“Hardly,” Rose counters, but she crosses her arms and steps back from the door, reluctantly agreeing to our rules.
“Does Heath know what you did?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. But I borrowed his parents’ boat, so I’ll probably have to tell him where I’ve been.”
“He can’t say anything to anyone about this.”
“He won’t.”
“And no one saw you take her?” Bo asks.
“It was dark, and Lon was completely passed out. He probably hasn’t even realized she’s gone yet.”
Again I’m struck by what a horrible idea this is. I’m not even sure if we’re hiding Gigi from Lon and Davis or if we’re holding her hostage just like they did. Whatever this is that we’re doing, I’m fairly certain it’s going to end catastrophically.
“Just be careful in town,” I say.
“I will.” And she presses her hands down deep into her coat pockets, as if she were fighting off a sudden chill. “Thank you,” she adds, just before she heads down the walkway back to the dock.
Bo and I look at each other once she’s out of sight. “Now what?” he asks.
***
Back at the house, I make two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Gigi, wrap them in foil, then grab a blanket from the hall closet.
When I reach the door of Old Fisherman’s Cottage, the wood board has been removed and the door is slightly ajar. At first my heart jumps upward with panic—Gigi must have gotten out—but then I hear Bo’s voice inside. He went to collect logs to start a fire for her while I went to make food, and he’s returned before me.
I pause, listening to the crackling of flames in the fireplace.
“I know what you are,” I hear Bo say.
“Do you?” Gigi answers, her voice farther away, across the living room maybe, sitting in the only chair. I touch the doorknob with my fingers then pause. Maybe I owe him this: the chance to question her about his brother. So I wait before entering.
“You’re not Gigi Kline,” he says coolly, his voice measured and precise. “You’re something else.”
“And who told you that? Your girlfriend, Penny?”
I swallow down a jagged lump.
“Did you kill my brother?”
“Your brother?” Her voice changes, dips to an octave that is no longer Gigi’s but is Aurora’s. “You expect me to remember your brother, one boy from the thousands who’ve fallen in love with me?” She says it with a laugh, as if to fall in love is the first step toward death.
“It was last summer. June eleventh,” he tries, hoping this will jog her memory. But even if she did remember, she would never confess. Not to him.
“Doesn’t ring a bell.”
I hear footsteps move across the room: Bo’s. And his voice is farther away now. “Did you drown anyone on June eleventh?”
“Hmm, let me think.” Her tone takes on an upswing, like she’s shifting between Gigi’s voice and Aurora’s, playing a game with Bo that he will lose. “Nope,” she finally concludes. “Pretty sure I took that day off. A girl gets tired with so many boys fawning over her.” I’m surprised she’s being so candid with him, even if her answers are still veiled by untruths. She must recognize that he’s not fooled by her little act. He sees right through Gigi Kline, even if he can’t actuallyseethe thing inside her.
“I can make you tell me,” he says, his voice like a steel nail driving into wood, and I push open the door, unable to stay quiet any longer. Gigi isn’t sitting like I thought—she’s standing at the far wall beside one of the windows, leaning against it like she’s watching the ocean for a ship sailing into the harbor that might rescue her. And Bo is only a couple feet away, shoulders drawn back, hands halfway flexed at his sides like he’s about to reach forward and wrap them around her throat.
“Bo,” I hiss.
He doesn’t turn around right away. He stares at her, like maybe he’ll see a flicker of his brother in her eyes—of the moment right before he was killed. Gigi lifts a hand, smiling a little. “Poor boy,” she says in her smoothest, most condescending tone. “I can’t help you find your brother... but Icanshow you exactly what he felt.” Her fingers rise toward his face, her eyes piercing into his. “It won’t hurt, I promise. In fact, you’ll beg me for more.” The tips of her fingers are only an inch away, about to touch his cheekbone. “I can show you things your girlfriend, Penny, can’t. She’s too afraid to really love you.”
And just when her hand is almost to his jaw, he grabs her wrist, coiling his fingers around her skin. She winces slightly, and then he forces her arm away, where it falls to her side.
