Viv was forced to admit she might once again have underestimated them.
“I spent his entire life showing by example that if you want something bad enough, you must put in any time, effort, or sacrifice necessary. So I suppose I have only myself to blame for his good-hearted, wrongheaded behavior. Quentin would rather prove himself dangerously than let me ruin his dreams.”
“Could he defend himself against violence?” Kuni asked.
“He… has had a few fencing lessons,” was the most charitable way Viv could answer that question. “Quentin has had tutors in every topic or skill imaginable. Which is only possible because he growsbored by the third or fourth attempt and thus moves on to the next item on the list.”
Which was what Viv had previously been afraid of. That Quentin, in his desperation, would attempt brave acts of heroics so far outside his capabilities that he would injure himself irrevocably—or worse.
The mysterious Newt, and Quentin’s possible connection to the Olivebury robbery, were pieces she could not yet fit into the puzzle.
Jacob seemed to sense the fear and frustration warring within her. “Please don’t panic unless there is reason to. I’m sure your cousin is unhurt.”
“You can’t know that.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I can’t know that. It’s what I’m choosing to believe until facts indicate otherwise. There’s been no sign of him at any hospital, morgue, or prison. I’ve learned one’s attitude can help keep unproductive worries at bay. I suggest you practice some optimism as well.”
“I didn’t ask for your advice,” she snapped.
He looked at her.
Her face heated. All right, that was rich, coming from her. Viv spent 90 percent of her day doling out advice to others. She ought to be able to take a little in return.
The truth was, the worryhadabated. Everything was topsy-turvy not because Jacob and his family were overbearing and intolerable, but because they were kind and made her feel safe, despite the unanswered questions.
Viv hadn’t been able to rely on anyone but herself for so long that life felt like crossing the ocean in a rowboat without oars. She’d spent her days paddling her bare hands as hard as she could without getting anywhere. Now that a larger vessel of friendly forces had tossed out a life buoy, she wasn’t sure she knew how to float in these waters.
“With no evidence of injury or arrest, and with no public sightings in several days, we must consider the possibility that Quentin has gone into hiding for his own reasons.”
“Such as to punish me because he was angry with me.” Viv’s shoulders were tight and her stomach sour. “He’d had enough.”
“Actually,” Tommy said, “Jacob’s referring to Olivebury’s robbery. We don’t know why Quentin would have masterminded such an escapade—”
“My cousin did no such thing!”
“We have to consider every possibility.”
“He accidentally returned the script to the question-writer—”
“—who could have been Quentin in the first place. He might have sent those letters himself, to disguise the fact that he was the one in need of such stratagems.”
“Quentin would never manipulate me like that.”
“He’s manipulated you into doing everything else for him.”
“No,” Viv said frostily. “He’s family, and family helps each other. I would think a Wynchester could understand that, of all people.”
“An exciting caper would be an adventure,” Jacob pointed out. “You said he liked those. Plus, if he’s the mastermind behind the Olivebury burglary—”
“I would be the mastermind,” Viv muttered. “They’re my scripts.”
“—then that means he’sfine. And he’s hiding from you because he knows by now you’ve figured out what happened to your missing plays.”
Viv’s fingers curled into fists. She wanted to believe her cousin was safe almost as much as she wanted to slap Jacob for doubting her cousin’s integrity.
“It wasn’t Quentin’s handwriting,” she said triumphantly. “I was his first and only governess and have had many occasions to glimpsehis penmanship since.”
“Quentin’s, maybe,” he agreed. “But what about his secret club? By your own description, he has a lot of young, impressionable, risk-taking friends. Am I leaping to conclusions by assuming you to be unfamiliar with their handwriting? Or his co-conspirator Newt, whom you don’t know anything about at all?”
