But I have a feeling Jess Greene might be an exception.
“I’m happy to share with you—” Salem begins, but Jess shakes her head.
“I don’t know what my sister has told you. But whatever it is, it’s a mistake. She doesn’t know—”
“Jess,” Tegan says, and if there were traces of regret or apology in her voice, she’s stripped them out now. She sounds as harsh and as hard as her sister did only a second ago. She sounds angry.
For an uncomfortable stretch, the two stare at each other. This strange arrangement—the four of us standing here—we’re a broken compass. Tegan and Jess at two poles, north and south. Salem and I, east and west. The needle spins frantically around, disoriented by all this tension.
Then Tegan speaks. “I found Mom’s postcards.”
I watch Jess turn white.
“And I know you know where she is.”
Jess swallows. She tightens her fingers around her phone.
And then she says, “You’d better come in.”
* * *
MYguess is, these two don’t often have company.
The house is small, tidy, and spare. The round table in the eat-in kitchen where we stand has four chairs, but it probably only sits two comfortably. In the next room, there’s a couch, but it’s the kind an ex-girlfriend of mine used to have in her studio apartment, the kind where I alone would take over half the thing even if I stayed fully upright. Outside, through the sliding glass door off the living room, there’s a small deck: two chairs, a tiny table in between.
I’m used to feeling huge in a space, but this is next level. Salem and I don’t just seem like we’ve made it crowded; we seem like we’ve made it somehow unsafe. I shove my hands in my pockets, sweat blooming on my lower back.
I look over to where Jess stands by the counter, her arms crossed. Peeking out from beneath the sleeve of her T-shirt, I can see a network of thin, black lines—tattoos I’m too curious about. I caught myself, when she stepped back from the front door and I gestured for Salem and Tegan to go in before me, trying to make eye contact with her. Like I could somehow apologize for how upset she looked.
There’s no reason for me to be noticing her tattoos, no reason to be apologizing.
I shift my gaze toward Salem.
“Shall we sit?” my boss says confidently, gesturing toward the table.
Tegan moves quickly toward it, pulling out a chair. “Oh, yeah—sorry! We should definitely sit.”
I realize Tegan doesn’t just look younger than she did on those video calls. She sounds younger, too. Like she’d really become someone else during them. I’m sure Salem’s already clocked the irony, given the story we’ve come to track down.
Salem and Tegan settle at the table, and at first, Jess stays put, her expression mulish. When her sister and my boss both lift their hands and clasp them atop the table’s surface, though, looking as if they’re settling in for a negotiation, Jess seems to break, resigned. She drops her arms and joins them.
Salem looks over at me meaningfully. She has to be kidding. There’s no way I’ll fit at that table. My knees will probably jam into all three of them.
“I’ll stand,” I say, and take up the spot by the counter Jess vacated.
“Why don’t we start with introductions?” Salem says. “I’m—”
“I know who you are,” Jess says. “Obviously Tegan knows, too. Let’s skip that.”
Salem glides right over this, gesturing to me. “This is my colleague, Adam Hawkins. Everyone calls him Hawk.”
I try not to wince. She’s not wrong, but I’ve never much liked the nickname. I used to try to correct people about it, but other than my family, only Cope ever listened.
But now’s not really the time to think about that. Not until we get through this story.
So I nod in acknowledgment of the introduction, grateful that neither of them seem to recognize my name, and refocus.
I know what happens next matters: I know I’m about to see a side of Salem I haven’t had a chance to yet, and I know it’s an opportunity to learn. On her initial calls and video chats with Jess—no wait, Tegan—things were different. Sure, she wanted the information, but it was Tegan coming to her, not the other way around. Salem was friendly but cautious. In control. The addition of Jess—therealJess—means she needs to change tactics if she wants to keep that control.
