“Yes, I see.” He still didn’t hang up, though. “What do you expect to find at the neighbors’ house?”
“I don’t know. That’s the fun of it. Maybe there’s a scandalous secret to dig up over there. Maybe there’s nothing, and they simply went on vacation to Disneyland. I’ve always preferred to lose myself in other people’s lives, even without their permission.”
“You have strange hobbies,” he said, his voice flat. “I thought mine was bad, but I feel a little better now.”
“You have a hobby? Tell me.”
He paused briefly. “Ah,” he said, an embarrassed sound. “I play Dungeons and Dragons. I know, I know—I’m thirty. Feel free to tease me. But it’s a great game, I swear. You wouldn’t make fun of it if you tried it.”
I blinked, gripping the phone in my hand. I had just told him about my quest to reunite with my dead little brother, my plan to break into the Thornhills’ house, and he was embarrassed—truly embarrassed—by his nerdy board game. I felt a flutter behind my breastbone, somewhere in the region of where my withered, long-dead heart was rumored to be.
No. I refused to be charmed. At all.
“Dodie?” Ethan asked.
“I would love to try your game,” I said gently, “but I won’t be back in New York for a while. I really don’t know when.”
“Of course,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean we should literally play it. Because you don’t do second dates.”
“Right,” I said as the front door opened and closed. Vail’s boots clomped their familiar beat down the front hall. “My brother is back.”
“So you’re off to do some breaking and entering?”
“Just a little bit.” I made my tone light, refusing to acknowledge that I had to force it this time. “No one gets hurt.”
“Okay. Have fun, Dodie. Call me again if you want to.”
What did that mean? Did he want me to call him or not? I frowned. So far in life, I had spent exactly zero seconds wondering what a man wanted from me. I wasn’t going to start now.
“Maybe I will,” I said to him cryptically. “Goodbye.”
Vail was in the kitchen now, his big bulk seeming to take up half the room. His frown mirrored mine. “Who was that? A boyfriend?”
I tossed my hair back over my shoulders, much as I would have in the shampoo ad I’d bailed on to come to Fell. “I told you, Vail. Nightly ecstasy. Someone has to provide it. I’m interviewing candidates.”
Vail made a convincing gagging sound, and I pushed down the feeling that I wanted to take the words back.
“Fine, I’m never asking again,” my brother said. “Let’s go.”
—
There was mail and a single newspaper on the Thornhills’ front step because Vail had taken the others when he lifted the key.
The grass was overgrown by a week or two, and the planter on the front porch was black and dead. I had been excited to go on this little expedition, but now I wasn’t so sure, and it wasn’t just because I could hear Ethan’s perplexed voice in my head.
Vail didn’t seem to have any hesitation as he unlocked the frontdoor and swung it open. He stepped inside, making his usual clatter of noise. I followed behind.
“Oi!” I called out, using the English accent I’d learned in a long-ago acting class, back when I thought I might act in something. The accent came out when I was nervous. “Anyone ’ome?”
Vail gave me an annoyed look, and I wedged the toe of my sneaker hard into the back of his jean-clad knee. He swatted me away.
“No one’s home,” he said, as if I was slow in comprehension. “Let’s look around.”
“What are we looking for?” I asked.
“Anything interesting,” was his laconic reply.
I walked into the Thornhills’ living room, which was packed with fussy furniture. An overstuffed sofa in a gaudy floral pattern. An overwrought side table. A glass-top coffee table that was probably a nightmare to keep clean. A floral throw rug under it all.
