The Edge of the Shadows (8 page)

This, apparently, was what Hayley's mom had been waiting for because once the bathroom door closed, she said to Hayley, “Sit yourself at that table because you and I are going to talk.”

Hayley did so. She saw that on the table lay the catalogues from Reed College and from Brown University, so Hayley knew that not only had Tatiana Primavera spoken to her mom but her mom had also gone into her bedroom and rooted through her things.

“Exactly what is going on?” Julie Cartwright demanded of her daughter.

Hayley went for dumb. “Huh? I got those at school. Miss Primavera—”

“I know all about Miss Primavera and her recommendation that you apply to either Reed or Brown. As far as I'm concerned, it's a fine idea because there're scholarships available and you have the grades and there's also work-study and low-interest loans and financial aid but
none
of that”—she slapped her hand on the table when she said
none
—“is going to make the slightest bit of difference if you don't get your butt in gear. So you better have a very good story about why you haven't even begun your senior essay.”

“I've begun it.”

“Have you indeed. And when did you intend to let Ms. Primavera have a look at it?”

“It's too complicated, so far.”

“I'm supposed to believe that?” Julie demanded. “Let me see. A string of perfect grades in every English class you've ever taken since seventh grade and suddenly an essay to accompany your college applications is too complicated? Do you actually want me to believe—”

“Mom,” Hayley said.

“Do not ‘mom' me. The last thing I need is for you to become one more thing I get to worry about.”

Hayley heard the tremor in her mother's voice and as if to underscore this, the toilet in the downstairs bathroom flushed, the water ran, the door opened, and her father's walker scraped the jamb. He swore in a low voice, but it carried to the kitchen. Both Hayley and her mom looked in his direction.

“I have,” Julie Cartwright said quietly, “quite enough to handle.”

“I'm not going to college.”

“What kind of game is this? Is this Seth's idea to keep you on the island?”

“Seth has nothing to do with anything.”

“You think that's so? He'd love it if you stayed right here on this farm and never gave a thought to going anywhere, to college or even to the mall.”

“Hayley's not going to college?” Brooke had slithered into the room from beyond the dining room, where the living room lay. In there, Cassidy was watching something on television. It was too loud, as usual.

“Your sister and I are discussing something,” Julie Cartwright said to her middle child. “This is private. And you're supposed to be spending time with Cassie.”

“She won't turn it down,” was Brooke's reply, “and it's Hayley's turn to watch her anyway.”

“Brooke, I told you—”

Fiercely, Brooke pulled a chair out from the table. “And
I'm
telling
you
that I'm sick of watching her and I'm sick of doing stuff Hayley's supposed to be doing like helping at the market and I'm sick of cleaning chicken shit out of the—”

“Brooke Jeannette, another demonstration of that kind of language and you know what happens.”

“What?” Brooke demanded. “Shit shit shit. What're you going to do? Wash my mouth out?” That said, she flung herself out of the room. She stormed down the hall toward the back of the house. Hayley and her mother both heard the crash as she ran into her father.

Bill Cartwright cried out. Brooke shrieked, “I'm
sorry
!”

Hayley said to her mom as she hurried from the kitchen, “I can't go off island and I won't go off island.”

FIFTEEN

O
nly three rehearsals were necessary to bring Parker Natalia up to speed on what Triple Threat would be performing at Djangofest. So when the first day of the festival rolled around, the young Canadian was ready. He was also eager to show up the members of BC Django 21.

Seth couldn't blame him. He and Parker had heard that group jamming beneath the bandshell at Useless Bay Coffee House, a trendy coffee and bean-roasting establishment on Second Street in Langley. The sound carried over to the front garden of South Whidbey Commons across the street where Triple Threat was going over their program, so every one of the Triple Threat members had an earful of how good those guys were.

BC Django 21 had replaced Parker with a girl. Seth saw Parker's shoulders slump when he got a look at her and a listen to her music. Loyally, he said to Parker, “You're just as good, man,” but Parker didn't buy it. He wandered off, looking completely bummed. Well, Seth thought, Triple Threat would give him plenty of opportunity to show his stuff.

