I grinned. “I know. I had to listen to the arguments.”
“She started them,” he said, and we both laughed. I would give anything to hear them shouting at each other and Summer slamming her bedroom door every day again.
Henry parked on Main Street. “Split up or stay together?” he asked.
“Together for the straight road and we can split up at the end.” We started along the street, and I saw Colin walking out of a door. He was holding two bags, one full of books and the other one with what looked like yarn. What the hell was he doing with yarn?
“Henry,” I said, nodding my head in his direction.
“Your weird dude?”
“Mmm. There’s definitely something weird. Look what he’s bought. What would he be doing with that?”
Henry shrugged. “Knitting books, I dunno.”
“Lewis, Henry,” Colin said, stopping in front of us.
“Hi,” Henry muttered.
“How are you both?”
What are you hiding? I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to get into how shitty I felt.
“I’ve been meaning to stop by and help with the search again.”
“We’d appreciate that. The more people we have looking for her the better,” I replied. I wanted him to come along. Maybe then I could figure him out.
“Do you still meet at the same place?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Long Thorpe town hall, seven o’clock every morning.” Weekends were better, but during the week we still had a decent turnout. There were a lot of people that cared about Summer and just wanted to see her come home safely.
“I’ll come and help this weekend. How are your parents holding up?” he asked Henry.
“My dad spends every waking second searching for Summer and Mum spends every second crying,” he said honestly.
Colin nodded sympathetically, but his eyes showed no emotion. They were empty. He looked bored. Something was wrong, and I couldn’t ignore it this time. Normal people were sympathetic—they had something to say. Even the ones that couldn’t find the words at least looked sympathetic.
“Well, I hope you find her soon, and I’ll join the search on Sunday.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Henry replied. Colin turned around and walked in the opposite direction. I watched him gripping hold of his bags as he went. His knuckles were bright white where he was holding on too tight. Why? I fought the urge to follow him.
“At least we’ll be able to spend some time with him on Sunday. Maybe he’ll let something slip.”
Henry frowned. “Let what slip?”
“I don’t know yet. You think we should follow him?” He wouldn’t of course.
“What? You can’t just go around stalking people. Jesus, Lewis.”
I clenched my jaw. The fuck I can’t! “I’m trying to find my girlfriend. I’ll do whatever I need to and stalk whoever I need to stalk.” I would have thought he would understand. He loved Summer. How could he not be willing to do anything to find her too?
“Excuse me,” I said, stopping two old ladies that tried to walk past. I flicked to a picture of Summer on my phone. “Have you seen this girl?”
28
CLOVER
Sunday, February 27 (Present)
I arrived at the town hall where the search for Lily was based. There were a million things I would prefer to do today, but I wanted to know what was going on with the search. I wanted to be seen helping. There was something about the way that Lewis looked at me that left me with an uneasy feeling. I constantly felt paranoid that he knew. My heart wouldn’t let up, and I checked out the window multiple times a day. It was taking over my life, and I had to put an end to his suspicion. He couldn’t know.
The plain, cream room was crammed with people. I frowned. There were still a lot of people looking for her, even after the official police searches had died down. Why couldn’t they just leave her be? She was better off with me. They all were. I shuffled into a space away from a disease-ridden homeless man coughing up his lungs near the door. He was probably here for the warmth rather than to help.
Moments after I arrived, people started filtering out, studying maps as they went. I had arrived a little late on purpose. Lily was splashed over posters pinned to a corkboard. She was pretty in her picture, very fresh-faced and natural. It was nice to see a teenager without a thick layer of makeup on. However, it was only a matter of time before she felt the need to paint her face like the trampy women in magazines.
“Colin, thanks for coming.” I jumped and looked over. Lewis cocked his head to the side. His eyes darkened and his posture straightened. “We appreciate you helping us find Summer.” His lips pulled into a tight, forced smile. He knows something. He can see through you.