That was it: that was the lie. He lied with clear, bright eyes and an easy smile. It wasn’t his true self; she’d heard his true self speak to Sammy. Summer, who was tired and hungry, began to tremble. Just yesterday, she’d trusted this man with her whole entire heart, and now she could barely look at him. The things she’d taken from the envelope were just feet away. If he found those...if he knew what she’d seen...

“She never came back to the room. I waited here for her.”

“She must have come back because she locked the door,” Taured said.

“It’s never been locked before,” Summer argued. “It was like someone locked me in here on purpose.”

“Why would someone do that?” He was frowning now, his eyes alight with curiosity. “No one wants to hurt you here, Summertime, you know that.”

She looked at his face: it looked honest...kind. When he smiled, creases appeared at the corners of his eyes. He smelled like soap and cloves—good things. He played with the little kids, tossing them into the air and tickling them until they squealed. He sang on some nights, while he played the guitar, and his voice froze everyone to complete stillness until the last verse.

The sins of the parents will be visited on the children.

“She always tells me when she’s leaving and she always says goodbye, so I was confused,” Summer said.

Taured seemed to look right into her when he said, “Did y’all have a fight? You certainly ran out of the cafeteria in a hurry...”

So he had been paying attention to more than just Feena and Jon. If she said yes, he’d ask her what the fight was about, but if she denied it, he’d know she was lying. Either way, she was royally screwed. She decided her best bet was distraction.

She kept her voice light so it didn’t sound like she was challenging him. “I’m surprised you noticed. You seemed to be very focused on what you were doing.” She could keep her expression scraped of anger, but her voice was another story altogether. Everything she said sounded like a challenge and she hadn’t intended—

“And what was I doing, Summer?” There was a threat dangling in his question.

Summer imagined herself standing on a tall ledge, balancing her weight so she didn’t fall. Her mother was en route to Florida, and she was stuck here for the next few months on her own. She would make it hard for herself by picking a fight with Taured. She’d seen what happened to the people who did it. Her dad, her drug-loving con man of a father, used to say, “Tell an honest lie when you need to.”

“You were welcoming our new family members.”

“That’s right,” he said, locking his eyes on to hers. “And what were you doing?”