Vanished (16 page)

Neela began to slowly calm down. Because it soon occurred to her that if Elizabeth Bones had any interest in stealing the veena, the last thing she would do was publish a photograph of it in
Boston Living
. Or bring the magazine to her daughter's class. There had to be another explanation. At that moment, Neela met Lynne's stricken eyes, and she knew she had to talk to Amanda's mother right away.

At last, Elizabeth Bones wrapped things up and began packing up her equipment. As soon as she had answered the last question, Neela leaped from her chair.

Amanda, who was standing next to her mother, saw Neela approaching. Even with everything on her mind, it struck Neela, as she saw them side by side, how unlike each other they were. Amanda's auburn hair was in direct contrast to her mother's platinum blond. “You remember Neela,” Amanda said. “The girl with the veena.”

Elizabeth Bones smiled, but with a distant, puzzled look in her eyes. “This girl?”

“She lost her veena. I told you that.”

Elizabeth Bones kept smiling. “You tell me so many things, Amanda.” She said it as if most of what Amanda told her was in between important deadlines at the office and therefore subject to being forgotten. Then she said, “But there was that other girl.”

“What other girl?” asked Amanda.

Neela finally spoke up. She had been dying to talk during the whole exchange between Amanda and her mother. “Mrs. Bones, I really like your work, but there's something strange here about the veena photo.”

“Oh, yes?” Elizabeth Bones asked.

“Well, here's the thing,” Neela continued. “Where did
you photograph it? Because—”

“What other girl?” Amanda repeated.

“The other girl who contacted me,” Elizabeth Bones said to her daughter.

Why weren't they listening to her? “It's
my
veena,” said Neela. “In the photograph.”

“
Your
veena?” Amanda said. “I thought it was stolen.”

Elizabeth Bones shook her head. “It was definitely another girl's. I would know. I went to her apartment.”

Amanda turned to her. “Mom, who was the other girl?”

“She's in this classroom.” Elizabeth Bones pointed. “That girl right there.”

Even before she looked, Neela knew who it was.

As Neela made her way
across the room, she tried to think of the first question to ask. Lynne watched her, and it seemed she slid farther into her desk, her frizzy hair spilling over in sad waves. Behind Neela trailed Amanda, while her mother talked with Ms. Reese.

Neela held up the magazine article to Lynne. “Do you know about this?”

Lynne looked nervously at the photograph. “I can explain,” she said.

“Yeah, right,” said Amanda.

Neela pursed her lips. “Let's go somewhere else,” she said to Lynne.

“Library?” Lynne whispered.

Neela nodded.

Amanda made a move, but Neela held her back with one hand. “Maybe you can stay and tell Ms. Reese where we went.”

“I'll come with you, Neela,” Amanda said. “In case you need backup.”

“We'll be done in five minutes,” Neela said firmly. The last thing she needed was “backup” from Amanda.

Amanda looked insulted. But at that moment, Elizabeth Bones motioned her daughter over.

“All right,” Amanda agreed reluctantly. “But I'm totally telling Ms. Reese what you did, Lynne. I hope you get fried.”

“I hope you eat crow,” Lynne said evenly.

Neela wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but it sounded worse than getting fried. Lynne was tougher than she thought.

But once they were outside the classroom, it was a different story. Lynne's face fell and she spoke in a rush. “I know how it looks, but I didn't take your veena, Neela. I needed the money, and it was too good a deal to pass up.”

“Start at the beginning,” Neela said. “You said you didn't take the veena. But Ms. Bones said she photographed it in your apartment.”

Lynne looked miserable. “I didn't take it. Someone else did.”

“Hal.”

“Yes, Hal.” Lynne nodded, unwilling to go on.

“And who is he? How do you know him?”

Lynne gulped. “He's my neighbor.”

“Your neighbor!” Neela exclaimed. “But why did he take my veena?”

In a tearful voice, Lynne began. Hal was an old man in her building that Lynne had befriended. He used to know a veena player a long time ago that he was still hung up over. Whenever Lynne went over to see to Hal, all he talked about was Veronica Wyvern.

“He's a very confused, sad person. And when he found out that someone in my class was bringing a veena, he said he was sure it was Veronica's.”

“What?” Neela's heart started pounding. She had heard the first time; she just wanted to hear it again.

“He thought the veena belonged to Veronica.”

“And did it?” Neela could hardly get herself to say the words.

Lynne shook her head. “I tried telling him he was wrong, but he didn't believe me.”

How would Lynne know if the veena had belonged to Veronica or not? But there was more to Lynne's story, so Neela kept listening.

“Anyway, I wish I hadn't told him about the instrument unit we did in the fall, because I never thought he would come to school and follow you home.”

“He followed me from school?” Neela asked. “But I never saw him.”

“You weren't looking for him. He just snuck into the church and pretended he had been there the whole time, and, well, you know the rest.”

“I thought I heard someone behind me,” Neela mused slowly. “And that's why he was wet, too. But he also seemed like he belonged to the church. He knew where everything was. And someone told me he volunteers there.”

Lynne shrugged. “Maybe he does.”

Neela didn't know whether to get angry or cry. “The whole time you knew where my veena was,” she said in disbelief. “The whole time you let me believe I'd lost it, and you
lied
about it to me even when I asked you about Hal.”

Lynne's face wavered. “I'm sorry. It was so wrong, I can't say how sorry I am, except that I never stole your veena, and I always meant for you to get it back safely.” When Neela didn't say anything, she went on. “I found the business card from Amanda on the ground. So I called her mom and pretended it was my veena, and offered it for the photo shoot. She came to Hal's apartment to take photos, and I pretended I lived there, too. But I never meant to keep your veena. I was planning to get Hal to return it to you as soon as the photo shoot was done. It's just that I really needed the money. There was something…special I needed to buy.”

