Annie hated that Lucas had called her famous, but knew he’d meant no harm. “And?” she asked again.
“And that was all. Until about a month ago, when I heard he’d been on the island again. And that he was dating her.” His chin dropped. “I should have remembered it earlier. Maybe it would have helped. But when I told him about you in September, he asked me if you were the one who found a baby . . .”
Annie stopped breathing. She wondered if she was imagining this conversation, if her head injury had put her in a coma and she was dreaming now. Stephen—Caleb’s father—hadn’t wanted Bella; his wife had socked him in the jaw when Annie revealed the truth.
Then Winnie reached over and took Annie’s hand. Despite the doctor’s instructions, Annie closed her eyes. She had to think. And she could think more clearly if she wasn’t sitting in a hospital with a dozen stitches in her head.
“Where’s Caleb now?” If he had Bella, having her talk into the phone might have been a kind gesture to let her know that Bella was alive. Andfine, as the note had read. Maybe he wasn’t all bad.
But how did he get Annie’s number?
Abigail. Or, at least from Abigail’s phone—though Annie had no idea if she had her number. Unless, for some reason, John had put it there.
“I don’t know where he is,” Lucas was saying. “I haven’t heard that anyone’s seen him.”
“Lucas, please. This is important. Do you know where his friends live on the island? Anyone he might be staying with?”
He thought for a moment. “He really only hung out with his brother. Once in a while they came up to the Winsted house, but . . .”
Annie felt as if someone had filled a bucket with icy water out of Squibnocket Pond, where she’d almost just landed, and dumped it over her head.
“What’s Taylor got to do with this?” Then she realized, maybe it wasn’t Taylor but Rex. “And why would Caleb be at their house?”
“Not their house on Chappy,” Lucas replied. “The one up-island, not far from the reservation. The old man won it in the derby a long time ago.”
An image of the clipping from theGazetteflashed into Annie’s brain. “But . . . but he won land, didn’t he? Not a house, right?”
Winnie stepped into the conversation. “You’re right. He won the land. But over time, he built kind of a ramshackle place. More like a fishing shack, I think. I never saw it, but my father told me about it.”
Annie struggled to think. Was Rex involved, after all? But why? And how? Hadn’t Kevin said that Rex was on Chappy the whole time since Bella had gone missing? Then again, with Kevin and Taylor—and Jonas—spending so much time looking for her, would they have noticed if he’d left?
And how was Rex connected to Caleb Thurman?
Her head hurt now, in more ways than one. “Do you know where the place is?”
“Sure,” Lucas said. “And I hate to disagree, Aunt Winnie, but it’s more than a shack now. It’s a neat little cabin. A bunch of us used to hang out there sometimes. You know, high school stuff. It even has a woodstove where we heated up canned stew and baked beans.”
Annie and Winnie exchanged looks that said they were sure a group of high school kids did more in a cabin than heat up canned food. Then Annie slid off the bed. “Take me there. Right now.”
On the way out of the ER, she signed herself out, against the doctor’s wishes, but made sure the nurse had her number so they could contact her with the X-ray results. Not that Annie cared about that.
Chapter 41
Once again, the trip up-island seemed to take forever. The roads were even slicker now, with several inches of snow piled on top of the ice. It was slow going in Winnie’s van; Annie tried not to be impatient.
Lucas finally took a right onto a bumpy, narrow side road. In addition to the snow, it was dark, thanks to the day having turned to twilight. Annie tried hard not to wonder whom they’d find—if anyone.
Then they came upon a pickup truck, newer than Taylor’s, but not by much. Parked next to it was a small car. Annie also saw the silhouette of a cabin, a short distance away, up on a hill.
Then her stomach roiled. The small car. Her eyes flicked back to it—a VW Beetle. Was Abigail’s car a Beetle? The compact size would be perfect for both the island and the Cape when she was in school. John had said she’d brought the car back to the Vineyard to have during winter break. But Annie hadn’t yet seen it.
Without intending to, she let out a moan.
Then she said, “Stop. I’ll walk in from here.”
Lucas stopped.
Annie got out. She touched the hood of the truck to steady herself, to stop her head—and her world—from spinning.
