The Edge of Nowhere (21 page)

South Whidbey Commons sat on Second Street, a converted cottage that did quadruple duty as a coffeehouse, a secondhand bookstore, and an art gallery, as well as a gathering place for young people. It was painted the color of mustard, with tables and chairs in its front garden.

Inside, Becca found Seth in the farthest back room, playing guitar. He was accompanied by another boy on the mandolin. A third played bass. They were very good, creating a complicated kind of music similar to that which Becca had heard that day on her way to the woods with Seth. It was a cross between jazz and flamenco, and she hung back listening. Seth saw her and nodded hello. When their piece was finished, the three boys talked, their heads together. They scribbled a few notes on their music and then agreed “to meet at Mukilteo Coffee tomorrow for another session.” They high-fived each other and packed up their instruments.

Becca sat down next to Seth. Some of his hair was loose from his ponytail, and he shoved this roughly behind his ear. He said, “Hey. What’s happening?”

“You guys are
good
.”

Seth looked pleased. “It’s Django Reinhardt,” he reminded her. “Gypsy jazz. What’re you up to?”

She told him what she needed: a ride to Whidbey General Hospital and someone willing to show her where to get the bus that would take her there later on and bring her back to Langley. She asked him if he had the time to help her out, and he said, “Sure. Give me a couple minutes.”

She said, “I’ve got money for the gas,” and she brought a crumpled five-dollar bill from her pocket.

He said, “No big deal. Put your money away.”

She said, “Where’s Gus?”

He shook his head. “My granddad’s still got him.”

Seth packed up his music and folded the music stand. He put his guitar in its case and slid the room’s furniture back into place. When he got up to do this, Becca saw that he had on his feet those sandals that he always wore, and her insides lurched a little at the sight of them. She still hadn’t seen any sandals like them on anyone else’s feet. This worried her, but she shoved the worry aside.

They went to the parking lot of the Star Store, where Seth’s ancient VW stood in well-polished splendor. On their way to the car, Becca told Seth about the school assembly although all the time she was thinking about what he had said about Hayley and Derric. She kept waiting for him to add more to what he’d already told her, but he said nothing. There were whispers coming from him, to be sure. Unfortunately, they seemed determined to be about Gus. Seth missed Gus. He wanted Gus back. He didn’t know how to convince his grandfather to hand Gus back to him.

They were about to get into the VW when Becca heard her name shouted joyously. She turned and saw Debbie Grieder approaching, with Chloe hanging on one hand and Josh on the other. Chloe had been the one to shout. Debbie released her, and she danced over to Becca.

She said, “We’re going to Sweet Mona’s! We get to choose ice cream or a chocolate, don’t we, Grammer?” She turned to Debbie.

“You do.” Debbie eyed Becca, then Seth, then Becca again.

“We got our flu shots over at the clinic,” and here Chloe waved vaguely in the direction of the public library, “and Grammer said
after
we’d get to go to Sweet Mona’s. You want to come?”

Becca was having a difficult time tracking all this because of the flood of everything else she was hearing. Sharpness was all around her in the form of
he’s used that’s what . . . stop to this before things get worse . . . playing a head game . . .
which smashed against
messed-up chick
and
Sean
and
what’s her problem
and
out of luck.
She couldn’t contend with the whispers and the talking, so she broke into both by telling Debbie about the note she’d left her at the motel

When she mentioned Derric’s name, Josh’s eyes grew large. Could he go, too? he wanted to know. “I want to see Derric,” he told his grandmother. “Please?
Please?
”

“Too young, Joshua,” Debbie said not unkindly. “They wouldn’t let you in, darlin’. But Becca’ll tell you how he is when she gets home. Tacos tonight,” she added to Becca. “Hope you can make it.”

Becca said that she’d definitely be there. She didn’t expect to be gone that long, just up to Coupeville and back. She added, “What if I stop and get something for dessert?” as a try at firming up Debbie’s opinion of her.

Debbie said, “Sure, that’d be nice. We’ll see you later, then.”

Debbie didn’t move off with the kids, though. She seemed to be waiting for Seth to get into the car. When he did, she spoke again, her voice low so that only Becca could hear her. “Just be
careful.
Please. You don’t understand who this boy really is.”

THEY WERE ON
the main highway and heading north toward Coupeville before Becca decided to say something to Seth about Debbie’s final words to her. She asked him directly why it was that Debbie Grieder didn’t like him.

He reached down for the heater knob of the old VW and he cranked it open. The days were getting colder now. This one was also looking like rain.

“Drugs,” he said. “She thinks I’m into them. Because of Sean, her son. I used to know him. He taught me chess. He also dropped out of school like me. So . . .” Seth shrugged.

“He’s the one in prison,” Becca said. “Josh and Chloe’s dad.”

A quick glance from Seth. “Debbie told you
that
? That part about prison?”

“The kids said something. Isn’t it true?”

“It’s true all right. Makes sense that it came from the kids and not Debbie. It’s pretty rough stuff for a mom to talk about.”

“What’d he do?”

“Flipped out on meth and assaulted a cop trying to get him into a patrol car. Practically strangled him. Went down for attempted murder. He’s doing hard time.” Seth slowed the car as someone ahead slam-braked for three deer crossing the highway. They’d emerged out of a mass of bracken, where the forest grew right up to the edge of the road. “That’s another side of Whidbey Island,” Seth said.

