“You want to check upstairs?” Josh asked, motioning toward the stairs.
“Uh … no,” I said, remembering the one time I walked into Maddy’s room unannounced to retrieve the calculator she’d “borrowed” from me. Mom was out at book club and Dad still wasn’t home from work, otherwise I doubt Alex would’ve even set foot in Maddy’s room. Dad made sure both Alex and Maddy knew the rule—no boys upstairs if my parents weren’t home and even when they were, the door had to stay open. Wide open. That night the door was closed, and I got more of a view of Alex than I ever wanted.
“Let’s look outside. If she’s not there, I’ll check upstairs,” Josh said.
I nodded my thanks and followed Josh onto the deck. What the house lacked on the inside, it made up for out here. It was quiet, the huge lawn sloping down toward the lake. I could see a shape I thought was a dock, but without a light, I couldn’t be sure.
But what I could see clearly were two Adirondack chairs off to the side of the deck stairs. And if my eyes were right, someone was sitting in one of them.
“Maddy?” I said as I approached. She was huddled into herself, curled up in a ball, her shoes dangling from her hands.
“Maddy?” I repeated, shaking her gently. I’d never seen her like this—quiet and distant—and it was beginning to freak me out. “What’s wrong?”
She looked up, and the fear that had struck me when I first saw her had nothing on the pain that lanced my heart now. The tears I’d heard on the phone were still there, streaming down her face as she struggled to compose herself. From the looks of it, she’d been sobbing long and hard, hidden away back here.
I shot Josh a glance, hoping he could fill me in. He’d been here the whole time, was sleeping under the same roof as Alex. He had to have some idea as to what was going on.
Josh shrugged, hunched down in front of my sister, and stared into her eyes. He waited a second for Maddy to silently acknowledge him before asking, “Where’s Alex?”
“Inside.” She hiccuped.
“Do you want me to get him?”
“No,” she said, and stood up.
She was soaking wet and shaking, her lips nearly blue. From the dampness of the grass and the puddle next to the deck, I gathered it had rained here, too. And by the looks of it, Maddy had been sitting outside, alone, when it happened.
I doubted she was drunk. She got up without any help and didn’t seem to have a problem following my questions. She didn’t stumble or cover her mouth and swallow down beer-tinged bile threatening to come up. I knew what drunk Maddy looked like, and this wasn’t it.
My guess was that the glaze covering her eyes was from her tears and nothing more. “What’s going on?” I asked.
She stared at me for a long minute, then shook her head. “Nothing. Can we go?”
I had a thousand questions for her, but I knew she wouldn’t answer any of them. I thought about searching each room of the house until I found Alex and asking him what was going on. Somehow I didn’t think that would help. If Maddy didn’t want me to know, then she wouldn’t tell me. I’d hear about it on Monday at school, then get a completely different version of the story the following day. By the end of the week, I’d have fifteen versions of “What Happened to Maddy Lawton?” to sift through. But before I listened to any of them, I wanted the real story from her.
I let it slide for now, more interested in getting her shivering body into the warm car than anything else. Tomorrow … tomorrow I’d start asking the questions.
4
I didn’t bother to take us through the house. I figured my sister was out here by herself for a reason—a reason that probably involved her friends not seeing her like this.
“You want me to follow you home?” Josh asked.