“Along with a few others who ran away,” Lulu said. “Nice friends, leaving Sam and Isabel to take the blame. It was as if they weren’t even there. Disappearing friends.”
“We shoulda run too,” Isabel said, letting out a long burp.
“Where did you get the booze?” Nick asked. “Who bought it for you? You tell me, Isabel, right now.”
“They took it from here!” Julie called, still hiding around the corner. “Beer from the garage!”
“Sisters don’t tell on sisters!” Isabel said.
“That was always Kate and Beth’s code,” Lulu said.
Julie stared at her. “Why did you say that?”
“Well, because they are sisters too,” Lulu said.
“Not now,” Julie said. “The thing before. The disappearing friends. Talking to the air, no one there. It was bad and sad, your mother died, and ...”
“Look how you’ve upset Julie,” Scotty snapped at Isabel. She put her hands on Julie’s shoulders and led her into the house, closing the door behind her. For a second, Kate thought she wanted to stop Julie from saying more. But when Scotty came out, she kept railing at Isabel.
“For God’s sake, do you know what you’ve done?” Scotty demanded.
“Scotty,” Nick said, “take it down a notch. We’ll deal with it.”
“Don’t shush me!” Scotty said, slapping his hand. “She’s drunk. She’s made a mockery of our family, acting this way. I’m ashamed.”
“Mom, sorry,” Isabel said.
“You should be. I’m disgusted!” Her voice was shaking, and her face was red. She turned to Kate, pulled her and Lulu away from Nick and the kids. “Hey, did that cop ask you about tea parties in Beth’s room?”
“What?”Kate asked. She had expected Scotty would want to talk about how to handle the girls and felt shocked by the change of course.
“Yeah, he asked me,” Lulu said. “He’s just ruling out fingerprints. He found all of ours in her room.”
“I found it offensive,” Scotty said, looking at Kate. “Didn’t you?”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” Kate said, feeling off balance, still thinking about Sam and Isabel.
“We were all best friends,” Lulu said. “Her room does have the best view in the house, and we did sometimes drink tea there.”
“Especially in the winter ... ,” Kate said, remembering. “It was so cozy by her fireplace. She loved that.”
“Well I think it was outrageous,” Scotty said. “He made me feel like we went creeping through there after she died, to pick at her jewelry or something! I really feel like saying something to his superior. Find Beth’s killer—arrest Pete, if that’s who it is! They’re just wasting all our time.”
“Well, the investigation takes time,” Lulu said.
“They’re doing the best they can,” Kate said.
Scotty exhaled, eyes red with tears, sputtering as if she was the only person who really loved Beth, who wanted to see her killer brought to justice. Then she took a deep breath and hugged Kate. “I’m so sorry for overreacting. I’m just a wreck. Thanks for getting Isabel home. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,” Kate said, exchanging awow, that was intenseglance with Lulu. She said goodbye to Nick, gave Isabel a quick kiss. She had wanted a minute alone with Scotty—to get a mother’s advice on how to deal with the girls’ drinking and defacing the rocks—but Scotty was clearly not in a place to give it.
She, Lulu, and Sam walked to the parking lot. Sam seemed steady, as if the alcohol hadn’t affected her as much as it had Isabel. They drove to Pete and Beth’s house, but there were no lights on.
“Where’s your father?” Kate asked.
“Three guesses, and if one of them iswith Nicola, you’re right,” Sam said.
“He went to Mathilda’s?” Kate asked, upset at the idea of Nicola letting him be there after Kate had gone out on a limb for her.
