“What?” Swan Seeley yells when she hears this. “Are you kidding me?”
“There’s always his brother,” Paula says dreamily. “Uncle Cash.”
With all this drama and excitement going on, it’s a wonder they notice the black Jeep with the tinted windows. But they do, and then there it is again a day or two later, rolling by the school—at pickup this time.
“Creeper,” Swan Seeley says. She cups her hands around her mouth. “Take a picture, it lasts longer!”
“It looked like a woman,” Bonny says. Maia
The group has fallen apart; nobody wants to meet anymore. Maia and Joanie can occasionally talk Huck into dropping them off in town, and they get ice cream from Scoops, then hang out in Powell Park until the Antilles kids get off the four o’clock ferry. Maia sees Shane climb into his dad’s truck but she’s never brave enough to call out to him. One awful day, both Shane and Lillibet get off the ferry and hop into his dad’s truck. Maia still Snapchats with Shane at night and he hasn’t said anything about Lillibet being his girlfriend, but he also hasn’t asked to hang out with Maia after school.
Things between Joanie and Colton aren’t much more promising. All Colton wants to do is play Fortnite at Bright’s house.
Boring.
They need to arrange another meeting, but where? Par Force is too hard to get to, and although it’s private, it’s just an old abandoned house where there’s nothing to do but think about the people who lived there who are now dead and maybe ghosts.
Maia has an idea for a meeting spot but she’s not sure she’s brave enough to go through with it.
She has more freedom than ever. Irene has moved in with Baker and Floyd at the Happy Hibiscus in Fish Bay. Huck said that Irene wants to be with her family—yes, this makes sense—but what he hasn’t explained is why Irene is no longer working on the Mississippi. Huck is in such a foul mood all the time that Maia’s afraid to ask. He says he doesn’t want to find another mate; he’ll just do all the work himself. He’s almost never around to give Maia a ride home from school, but Joanie’s mom and Ayers pick up the slack.
The good news is that Huck isn’t paying much attention to Maia. He still makes her eggs and toast in the mornings but the eggs have been dry, which is no bueno. He doesn’t bother checking one Saturday when Maia says she’s going to Cinnamon Bay to swim with Joanie and a few other friends. They all meet in the parking lot—Maia, Joanie, Colton, Bright, and Shane (but happily, happily, not Lillibet; she’s been grounded for talking back to her parents)—but instead of heading to the beach to swim or watch the volleyball game that is always happening on the eastern end, they walk down the Centerline single file to the turnoff up the hill to Little Cinnamon.
This is how Maia persuaded the boys to show up: they’re going to hang out at her father’s villa, the one with the two-story pool.
The one that has been seized by the FBI.
Shane says he can’t believe Maia is letting them do this. She’s too clever to show her hand; if she wants to get Shane back, she needs to come up with something irresistible. Which in this case is also something illegal.
Maia feels anxious on the Centerline Road. It’s a short walk, but at any moment, one of their parents or teachers could drive by and see the five of them. Once they turn onto Lovers Lane, Maia’s nerves fray with anxiety. The FBI have seized the house. There’s no way Maia should be going anywhere near the place.
They climb up the hill past the dummy driveways, and Shane grabs Maia’s hand.
This makes the whole plan worth it. Maia doesn’t care if she goes to federal prison!
At the top of the hill is the villa. The gate is wide open. Maia had assumed it would be closed but she knows the code—her mother’s birthday—and if that didn’t work, she knows a way around the gate through the dense landscaping, which isn’t great but would work as a last resort.
They walk up the empty driveway. A piece of yellow police tape hangs limply across the stairs up to the deck. Maia ducks under it and the others follow suit. Colton and Bright, who usually never shut up, are silent.
Maia climbs the stairs. The deck looks…the same. The furniture is all there. The pool is full but the water down the slide has been shut off. Maia goes over to the control panel and flips the switch, and water starts flowing down the slide.
She’s going to get arrested for sure.
“Can we go in?” Bright whispers.
Maia holds up a finger. “Let me check out the house first.” The outdoor kitchen is the same; there are fancy Italian sparkling waters in the fridge—and they’re ice-cold! “Help yourself,” Maia says.
There’s a sign on the sliding glass door into the kitchen: PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. NO TRESPASSING. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED. The door is locked. Maia cups her hands around her eyes and peers inside.
It looks…the same. The kitchen counters, the sink, the cabinets, the fridge, the living-room furniture, the television. Everything is exactly where it was. But what about her room?
“Do you know where there’s a key?” Joanie asks.
Maia says, “Follow me.” They go across the deck, past the hot tub, and down the stairs to the shuffleboard court. The cues are hanging on the rack and the black and red disks are stacked in a milk crate. Maia reaches around to the back of the crate and feels the key taped just under the lip. Ha! She pulls the key loose. This is the key her mother used when she and Maia arrived before Russ got here (sometimes Rosie brought home-cooked meals—her jerk
