She wondered if she should have Taylor drive her to the station as soon as they reached Edgartown. She wished she felt more in control of herself. But her mind was immersed in the sweet sound of Bella’s voice:Ammie.
They crossed the channel and Taylor found a parking space and they were seated inside the Newes, menus presented, before Annie realized they’d arrived.
She looked around. A small arrangement of logs crackled in the Revolutionary War–era fireplace; fresh green boughs, tiny white lights, and colorful handles from a variety of beer taps stood upright across the wide mantel, creating a clever holiday display.
Their server was a young man with dark, curly hair that reminded Annie of Bella’s.
“Jonas is barely holding up,” Taylor babbled. “He looked so tired last night.”
Jonas, Annie thought.Taylor’s son. The one who started this. She struggled not to blame him as she had in the beginning, which had been four days ago.
“He doesn’t eat,” Taylor continued. “He barely sleeps. It hasn’t helped that Francine wants no part of him. Even after I told him I might have done the same if I were her.”
As always, Taylor was direct, which Annie suspected made it difficult at times for sensitive, artistic Jonas to connect with his mother. Yet they’d developed a bond that both of them seemed to value.
There, Annie thought.I thought about someone else for a few seconds. Maybe her mind wasn’t gone, after all. She swiped her eyes from the fireplace up to the timbers. “I’d like to say I wouldn’t have blamed him,” Annie said, “but I have to agree. Francine and Bella have gone through so much in their young lives. And with the new baby . . .” As soon as she’d said it, she wished she could take it back. The new baby, after all, would be Taylor’s grandchild.
“I don’t want to talk about that,” Taylor said.
Fortunately, the server returned to take their order.
After he left, Annie asked if Taylor had made any progress with Rex. It felt like a safer topic.
“I think he’s biding his time until the current crisis is resolved. Then, for all I know, he’ll have us evicted.”
“I’m so sorry, Taylor. Have you thought about what you’ll do?”
“I’ve started caretaking houses again. Maybe we can find a seasonal family that will let us rent their garage apartment or something. But in all honesty, I can’t think of anything else except Bella. Even if I tried to make a decision, it would probably be the wrong one. I’ve always been better off if I don’t let my emotions get in the way of being smart.”
The comment stung Annie as if Taylor knew what Annie had told Trish. Had her decision to turn down the deal been a mistake that she’d come to regret? Straightening the fork and knife at her place setting, Annie toyed with her napkin.No, she thought. She absolutely, positively, could not think about that now.
“How are John’s girls?” Taylor asked. “Well, never mind about Lucy. I know she’s okay. She takes after her dad. It wouldn’t surprise me if she becomes a cop, too. She’d be a good one. But what about Abigail? I saw her at the Inn; she and her sister are polar opposites, aren’t they?”
A small snicker escaped Annie’s throat. “That they are. Abigail’s quieting down, though. She goes to college on the Cape and plans to transfer to RISD next year. Her heart’s set on fashion design.”
That’s when Annie knew she couldn’t keep this up. She could not sit there and act as if everything were fine. She could not pretend things were under control when Bella had called out to her. Hadcalledher, for God’s sake.
Annie opened her mouth to ask Taylor if they could leave, if she would drive her to the police station. She needed to report the call to Linc. Maybe there was some way they could trace the number. She set her napkin back on the table and started to stand when Taylor spoke again.
“Even as a little girl, Abigail liked prancing around in frilly dresses with shoes and hair things that matched. She was a prima donna by the time she was six.”
Annie squirmed, feeling an unaccustomed need to defend her soon-to-be stepdaughter. “She’s come a long way. She has a nice boyfriend; maybe he’s helped her mature.” She didn’t feel a need to mention her suspicion about how her tire might have been sliced. She really needed to chalk that up to a roadside mishap. She picked up her bag from the empty chair next to her.
“Is he an island boy?”
Annie didn’t want to keep talking, but she still felt a need to be polite for Kevin’s sake. “No,” she said. “He lives in New Hampshire.”
As she was about to leave, even if it meant walking to the station, the server returned with their lunches: a veggie burger for Annie, fish stew for Taylor. If Annie hadn’t just been talking about theboyfriend, as Lucy still called him, she might not have had an epiphany when she glanced up to thank the curly-haired server. When she’d been in Granite and had seen Abigail with her new beau, Annie now knew why the boy had looked familiar—and it had nothing to do with the idea that once anyone had lived on the island a while, other year-rounders tended to look familiar. The truth was, the boyfriend looked like Bella’s half brother . . . one of the two sons of Stephen Thurman, Bella’s biological father.
Taking a quick bite of the burger, Annie nervously chewed, trying to reorganize her thoughts, trying to contemplate what to do next. According to John, Stephen Thurman was dead. But had Abigail’s boyfriend found out that his girlfriend was in some way connected to his father’s unwanted baby? Had he remembered Annie from when she’d arrived unannounced at the Thurmans’ house, first with Earl, then with John? Had he come back to the island to claim Bella? He must not want money—there still was no ransom request. But if he’d wanted to see Bella, why hadn’t he simply shown up at the Inn and asked?
Then Annie had another disturbing thought: Did Abigail know he was involved? And . . . did she have something to do with it? Could that be the real reason she was being so nice? Helping to keep the searchers well fed and offering to alter the wedding dress? Was Abigail feeling . . . guilty?
When Annie tried to swallow, the bread stuck in her throat. She took a long drink of water. Then another. And then she knew what she had to do.
She touched Taylor’s arm. “I need a favor. And I can’t tell you why.”
Taylor frowned.
