After a hurried kiss, Mom left. Maggie remained at the table. Eventually she’d have to hash it out with her mother. First, there were the photographs. They warranted a discussion. Second, there was Wren. Maggie trusted and respected her aunt. She certainly didn’t suspect her of lying. But how to make this clear without Mom accusing her of taking her sister’s side?

After traveling all the way to the Cannons’ house in Wilson a second time, Maggie found herself in the same situation as the day before—ringing the doorbell, waiting, knocking, waiting. Fruitlessly waiting.

She gave up and returned to the car, parked on the side of the road.

“Nobody’s home?” Caleb asked.

“I guess not,” she said unhappily, and fastened her seat belt.

“Or, more likely, whoever’s home doesn’t want to see you,” Linnie said from the backseat. She patted Fluffster, curled up next to her. “Ready to give up?”

Caleb frowned. “We’ve tried only twice.”

“And on both occasions,” Linnie said impatiently, “not one person in the Cannon household opened the door, so maybe we should take a hint and back off. Jane wants to be left alone. We should respect that.”

Maggie moodily gazed up at the brick house. Maybe Linnie was right. She didn’t want to harass Jane. That was the last thing she wanted. But that flicker of movement in the window the previous day might have been a cat rustling a curtain when it jumped down from the sill, and now it was midday, a time when most houses stood empty. It was perfectly reasonable to assume the same was true of this place. Plus, Jane’s failure to write back could be explained if the girl wasn’t using her school email account any longer. In other words, Jane could be oblivious to Maggie’s attempts to contact her. “If you guys don’t mind,” she said slowly, “I’d like to come back here again at suppertime. At least then there’s a chance Mr. or Mrs. Cannon will be home from work. I—I guess I want Jane to know that I truly did try to get in touch with her.”

Linnie huffed. “Fine.”

Caleb started the car and smiled encouragingly at Maggie. “That sounds like a good plan.”

The next three hours, mostly spent walking the dog and looking at strangers’ houses, passed slowly. With only a little money and a lot of Fluffster on their hands, they couldn’t do much to kill time. They couldn’t even visit the village’s new dog park. Caleb’s pet, without the permit tag verifying his vaccinations, wasn’t allowed in. A police officer explained this (and indicated a posted sign that made the rule explicit) before directing them off the premises.

Linnie took the banishment personally. She was pissed; Maggie and Caleb, just embarrassed. They tried to tease her into better spirits. It didn’t work.