“Hmmm... Australia, maybe? I’m terrible with accents,” Maya said. “I met him at our local beach one day, that’s when the picture was taken, actually.” She laughed in a what a funny coincidence way that made me bite the inside of my cheek. “You know, I’d always wondered what happened to my damn library book. He must’ve picked it up by mistake. I never saw him again.”

“Do you know where he was living?”

“No idea. Somewhere in Maine, I think, but he said something about a new job in Connecticut, or New York, maybe? I can’t remember. Perhaps you’ll find him on social media, the way you found me. I don’t think I connected with him, though.”

“Gordon Jones...or James,” I repeated. “Thank you, you’ve been really helpful.”

“My pleasure. Best of luck. I hope you find him, although if he gave you a fake name, who knows what he’s been up to. Tell him he owes me two bucks for the library fine.”

“I’ll be sure to let him know.” As soon as we hung up, I returned to her Facebook profile, intending on saving a copy of the image so I could share it with the cops. But as soon as I got to her photo albums, my brow knitted together tighter than before.

The picture was gone.

14

ASH

A few days had passed since my visit to Dr. Adler and the free clinic, but it would’ve been a lie if I said things had improved much. My brain was as muddled as ever, except for the time when Maya and I had played cards one evening. On a whim, I’d grabbed the deck from my bedroom, walked into the kitchen, slapped it down on the table in front of Maya and said, “Wanna play?”

My sister had grinned and rubbed her hands together, declared I’d better get ready for a serious thrashing. She’d been wrong, cursing me to hell and back as I instinctively remembered how to play poker, recalling all the rules, even calling her out on a few of them. By the end of the game she was shaking her head, laughing and begging for mercy.

“Brad taught you,” she said as I shuffled the cards, a feeling of contentment from the fact I’d remembered something spreading throughout my body, even though it was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. “He was an expert at the game, but you were twenty times better. And you never confessed, but we all thought you were playing for money in school. Secretly I think Brad was a bit proud of that, not that he’d ever have admitted as much to my mom.”