The slot of 5:00 at the high school was reserved for groups who weren't going to bring in a crowd, but the organizers had reckoned without the vast Darrow clan. There were five original Darrow brothers among the immediate family of Seth's grandfather, and all of them had remained on the island and had produced large families. These families had also remained on the island, marrying into other island families until the Darrow connections were so numerous that people had stopped trying to keep track of them. One thing was certain, though. Every individual with a drop of Darrow blood in his veins showed up at the concert, along with Seth's employer, his fellow builders, and his friends.

The performance was held in the school auditorium. Aside from his family, Seth was happy to see from backstage that Hayley had come. So had Becca and Derric. Jenn McDaniels was with them. The kid he'd met at his grandfather's place—Aidan Martin—was hanging with those others, too. So was a girl Seth didn't recognize, but he got introduced to her at intermission when he took Parker over to meet anyone he hadn't yet met.

The girl was Isis Martin, Aidan's sister, and it turned out she was tight with Hayley. She was a serious babe, and Seth gave a glance at Parker to see if he'd registered this. But he found the young Canadian man eying Hayley, who was also eying him. She was even blushing. Seth heard Jenn McDaniels mutter to Becca, “Whoa, trigger that Romeo and Juliet music,” which told him he wasn't imagining things about some sort of instant attraction between Hayley and Parker.

People were talking all around him, but he was listening to Hayley tell Parker that she was a senior at the high school, that she was an old friend of Seth's, and that she lived up island a ways on a farm called Smugglers Cove Farm and Flowers. Then someone started talking directly to him so Seth couldn't catch the rest but he was relieved when Parker said he was going outside to have a smoke to steady his nerves for their performance. He was quickly
unrelieved
, however, when Parker added, “See you later?” to Hayley.

Parker worked his way out of the auditorium. Derric said, “Nice score, Hayley.” Isis Martin said, “That guy? He's, like, totally gay. You c'n tell by looking.” Her eyes were speculatively on Parker as she spoke. He was digging a package of cigarettes from his shirt's breast pocket. She said something about the way the dude moved his hips. Then she added, “I need a hit, too,” and she followed him out of the auditorium.

Jenn said sardonically, “Uh right. He's
extremely
gay. You better hope he gets back in time for your set, Seth, 'cause I betcha what Isis has in mind is going to take a while.”

Hayley spoke. “Jenn! That's not fair.”

Jenn rolled her eyes. “Come on. Am I the
only
one who's noticed that whenever she's around—” She seemed to realize that everything she was saying was in front of Isis's brother as well. She turned to him with a “Sorry, Aidan,” but he had already left them.

“He's a smoker, too,” Hayley told them as if in explanation.

“He's a weirdo,” Jenn said. “He probably wants to watch.”

Becca said something that Seth didn't catch because for his part, he was fixed on Hayley. He knew he couldn't do a thing about her and her feelings, but in spite of this knowledge there were times when he
still
wanted to change how it was between them. She caught him looking at her. She offered him a smile and the words, “Good luck up there,” and that was it.

At that point, he became more concerned about when Parker intended to come back inside. Time was ticking away and the MC had just taken the stage to tell everyone the concert was about to go on. Someone opened a door and yelled this information to those who'd left the auditorium, and soon enough Parker Natalia returned. Behind him came Isis Martin. It looked, Seth thought, like Jenn was right. Isis was smiling knowingly. She rejoined the others and the last thing Seth heard her say as he walked away was, “Uh . . . maybe he's
not
gay after all.”

After that, Triple Threat took the stage with their instruments. A murmur went around the auditorium. This was directed, Seth figured, at Parker. The Canadian was providing the
ahhh
factor for the ladies. When it came time for his solo, though, the
ahhh
factor turned into the
oh-my-God
factor. He was one hell of a fiddler.

After their performance, it was time for the final group of the evening to come onto the stage. But they only got as far as taking up their instruments when the first of the sirens split the evening in two, and an alarm went off.

• • •

THE FIRE WASN'T
at the school. But the alarm and the proximity of the sirens put the crowd on its feet and sent them toward the doors. Some people went outside to the front of the school; others went through the New Commons and out to the back. From there, they could see the fire engine on the sweep of hill that led up to South Whidbey Park. It flashed red and yellow lights into the night sky while some distance from this, a group of fire fighters hosed a blaze that was eating up an old shed on the side of one of the baseball diamonds within the park.

A sheriff's car was there, too. Seth heard Derric say to Becca, “Looks like the plan didn't work.”

