“I designed this costume for Lisette,” Meg said. “She loved it.” She reached into her pocket and took out the ring, slipping it onto the mannequin’s finger. I heard Leo draw in his breath.
“It’s not the real ring, you know,” Meg said. “It’s a replica.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Then where’s the real one?” Leo asked.
“I sold it,” Meg said. “That’s what Lisette wanted me to do.”
Meg let go of the mannequin’s hand and closed the display case. “She took the ring off and gave it to me in the hallway right after the show ended that night.” Meg smiled. “She told me to sell the ring and give the money to Gary.”
“Gary?” I said.
“He’s been here a long time too,” Meg said. “He was working concessions back then. It was his first job. His car had broken down and he didn’t have enough money to fix it. He loved that car. Lisette could have gone home and written him a check, of course, but this was a grand gesture. Impulsive. In the moment. That was like her. She said at least something good would come out of her marriage to Roger.”
“Roger went to see her at the hotel that night,” Leo said. “Do you think he killed her?”
“No,” Meg said. “I don’t.” She was looking at the photo of Lisette wearing the costume at the back of the display case. “He wasn’t that kind of person. He was a jerk and a mediocre actor, not evil. But he didn’t deserve her. And during her last trip home to the festival, Lisette finally saw that.” Meg’s face fell. “Once Lisette knew something, she knew it. I wish she’d had more time. To fall in love again. To perform again.”
I watched Meg, looking at the mannequin and the photo of Lisette. How hard would it be to have to swallow down your own feelings and bring the image and memory of your friend back to life?
Meg turned away from the display case and our eyes met.
“I still sold the ring, even after Lisette died,” Meg said. “But I had this replica made later, for the Costume Hall. I wanted the display to truly represent her last performance.”
“Did Gary get to keep his car?” Leo asked.
“Yes,” Meg said. “He was so happy. I didn’t tell him where the money came from, of course. I told him it was an anonymous friend. But I think he figured it out.” She frowned at me, and then at Leo. “Gary can seem uptight,” she said. “But he worked very, very hard to get his job. He works very hard to keep it. He knows the festival inside and out, and he loves it. It’s a place where he belongs.”
While she said that, I thought about Gary, and imagined him talking about England, and the way he wanted everything to be exactly right, and suddenly I knew. What I should have known all along. My throat and eyes and heart felt like I was going to cry.
Gary was like Ben.
Not exactly. But similar. And I hadn’t put it together until now because Gary was older and had come a long way and we would never know if Ben could have come that far or found a place that felt as right to him as Summerlost did to Gary. We would never ever, ever know.
I blinked and tears went down my cheeks. I wiped them away fast.
“It’s like his kingdom,” I said. “It’s where he’s the most safe.”
“Yes,” Meg said. She handed me a tissue, and I knew that she understood what I’d realized. I knew she must know about Ben.
“The last I knew of Lisette was that she did something nice for her friend,” Meg said. “And that she was full of life and ready to move on. It’s a good way to remember someone.”
I want a good way to remember, I wanted to say to Meg. I want to stop crying. I want everything in the world to stop breaking my heart.
10.
“No ghost,” I said to Leo as we rode our bikes home.
“That’s okay,” Leo said. He veered around something on the sidewalk that looked like a mysterious silver grenade but turned out to be a soda can.
“Would you have wanted to see Lisette’s ghost?” I asked.
“Of course,” Leo said.
I bumped over an uneven sidewalk crack that had grass growing out of it, furred and dark in the dim light.
“But I did see the tunnels,” Leo said. “Thanks to you.”
We stopped in front of my house. Leo’s house, across the street and down a short ways, was still dark.
We were home and nearly home.
I almost said I’m sorry about Barnaby Chesterfield but I didn’t want to ruin anything. So I asked Leo something else. “Why did you ask me to do the tour so soon after you met me? You hardly knew me.”
Leo sounded embarrassed. “I thought you were cute.”
The surprise of his answer made my heart beat quick. “I thought you might have asked me because you felt bad for me. Because of Ben and my dad.”
“No,” he said. “I mean, I do feel bad that that happened to you. But I asked you because after we met I knew the tour would work with you. It wouldn’t have worked with anyone else.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean it,” Leo said. “I had the idea for the tour, but I didn’t actually do it until I met you.”