“Do you think he’s Wiccan and a psychic?” Vi asked.
I shrugged and walked away from them farther down the path to stand behind a large evergreen. Seth followed and we both peeked around the tree. Feeling ridiculous, I pulled out my small binoculars. Lucan was sitting in the back row of the seating area, staring into space. I turned back toward Vi in time to see her crouched and moving quickly through the spindly tree trunks to another evergreen tree. Mom followed, standing straight and walking at a normal pace. Vi gestured at her to hurry up. Seth breathed heavily in my ear as he looked around the tree at Message Circle. I stepped away from him and handed him the glasses.
Squinting and huffing while trying to adjust the binocs and find Lucan at the same time, he didn’t notice another figure enter the area from the opposite side. She must have come from the stone bridge which was farther into the woods and near a different parking lot. I hated to admit it, but Vi was right this time. This was interesting.
I pulled on Seth’s sleeve and pointed him in the right direction. His eyebrows popped up over the eyepieces of the glasses. He lowered the binoculars and turned to me. I shrugged and glanced across the path to see Vi waving at us and pointing. Just then, my phone buzzed.
see, I told you
I nodded at Vi and gave her a thumbs-up. I didn’t want to move any closer. If it had been Seth and me, or even Mom and Vi we could have explained to them that we just happened upon them. But all four of us?
We weren’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but Skye’s head was so close to Lucan’s, I didn’t think we’d be able to hear them even if we were sitting in the open. Then Skye pulled away from Lucan and said, “No! Of course not.”
Lucan murmured in response and Skye started to cry.
Vi’s helpful text arrived.
looks suspicious
Skye’s head was down with her forehead pressed into his chest. Lucan had one arm around her. I didn’t like the way this looked.
“Whoa, that’s just not right,” Seth said in my ear.
Suddenly, Skye pushed away from Lucan and ran into the woods toward the bridge. Lucan hopped up and followed her, but more slowly.
I heard him shout, “Skye, wait!”
I thought this was the perfect time to get out of the woods. Neither one of them would be pleased if they caught us here. I was just about to signal Vi to head back to the parking lot when I saw another figure step into the circle. It was Bea. She looked down the path. She held a camera in one hand, and checked her watch. Then she walked down the path, following Lucan and Skye.
“So? What do you think?” Vi asked as Seth and I approached.
I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. They could have had a very good reason to meet here.”
“Why was her mother following her?” Seth asked. “The whole thing is sketchy.”
We walked back toward the parking lot. I set a rapid pace, worried that Lucan would return to his truck and find us all milling about.
Seth checked his phone as we got into the car.
“Can I go with Skye and Faith to the Big Buy?”
“Skye and Faith? What are you talking about?”
“Faith says they’re going to the Big Buy in Bailey Harbor. They’ll come pick me up.”
“Okay. Maybe you can find out what Skye was doing with Lucan.”
Seth looked out the window and shrugged.
“When are they coming to get you?”
He checked his phone.
“In about ten minutes.”
I pulled onto Singapore Highway and turned the Jeep toward home.
*
After Seth left with the Paxton girls, I pulled out my laptop. Skye had sent the promised genealogy information. According to her notes, Neila Whittle had just as long a pedigree as Rafe’s adoptive family. I wasn’t sure how Skye had unearthed all the information but her family-tree diagrams had all sorts of notes beyond just the births, marriages, deaths. Broken lines, squiggly lines, double and triple lines all connected different members of the family. Plus she had found anecdotes about different branches of the tree. It made for fascinating reading but nothing jumped out at me that would help with the problem at hand.
Dad had moved to the upstairs bathroom and was clanking away on the pipes. I decided it would be a good time to get out of the house. Feeling uncertain that the building would still be standing when I came home, I patted the front door in a reassuring fashion and hopped into my Jeep.