For a crazy second, Seth thought the guy was talking about
his
plan to burn down a shed in the middle of his concert. But they told him that the sheriff's department and the fire chief had planned security at every Djangofest venue just in case the summer's firebug showed up for the thrill of setting another blaze in close proximity to a crowd.

“They thought he'd set a fire right
at
the event,” Becca said to Seth.

“Looks close enough to me,” Seth said. Then he looked around, although he couldn't have said what he was seeking in the crowd.

What he found, though, was Hayley and Parker with Parker's arm around Hayley protectively as if he intended to prove to her that he'd be just the guy to save her if they had to make a run for safety.

SIXTEEN

J
enn McDaniels was the one who brought up Isis. She did it in her usual Jenn way, without putting any icing on the subject. They were at the lunch table and the first thing Jenn noted was that Isis Martin had not graced them with her presence. She was, instead, sitting with her brother across the New Commons where Aidan generally sat alone. Becca wished they were closer so that she could pick up their whispers because their conversation looked intense. As it was, Becca could only get the whispers of her immediate companions, Jenn's having to do with loathing Isis, Hayley's having to do with wondering when Jenn was going to
come out and admit it because no one really cares
, and Derric's having to do with
never knew there was an album and now what am I supposed to
, which caused her to look at him and wonder what was going on.

She used the ear bud so that she could focus on what was being
said
at their table instead of hearing what people were thinking. What was being said was Jenn declaring, “There were
no
fires till that chick showed up.”

Hayley said, “That's not something you should even hint at without having proof, Jenn.”

“I'm not hinting. I'm
saying
. There's something way seriously wrong with that space case: how she never shuts up, how it's all about her, her, her, how she pretends to be friends and then . . . like, hey, look at how she followed that dude Parker when he left the Commons the other night when
everyone
could see he was hot for you.”

“Here she comes,” Derric said quietly.

Isis, Becca thought, looked a little pinched around the eyes. On the other side of the Commons, her brother slouched out of the room. Isis thumped down into an extra chair at the table and said, “He has a bad day and the world's the problem.” She wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, but Hayley was the one who asked, “Is something wrong?”

Jenn mouthed at Becca, Here we go, and next to her Becca heard Derric chuckle. She couldn't blame either of them because the simple question from Hayley was all it took.

Isis said, “He's all upset about American Lit. I mean, it was a
quiz
, that's all, but the teacher had
said
there would be one and he forgot.
And
he didn't read what he was supposed to read in whatever-it-was, a chapter in
Moby-Dick
or whatever, and now it's the end of the world to him. Brothers. You're lucky you have a sister, Hayl.”

“Jenn has brothers,” Becca offered. “She c'n relate.”

Isis looked at her, her eyes rather vague and unfocused as if Becca were on the other side of the room. She said, “Jenn? Oh,
Jenn
. You do?”

“Two,” Becca said because she knew very well that no way on earth was Jenn going to talk to the girl.

Isis said, “I had two. Only one now but . . . wish I had a sister. Hayley, c'n I talk to you? In private?” And then to the others, “No offense, you guys, but this is personal.” She got to her feet and said, “Hayl? I mean, if you don't mind. You're the only one I can . . . you know.”

Hayley got to her feet. She shoved the rest of her lunch into its paper sack and said, “Oh gosh. Sure,” and followed Isis. They went out of the New Commons in the direction of the stairs to the classrooms above.

“I'm telling you, there is something r-o-n-g with that chick,” Jenn declared.

“You forgot the w,” Derric told her.

• • •

W
OR NOT,
Becca wondered about Jenn's aversion toward Isis Martin. Jenn always had a chip on her shoulder and it was especially large if she figured someone came from a privileged background. From Isis's chatter, all of them had learned about her life in Palo Alto, about her boyfriend, Brady, and about her parents who were both doctors and, in Jenn's eyes, consequently rolling in cash. Isis had a car, an iPhone, an iPad, and a wardrobe that had not been purchased at the local thrift store. Those facts alone would have made Jenn hate her on principle. But the truth was that Isis Martin hadn't been the only person newly come to the island and in the vicinity since the time of the first fire. Her brother also was new to Whidbey. But so was someone else.

She went to the library to check on this last person: Parker Natalia. For if Isis and Aidan had both ducked out of the high school auditorium prior to the latest fire, so had Parker. And now Parker was staying in the forest at Ralph Darrow's place at the end of a very dry summer.

