering wildly, I moved down the steps. They continued down an old stairwell until all light was gone. I held my stone with two hands, edging down, trying not to slip. But the wooden structure was corrupted and weakened, and I didn’t trust the walls; pieces of it had already crumbled and fallen away.
Suddenly I heard a distant shout and something crashed and unloosed down in front of me, whacking out a terrible mushroom of dirt and dust. Someone must have fallen through the ceiling. I struggled to see around me. It looked like it once was a parking garage. I could barely make out a series of orange extension cords snaking down the steps and I followed them. I was belowground now. I continued down the stairs, reaching carefully to avoid some broken steps. There was the terrible smell of mildew.
Suddenly the wind rose up with a howl and blew the cellar door shut. I was trapped in darkness!
That was when I realized how wrong I’d been about Teddy. This was a hiding place. My throat closed and I feared for my life. How would we ever get out of here? Oh, God, I realized in panic, I’d never thought to drop the anchor. The Gnomon would have drifted to who knew where by now!
And then I caught a glimpse of light moving in front of me in the darkness. Someone was up ahead. I hesitated and turned to go back up to the door. Hearing a far-off voice, I stayed still. It was loud enough that I could make out every word.
“Wendell, Wendell,” Teddy was reprimanding, “did you hear that? You made me forget to close the door!” I could hear the exasperation in his voice. “The wind will blow us all to pieces! You never should have come along. Now what am I going to do with you?”
I pressed close against the wall on the landing, shielding myself with my arms—and a cold, wet hand fell on my head with a thunk. I would have screamed had fear not turned me to salt. I slid my hand in my pocket and took out the flashlight. Trembling, I turned it on and light shone onto Mr. Piet’s limp body, pressed, eyes closed, against the wall above me. He hung there as though he were hooked onto the wall. I got so scared the flashlight jumped out of my hands—cracking on the cement floor—and fell down the stairwell, down, down, making clanking noises all the way. I froze in pitch-black darkness.
There was a scuffling sound. Then Teddy’s chilling voice, “Who is it? Who’s there?”
Teddy’s limping footsteps came softly toward me, ascending in the dark, and I knew that Morgan had to be wounded. He’d never let Teddy carry Wendell off. … And where was he, hoisted against the wall like Mr. Piet or lying knocked out on the ground? If I moved, would I trip on him? I could hear Teddy coming slowly toward me, feeling his way step by step. I didn’t know which way to go. Every cell of my body wanted to rush in the opposite direction, but if I stayed pressed against the wall, he might not find me. I stayed put, locked in terror. Again his slow steps and dragging leg, the spine-chilling sound of
his confidential, coddling voice drawing near, “I’m just going to have to put you in the closet now, because I have some things to do. The windstorm is tearing everything down. You understand that, don’t you, Wendell?”
I heard Wendell whimper.
And then, as if it pleased him, Teddy added in a tone of malevolence, “Time won’t keep you in there long.”
The hairs on my neck stood. I couldn’t let him close that door to the world up there. I had to get out.
And as he came closer his voice continued, ever so gentle, “It’s your fault I have to put you in there, you know” he said. “You know that, don’t you?”
Wendell answered with a stifled sob.
It came to me that Teddy didn’t know Mr. Piet and Morgan were here somewhere. Mr. Piet must have fallen when the steps above collapsed and landed like that, knocked unconscious. But where was Morgan? I could just make out a moving form. Teddy had Wendell in his arms like groceries. And then he muttered distractedly, “You never should have followed me, Wendell. You put me in a very difficult position. You know that, now, hmm? But you see I have my gloves. So it won’t be me who’s taking care of you, but the nice soft gloves, all right? You’re always such a good little boy.”
Twillyweed Page 33
