“Still a work in progress,” I said, “but I think we could have something to start with in six months or so.”

He seemed interested in that, too, and again, I promised to send him everything I’d done so far. We chatted casually and after a while, he made a wide circle, and we started back the way we’d come.

“You’re able to work while you’re in Seabank?” he asked.

The question was only fair. I wasn’t making a fortune, but I was getting paid. “To be honest, not as much as I want.”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on.”

I didn’t know what to say. Sebastian is both astute and crafty. He also has long arms that can reach into every corner of somebody’s life and extract whatever he needs. On the plus side, he’s also capable of absolute silence when it’s called for. Sebastian really doesn’t answer to anybody.

“My sister’s disappeared.” I glanced at him. He wasn’t watching me, but he sure was listening.

“Why and where?”

This was a man who could help or destroy me. I knew if I equivocated, or worse, lied, he would probably know. From that point on he would never trust me again.

“This is in confidence, Sebastian. Is that okay?”

“Off the record then.”

One journalist to another I told him about Wendy, from her first phone call all the way to Friday night’s visit to Against the Wind.

“I know it sounds bad,” I said, finishing my explanation. “But you’d have to know Wendy to realize how impossible this is. She’s got everything going for her. She’s beautiful, kind, thoughtful—” I nearly stumbled over that remembering how little thought she’d put into what her absence might be doing to our parents or her daughters. “She’s smart and savvy, and she always plays by the rules,” I finished.

“Then this is particularly hard for you, isn’t it? Because you know her so well, and you’re afraid for her.”

I was grateful he understood. “I feel helpless, along with wishing I could shed some light on whatever’s going on.”

He asked a few more questions, but my explanation seemed to satisfy him. “Do what you can on the podcast. You’re making headway even if you can’t work as hard as you want right now. Just keep me up to date.”

I was happy when he changed the subject, happier still that he hadn’t offered to help find Wendy. Having Sebastian involved would focus attention where I didn’t want it.

We were not far from his dock when he cut the motor, and we drifted as waves lapped gently on the sides of the boat. “Our neighborhood blight,” he said, pointing at a house set back from the water with only a roof visible through the trees.

I saw peaks and spires that reminded me of Hogwarts Castle. “Kind of creepy. What’s it like in full view?”

“Creepier. And there’s a story to go with it. Want to hear it?”