She left Derric with Jenn. They'd just been joined by Jenn's old friend Squat Cooper, whose “Whassup, you guys?” had to be answered at length with an invitation to enter an argument about who was more inclined to set fires, boys or girls. Squat was more than willing to join in, so it was easy enough for Becca to take off alone with just, “Library,” to Derric, to which she added, “Later?” He nodded.

Inside the library, there was one computer free. She logged on and thought about where to begin. Checking out his story seemed the logical place. He'd said he was from Nelson, he'd said his family had a restaurant there, it was called Natalia and had been there for years . . . If all this was true, it would be somewhere on the Net because everything was if you knew where to look.

This was the case for Natalia, an Italian restaurant that specialized in Sicilian food. Turned out that it had been reviewed by newspapers from as far away as Calgary and Vancouver. So it was real enough, and right where Parker said it would be. As to Parker himself—

“So why'd you lie?”

Becca swung around.

Aidan Martin stood there. He read the computer's screen over her shoulder.

At the entire idea of lying, Becca knew she had to get more off the boy than merely his spoken words. She flicked the ear bud out of her ear and said, “What're you talking about?”

Some kind of secret . . .
didn't give her a lot to work with. What was it to him anyway if she had secrets? It was starting to look like she wasn't the only one.

He said, “You said you were doing an assignment for art class.”

“What're you talking about?”

“Drawing faces? Comparing faces? That day over at South Whidbey Commons? Only you don't take art, so I guess you were lying. Why?”
All the people to look at in the entire frigging world so what would it really take for her
made Becca's palms start to sweat, especially in combination with the idea of an art class.

She said, “And you know this how?”

“That you aren't taking art? Because I
am
taking art and you ain't in the class.”

“Uh . . . right, Aidan. But there's more than one art class in this school, you know.”

“Sure. But you aren't in any of them.”

“And you know
this
how?”

“Because I checked your schedule.”
Something not right all the way around . . . if her and me get talking
 . . .
boyfriend but if I know Isis
 . . .

Becca felt the alarm bells jangling through her nerves. His whispers were heading in more than one direction and she didn't like any of them. She said, “What's it to you? And, by the way, there're other art classes on this island besides the ones taught at school, okay?”

He sat down next to her, pulling a chair over to do so. He looked at the monitor, where the screen still showed its references to Natalia's Restaurant in Nelson, B.C. He said, “That's the last name of that fiddler dude, right? Natalia. You hot for him?”
Because that black dude would
 . . .

“I have a cousin in the same town,” Becca said, going back to the story she'd used with Parker. “She never mentioned the restaurant Parker's family owns, and I wanted to check it out. D'you want to tell me why this is
any
of your business?”

“Hey, chill.”

“I'm not gonna chill. You looked up my schedule, you want to know why I'm reading about a restaurant in Canada, you accuse me of lying, and I'm not going—”

“'S happening?” It was Derric's voice. Becca hadn't heard him or seen him come into the library. And now there he was and the look on his face told her he was there to make sure that she wasn't harassed by anyone.

• • •

AIDAN GOT TO
his feet. He said, “Hey, man,” and he thought
trouble
that I don't need
.

“Hey,” Derric said in turn. But that was all. Obviously, he was waiting for an answer.

Becca logged off the Internet site because the only worse thing than having Derric wonder why Aidan Martin was bugging her was having Derric wonder why she was looking up anything having to do with Nelson, B.C.

She said to him, “Hey. You finished up fast.”

“Finished what?”

“Lunch.”

“Bell's in five minutes. I was planning to walk you to class.”

Like she'd get lost or something
was what Aidan was thinking but at least he didn't say it. What he did say with a lazy slow smile was, “Saved by the bell, then,” to Becca. And “See you guys later,” to both of them.

Derric said to him, “Too bad about American Lit,” although he didn't sound particularly sympathetic.

Aidan frowned. “What about American Lit?”

“Quiz, test, whatever it was,” Derric said. “Your sister told us—”

Aidan gave a high-pitched laugh. The PTA mom who ran the library at lunchtime hissed at them all to be silent or leave. Aidan said, “
That's
what she said?” and then he was gone, shouldering his backpack of books and shoving open the door.