“Spouses are always separated,” Leslee says. “Keeps things interesting.”
“Addison is next to his wife,” Eddie says.
“Eddie,” Grace says. “Stop being weird.”
Is he being weird? Is it inelegant that he doesn’t want his wife sitting next to the man she had an affair with nine summers ago? He doesn’t want things to get “interesting.” The hot tub is bubbling and steaming like a witch’s cauldron—and it’s pretty clear who the witch is.
Sharon leans her head back against the edge. “This is heavenly, Leslee.”
There are murmurs of agreement, but not from Eddie. He would like to get out of this people soup and talk some sense into Bull.
Suddenly Romeo says, “Hands, Coe! Let me see your hands!”
Benton laughs and raises his palms. “Here they are.”
Swingers in the summertime, Coco thinks.
“Sharon, let’s get out of here,” Romeo says.
Sharon sits bolt upright. Is this happening? It’s a bit abrupt, maybe even rude, but she’s not missing her chance. “Okay,” she says. One of the copper ladders is directly behind her, so it’s easy to make a quick escape.
“Stay!” Leslee cries out. “Sharon? Romeo? Please don’t leave yet!” She sounds a little unhinged, even for her.
“We should probably go too,” Eddie says. “Right, Grace?”
“Don’t be silly,” Leslee says. “The party is just getting started. Coco, what happened to the music?”
Coco is pretty sure Bull turned the music down when everyone went to get changed. She turns it back up—it’s “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys. Leslee says, “Something better!” Coco scans the playlist and settles on “I Want You Back” by the Jackson Five. She hands Romeo and Sharon towels and they disappear through the gate and into the dark night.
The party is just getting started, the Chief thinks, but he should leave. He’s only had two cocktails and yet he feels funny, loopy. He’s lost all track of time, doesn’t quite remember getting changed—but wait, yes, he does. Leslee lent him a pair of Bull’s swim trunks. Why did he agree to that? He has broken all kinds of rules tonight. He had one of the baked Alaskas and a brownie—no, two brownies. Leslee encouraged him to take a second, saying she made them herself. Phoebe and Addison are here, his oldest friends, and as long as they’re here, he’s fine, right? He likes the music; the water is delightful. He’ll stay another five minutes. Busy seems to be asking him a question about Kacy: “Did she mention meeting my daughter?”
Did she? Ed wonders. He’s about to tell Busy that he hasn’t talked to Kacy in a day or two. And if he dug in, he would admit he hasn’t talked to Kacy in any meaningful way all summer. He’s not sure why she really left San Francisco.
Ed is jolted from these thoughts by a hand on his leg. Whoa! Is he imagining this or is it a trick of the water jets, the bubbles? No, there are human fingers stroking his thigh. He turns to see Leslee with her head back, her eyes closed. Her arm closest to Ed is beneath the water’s roiling surface. Leslee is touching the Chief’s leg.
Is there a split second when the Chief thinks maybe he’ll just let this play out, ignore it or… even enjoy it?
Absolutely not. The Chief stands up, splashing Leslee in the process, but he doesn’t care, he’s leaving. He cheated on his diet tonight. But he hasn’t cheated on Andrea—in mind, body, or spirit—since the day he noticed her waiting in line to get her beach sticker. And he never will.
As he clambers out of the tub, Addison says, “Ed, where are you going?”
“Home,” Ed says. He takes a towel from Coco. God only knows what she thinks of him cozying up next to her boss in the hot tub; what was he thinking? Well, he wasn’t thinking, or not clearly. Something is wrong with him.
The brownies—the ones Leslee made herself. They must have been pot brownies, and that’s why Ed feels this way, so loose, discombobulated. He snatches up his clothes and goes. He doesn’t bother saying anything to Bull and hopes never to see the man again, but if Ed were to leave Bull with parting words, they would be Your wife needs help.
He climbs into the back of his car and changes into his clothes, which is a tricky business, as he’s soaking wet and still high. He finds his cell phone and calls Andrea.
“Please come get me,” he says. “I can’t drive.”
“You’re kidding,” Andrea says.
“Not kidding,” he says. “Bring Kacy with you, please, I need to get my car out of here.”
“On our way,” Andrea says. “I was wondering where you were. I worried maybe Leslee got her claws into you.”
It’s a little scary how on the nose she is. “No chance of that,” he says. “I’m all yours. Now please hurry.”
32. Thursday, August 22, 11:00 P.M.
When nobody is looking, Kacy sneaks up the stairs to Coco’s apartment. She suspects this is against the law and that if she asked her father, he would tell her not to—potential crime scene, search warrants, detectives, yada yada—but Kacy can’t continue standing around doing nothing.
There’s a light on under the microwave that allows Kacy to find her way around. She checks the bathroom, pulls aside the shower curtain (a part of her hopes Coco has somehow made it back without their noticing and is now hiding up here). Empty. In Coco’s room, the bed is neatly made. On Coco’s nightstand are two novels: Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, The Candy House by Jennifer Egan. Sitting on top of these is the sand dollar Coco found during their trip to Great Point.
Kacy remembers Coco swimming that day, utterly fearless. Did Coco set the fire and then ditch? Did she?
There’s a shelf on the opposite wall and on it is a framed photograph. Kacy goes over to inspect it, and her gut twists. It’s one of the selfies Kacy sent her: Coco and Kacy at the Nantucket Pharmacy, Coco happy with her frappy. Kacy’s eyes burn. She was such a terrible friend and yet Coco went to the trouble of printing this picture out and framing it. She kept it in her room. So does that mean Coco has forgiven her? It must, right?
They have to find her. They have to.
There’s a crumpled article of clothing peeking out from beneath the far side of the bed. Kacy bends down. It’s a Nantucket Whalers Sailing T-shirt that looks like it’s about fifteen years old. Lamont’s. Kacy thinks, Lamont came here, Leslee found out, Leslee confronted Coco on the boat, there was a tussle, Coco fell in, Leslee thought, Oh, well, and went to get herself another glass of Laurent-Perrier.
Kacy goes to the kitchen, opens the fridge, sees a six-pack of grapefruit fizzy water, a plastic clamshell of fresh raspberries, half an avocado BLT from Something Natural. Nothing that suggests I set my employers’ house on fire and jumped off their boat to escape. It looks like Coco planned to come home and finish her sandwich.
On the coffee table in front of the TV is Coco’s laptop—but it requires a password. Kacy tries Rosebush; she tries Lamont and Lamontishot and Lamontishotaf. She tries Colleencoyle27. Coco mentioned she’s a Scorpio but Kacy doesn’t know her birthday. She’s a horrible friend.
Under the laptop, Kacy discovers a green Moleskine notebook. Jackpot.
It’s an enormous violation of Coco’s privacy to open it, but under the circumstances, Kacy feels she has no choice.
