“Don’t do that,” Justin shook his head. “I’m going up there now. They’re finishing the last stretch this morning, so Skip said he’d close down East Beach and cover for me.”

“Let us come,” Mom said quickly. “We can do something—”

“No, you need sleep, too,” Justin said kindly. “I’d rather you just locked the door and tried to rest.”

“But what if someone comes by or tries to call?” Mom argued. “If anyone’s heard anything—”

“I doubt anyone would call except maybe the sheriff—and he’ll be with us. It’s an unlisted number anyway.” Justin took a pad off the counter and wrote on it. “Here—just in case you need it. We wouldn’t have a phone at all, only Dad needs to keep in touch with his agent. It’s the same number for both houses.”

“Both?”

“Well, when the phone rings, it rings here and next door, too. That’s so one of us will hear it if Dad’s locked away with his typewriter going. Except we’re usually not around, so Dad always misses his calls.”

Kelsey smiled and took the paper he handed her. Justin backed towards the door again and paused.

“The search won’t last much longer—maybe you heard. They’ve covered the whole island, and gone over the cove dozens of times…”

Kelsey felt a knot in her throat. She wanted to say something, but Justin was gone.

“Donna’s coming by to take me sightseeing,” Kelsey mumbled, but she knew her mother hadn’t heard. She slipped quietly outside, turning her face to the sun, taking in deep gulps of fresh, warm air.

“Trying to get a tan on your throat?” Donna ran up laughing and Kelsey swung around, her spirits lifting.

“Boy, am I glad to see you!”

“Need to get away, huh?” Donna nodded understandingly, slipped an arm through Kelsey’s, and began to steer her toward the beach. “I saw Justin headed the other way. Things don’t look good, do they?”

Kelsey shook her head. “Justin’s with the search party. He doesn’t think they’ll be looking much longer.”

“It’s such a rotten shame. And Justin is such a sweetheart, I can’t stand to see him sad like this.”

“Was Beth a good friend of yours?”

“Not really; she only came this summer. I never got the impression she was—” Donna cast her a meaningful look—“uh…you know…too bright?”

“No kidding? She sounded to me like she was really sweet.”

“Oh, sweet, yes. Always smiling. Always something nice to say to everyone. Kind of like Justin, really—only, you know, slow. Like things took a long time to get through to her. But her brothers were really nice to her.”

“Even Neale?”

“Yeah, it’s funny, huh? Even Neale. Come to think of it,” Donna screwed up her face, puzzling, “I never heard him speak a mean word to her. He was always really patient…like maybe he realized she couldn’t grasp things as fast as everyone else.”

Kelsey felt sad. “She must have been pretty special… No wonder there’s such a void in the family.”