Kate and Lucas start talking about dinner, which is supposed to be fabulous at the Riverside. Kate looks flushed, as if she’s been arguing, but no one mentions it.

Fender hauls himself up onto the barstool, like it’s a mountain he has to climb. As always, he doesn’t deem me worthy of a glance.

You are such an incredible jerk.

Why did that Isolde ever like him? I can’t imagine anyone wanting Fender as a boyfriend.

Maybe that Claus guy was lying, but why would he do that? And Lucas reacted really strangely too. I’ve never seen him blush before. Seems like the subject of Isolde is off-limits.

Then Fender stands up and leaves the bar.

“Where’s he off to?”

“Probably off for a smoke.” Lucas shakes his head. “It took him months to quit. Loser.”

Without thinking about it, I jump down from my stool too.

“Where are you going?” Lucas calls after me, but I don’t reply. For the first time ever, I actually want to be alone with Fender. Lucas can deny knowing Isolde, but something tells me I’ll have more success with Fender.

The housekeeper’s master key was just lying on her cart.

People are so careless.

Now I can go wherever I like.

Fender

I had to get out of the bar with that irritating jazz music. The singer’s warbling was really setting me on edge.

Outside I bum a cigarette and a light off a guy walking past. As I take the first drag, I feel the tension flow out of my body.

The fog inside my mind lifts a little.

The last thing I should do is panic. I have to keep a clear head.

There’s someone in the hotel who knows us, someone who knows which rooms we’re staying in. He knew we’d be here this weekend, but how? Lucas has been shouting about it at every opportunity, of course—is that how Room Service found out? And he’s probably been watching us since we got here. I bet he saw us go into our rooms.

How long has he been watching us?

Was he watching when I opened the letter at the harbor yesterday?

I take another drag. She never wanted to kiss me when I’d been smoking, said I tasted like an ashtray.

I shove the thought of her back into the imaginary file cabinet inside my head.

Kate and Lucas can’t find out about it, but what if Room Service comes back when they’re around? Plus the death notice is in today’s newspaper! What if someone in our class sees it? Or a teacher?

No one has ever mentioned it at school. After the summer break, there seemed to be an unspoken agreement not to say her name. I knew people were gossiping, but the conversations always fell silent when we entered the room.

No one wanted to confront us.