Evercrossed

them.

They craned their necks to see. When Ivy saw Will?s eyes narrow, she turned to look as well. Guy was talking to a dark?haired girl, shaking his head and gesturing forcefully, as if making a point.

He walked away from the girl, but a moment later, after she said something to his back, he turned toward her again and continued the conversation, more heatedly than before. ?Excuse me,? Ivy said as she moved toward them.

?Catfight!? Kelsey announced hopefully. Before Ivy reached Guy, the girl walked away. She was digging in her purse and Ivy caught a snatch of the ringtone from the girl?s phone.

The girl pressed the phone to her ear, then gazed back one more time at Guy.

Ivy barely caught the sound of her light voice as the girl hurried away. ?Did she say ?Bye, Luke??? Ivy asked. Guy spun around. ?What??

?I thought she called you ?Luke,” Ivy said. ?She didn?t,? he replied, but he wouldn?t meet Ivy?s eyes. ?Do you know her, Guy??

?I?ve never seen her in my life. She was asking directions.? He had gotten awfully riled up over a set of directions. ?To where?? His eyes sparked. ?Is this an interrogation?? Tilting her head to one side, Ivy studied him.

?No.?

?Sorry,? Guy apologized, his voice softening. ?I shouldn?t have snapped.?

After a moment. Ivy nodded. ?And I shouldn?t have pressed you.?

Guy looked past her, glancing around anxiously. ?I?m really tired, Ivy. Do you mind taking me home??

?Don?t you want to eat something??

?I have stuff in my cooler.? She gave in with a sigh. Perhaps Luke was the name of the person who called the girl on her phone, Ivy thought, as they walked silently to her car. Even so, she knew that something had upset Guy and he was covering it up.

When they arrived back at Willow Pond, Guy didn?t want her to stay. ?I?m going straight to bed,? he said, climbing quickly out of the Beetle.

Ivy opened her door and met him halfway around the car. ?What if I just sit by the pond and check on you in a little while to make sure you?re okay??

?No.? The swiftness of his response made her blink. ?I need some sleep, Ivy. I need… some time to myself — some space.?

The same thing that she had asked of Will. Ivy?s throat tightened. ?I?ll be better tomorrow. Don?t forget to feed Pegasus,? he added with a forced smile.

?Call me,? she said.

Without replying, Guy brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers and walked away.

IVY PACED THE FIRST FLOOR OF THE COTTAGE, mentally replaying the scene between Guy and the girl at the carnival, trying to interpret it. Guy?s gestures suggested strong emotions, but whether she had seen anger, frustration, or disbelief, Ivy couldn?t say.

If the girl had claimed she knew Guy, why hadn?t he told Ivy, so they could pursue whatever clues he now had? Maybe he wanted to check things out without her looking over his shoulder. Maybe he didn?t like what he had heard about himself; maybe it was something terrible.

No, Ivy told herself. Your mind has been poisoned by Beth and Will.

Still, once suspicion had taken root, she couldn?t get rid of it. Each time she passed through the kitchen, she saw Beth?s laptop lying open on the table. Was it a desire to help or a failure to trust that tempted her?

She wasn?t sure, but at eleven fifteen, with the others still out, she sat down to Google the name ?Luke.?

?Luke? and what? Ivy drummed her fingers. ?Luke? and ?missing person,? she typed, then laughed at herself. Only 51,800 results. She tried ?Luke? and ?missing person? and ?Massachusetts.? 8,310 results. As she scanned them she found entries for hospitals named St Luke and people named Luke who were not from Massachusetts but had a relative there or had passed through there.

She could eliminate ?St.? and ?hospital? from the search, but did it really make sense to restrict her search to Massachusetts? Why not Rhode Island or any other state, she thought; Cape Cod was crawling with tourists — the girl at the carnival could have been one.

Perhaps if she searched by date. But when did Guy go missing? The day he was left for dead on the beach, or could it have been some time before? The articles and postings always mentioned age, but she didn?t know exactly how old he was.

Ivy continued scanning, clicking on entries, reading description after description of people who had disappeared into thin air. She?d had no idea there were so many.

Had something terrible happened to them, she wondered, or had they ?escaped? and lied to start new lives? Engrossed in what she was reading, she didn?t hear the footsteps. She wasn?t aware of Will until he leaned on the back of her chair.

?Ivy, what are you doing?? She slammed down the computer lid and whirled around. ?Will! You scared me,? she said, knowing that was a flimsy excuse for her overreaction. Will remained unruffled. ?Who?s Luke?? When he reached as if he was going to open the laptop, she laid her hand on it. ?I don?t know.?

?Is that Guy?s real name??

?If it is,? she replied, ?I?m sure you would have discovered that by now with your thorough investigation.? Will grimaced. ?I?m not your enemy. Ivy.?

?And you think that Guy is?? He folded his arms. ?I think you can?t tell the difference between a guy caring about you and a guy using you.?

Ivy felt the heat rise in her cheeks. ?Get out of here! Get out now!?

Before Will could slam the door behind him. Ivy closed down her search and turned off the computer. If only she could turn off the growing fear in her mind.

Twenty?four

FROM THE MOMENT SHE AWOKE TUESDAY MORNING, Ivy checked her cell phone, but Guy didn?t call. It was hard not to phone him, but he?d said he wanted space, so she forced herself to be patient.

Late in the afternoon, finding the phone?s silence unbearable, she drove to St.

Peter?s to practice piano, hoping to fill her head with Chopin, Schubert, and Beethoven. At six thirty, she picked up a sandwich at a cafe near the church, then returned to practice.

What if something has happened to Guy? she thought, and almost used that as an excuse to call him. But she knew that Kip had her phone number ?in case of emergency? and would have contacted her if there had been a problem. At eight twenty, she drove home, setting her phone on the car seat so she could quickly pick it up.

Arriving at the Seabright, Ivy saw that both Kelsey?s and Will?s cars were gone.

The cottage?s windows were dark, and inside it was silent. Ivy walked quietly, reluctant to disturb the building?s twilight In the kitchen only the night?light burned, shining on a note from Aunt Cindy that said she would be out for the evening.

Hoping to take her mind off Guy, Ivy headed upstairs to fetch her paperback mystery. Halfway up the steps she stopped. Candlelight flickered against the bedroom?s low ceiling. She tiptoed to the top of the stairs and stared with amazement at Beth, who was sitting on the floor by Dhanya?s bed, focusing on the Ouija board.

Above the circle of tea lights, Beth?s profile was ghostly white, a streak of crimson staining her cheek. She gave no sign of knowing that Ivy was moving toward her.

With her fingers resting on the planchette, Beth closed her eyes and chanted softly. Ivy leaned forward, trying to hear the words. ?Answer, answer, give me your answer? Beth murmured.

Seconds ticked by. Beth?s hands, shoulders, and head were still. The only movement was that of her eyes beneath pale, closed lids. She was like a person dreaming, her eyes darting behind the lids, seeing things that Ivy could not.

? Answer, answer, give me your answer.?

The planchette started to move, its motion erratic at first.