“The camera,” Neela said flatly.

Lynne's eyes widened. “How did you know?”

Neela looked away. “It doesn't matter.”

“I would give you the money I got from
Boston Living
, but I already spent it. So”—Lynne swallowed—“you can have my camera.”

Neela's palms started to sweat. “I don't want your camera.”

Lynne stared at the ground. “But I don't have anything else to give.”

“I don't want anything from you,” Neela said slowly. “I just want my veena back. So maybe if you can tell Hal to return it to me, then we can forget about the whole thing.”

Lynne shook her head. “I'm sorry, but I can't.”

“But you just said you were going to get him to do that.”

“Well, I can't anymore.” Lynne's voice was tight.

“Then tell me where he lives. I'll talk to him myself.”

“No.”

Neela was getting exasperated. “You can't keep protecting Hal, and—”

Lynne looked up, tears spilling from her eyes. “He
can't
give the veena back to you because he doesn't have it anymore!”

“What?” Neela exclaimed.

“Someone else took it. I don't know, but it's gone.”

Neela stared at Lynne. The veena had vanished…
again
?

Maybe the curse was true after all.

Between sobs
, Lynne finished the worst part of her story—the end. Last week, someone broke into Hal's apartment and stole the veena. Now Hal was more upset than ever, especially at Lynne, because she was the one who had arranged for the photo shoot. He was sure that someone from
Boston Living
had stolen the veena.

“Why does he think that?” Neela asked.

By now Lynne's sobs had quieted down. “They were the only ones who saw the veena in the apartment. And they arranged for the complimentary dinner.”

“What complimentary dinner?”

“I got a call later in the day from their office, saying Hal and I were entitled to a free dinner that evening at Swilley's.”

“I love Swilley's,” Neela said.

“I know. Their pizza rocks. But now I can't stand the place because when I got back from there,
that's
when we discovered the veena was stolen from his apartment.”

“But it could be anyone. Maybe a different neighbor?”

Lynne shook her head. “I didn't tell anyone about the veena or the photoshoot. It had to be someone from
Boston Living
.”

“When you came back from Swilley's, do you remember anything else that was strange? Any clues? Try to remember.”

“All I know is that when we came back, the living room window was unlocked, and so was the door.”

“Because whoever it was walked out the door?”

“Yeah, but he or she must have come in through the window. The apartment is on the ground floor.”

“And it was just Mrs. Bones that came that day.”

Lynne shook her head. “Oh, no. There were lots of people. A lighting guy, an assistant, someone writing notes, and an Indian guy who looked at the veena. But I didn't get anyone's name except for Mrs. Bones.”

At that moment, the door opened. It was Ms. Reese. “Girls. Amanda told me where you were. Please return to your seats, and save your discussions for after school.”

Back in the classroom, Neela sat at her desk, feeling drained. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Hal was Lynne's neighbor. Not only did Lynne not tell her, she found a way to make money out of the whole thing. And most important of all, the veena was missing…again. Was it the curse that made the veena disappear twice in a row—first from her, then from Hal?

Meanwhile, Matt and Penny were looking at her expectantly.

“What happened?” Matt whispered. “Yeah, Amanda won't stop talking about it,” Penny added.

“It was Lynne's neighbor,” Neela whispered to them. “Except now the veena is missing again.”

“Neighbor!” Matt repeated.

“How weird,” Penny whispered. She glanced at Lynne, who was staring down at her desk.

Amanda leaned over from her desk. “But it was Lynne, right?”

Neela frowned. “Not exactly.”

“Who else could it be?” Amanda continued. “You might as well tell, because you know I'm going to get the whole story from my mom later.”

“Your mom doesn't know the whole story,” Neela said.

“Is it true?” Amanda said to Lynne. “Did you take Neela's veena?”

“Sshh,” Neela hissed. What had gotten into Amanda?

By now, everyone in the classroom was watching Lynne.

Lynne looked like a small animal cornered by a pack of wolves. “It was complicated.…” she started, then stopped, on the verge of tears again.

“Because you're a thief?” Amanda asked.

“Amanda,” Neela said.

“I'm just trying to help you,” Amanda said gravely. “Until this year, no one in our class has ever stolen anything from anybody. What's different this year?
She's
different.”

A wave of anger overcame Neela. “Maybe it's okay to be different,” she said fiercely. She looked over at Penny, who didn't say anything. But Penny never said anything. That was how she was.

“How can you defend her?” Amanda exclaimed. “She stole your instrument!”

“She didn't,” Neela said.

“How do you know?”

“I know!” Neela's voice rose. “So you can stop hating her. And me.”

Amanda stared at her. “I never said I hated you.”

Neela flushed. “Well, you aren't exactly nice to me.”

“Yeah, you're a pain in the butt,” Matt added.

This was so unexpected, Neela laughed out loud, then stopped when she saw the hurt look in Amanda's eyes.

By now, Ms. Reese, who had finished saying good-bye to Elizabeth Bones, had noticed the conversation. “Girls, enough. Please, everyone, get ready for your next class.”

Amanda turned back in her seat unsteadily. Neela watched, feeling a nagging sense of shame. She hadn't meant to lash out. But she did stand up for Lynne when Amanda was being hateful. Wasn't that the right thing to do?

Though, if Lynne was grateful, it was impossible to know. Not once did she look up from her desk during that whole conversation. And afterward, not once did she speak to anyone, either. Occasionally she drew back a curly strand and wiped her eyes. Except for that, she was perfectly still. Then, after class ended, everyone rose—noisy, relieved, banging the edges of their tables with their chairs. In the midst of that end-of-class ruckus, Lynne silently disappeared.