For a moment Becca thought he was talking about deer and their sudden appearance in front of a car. But then he went on.

“Sean got into meth a year after high school. Before that, he was fine. He did some weed and he drank a little, but nothing serious. Till meth. Made him someone he completely wasn’t. Well, that’s what meth does.”

“How’d you find out? I mean, about the meth?”

“Told you before. Sean taught me how to play chess. At South Whidbey Commons.”

Becca wondered about this relationship that had existed between Seth and Debbie Grieder’s son. She wondered what it meant about Seth as anyone might have wondered when a connection to a methamphetamine addict is brought up in casual conversation.

She said to Seth, “Did he . . . did Sean want you to do drugs, too?”

He frowned. “I’m
not
a meth freak, if that’s what you’re thinking. I may
look
stupid to you, but I’m not an idiot. And I don’t do drugs.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean . . . It’s only that when someone drops out of school . . .”

Seth punched the steering wheel lightly. “Learning disabilities, okay? I’ve got them from A to Z and school was hell. Dropping out had nothing to do with anything else.” He shook his head. “Let me tell you, I do
not
get why people think . . . Forget it.”

Hayley . . . Hayley
was present the entire time he spoke, though, and the soreness of her name was a bruise of sound.

This reminded Becca of what Jenn had said. There were scores of things to be found out here in this car with Seth Darrow, and because of
Hayley Hayley
Becca wanted to know them. She wasn’t sure how to go about this, though, so she began with, “I saw Jenn McDaniels the first night I got to the island. She was on the ferry. I think she was with some stoners.”

“Like I’m surprised about that? There’s one chick with serious issues. She needs to get a life.”

“She said something the other day . . .” Becca went for the truth in a rush. “She told me that one of the cheerleaders has a thing for Derric and that everyone knows it. So I sort of wondered if what you said about Hayley and Derric hooking up . . . ?”

Utter silence. Not even a whisper. Becca went on. “Anyway, I remember you told me that you and Hayley broke up because she and Derric . . . ?”

“What about them?”
This your business, chick?

Becca swallowed. That one whisper came through loud and clear. She nearly answered him. “So I was wondering something.” Becca hurried on before he could say anything in reply to that. “Maybe they never hooked up at all. Could you have been wrong?”

His head jerked in her direction. His eyes were narrow. “And exactly why do you want to know this stuff, Becca?”

Seth usually sounded laid-back, but with this question he sounded rough. He sounded sinister, in a way. Becca looked out the window at the passing scenery. She thought about the sandals he wore and the soles of those sandals, and she thought about what she had seen and what the sight of a single footprint in soft earth could mean about the boy she was with.

She finally said, “I don’t know. I s’pose it doesn’t really make any difference. Just that sometimes people make a big deal out of stuff that turns out to be nothing.”

Seth shifted in his seat. “Yeah? Well, this wasn’t nothing to me.”

Becca wished that he had said something else.

EIGHTEEN

W
hidbey General Hospital was on the main street of Coupeville, which dipped down toward the waters of Penn Cove. Becca discovered from Seth that it would be a two-bus ride to get to the place from Langley, and including the wait for the buses and the stops along the way, she knew it wasn’t going to be easy to see Derric as often as she would have liked. That was one of the reasons she asked Seth for yet another favor when they arrived.

Would he give her a few minutes to run inside the hospital? She wanted to see how Derric was doing. Was that okay?

Seth said, “I’m easy,” with a shrug.

She said, “You sure?”

He said, “Yeah. I’ll wait for you here. The door’s over—” He’d been pointing in the direction of the hospital, but something had caught his attention.

Becca looked to see what it was. As she did so
Hayl
brushed against her hair like her grandmother’s fingers. She searched for Hayley Cartwright, but she saw that what Seth was looking at was a pickup truck. She recognized it from the logo on its door:
SMUGGLERS COVE FARM AND FLOWERS
.

As Becca got out of the VW, so did Seth. He said, “I think I’ll go inside with you. Want something from the cafeteria?”

Becca didn’t need a whisper to tell her he wasn’t going into the hospital to get a snack. He was going in to find Hayley. She didn’t see how anything good could come out of this, especially if Hayley was at the hospital because of Derric, but she didn’t say anything except, “Think they have fruit? A banana or something? Here’s some money.” She handed over the cash she’d tried to give him for the gas, and this time he took it. Her hope was that he’d go to the cafeteria and not go on a search for Hayley.

Inside the hospital, there were too many people, which added up to too many whispers. Becca winced at the unexpected assault of noise and she set herself up with the AUD box.

She and Seth went to the reception desk, where they asked a heavyset woman where they could find Derric Mathieson’s room. The woman put a hand on her heart, and she smiled at them winningly. She said, “I have just
got
to say it. This is a real fine thing you kids’re doing for that boy and his family.” She shook her head with one of those looks that said wonders would never cease, and she picked up a clipboard and handed it over. She said, “Just check your name off. The undersheriff wants to keep track.”

Becca saw that the clipboard held a copy of the sign-up list that Jenn McDaniels had devised. She also saw that the next name on the list was Jenn’s own. That told her that her visit to Derric was going to have to be very brief since the last thing she wanted was to be there when Jenn showed up. She’d chosen her own particular visiting day precisely because Jenn McDaniels
wasn’t
going to be there.

She checked off Jenn’s name and handed the sign-up sheet to Seth. He glanced at it, glanced back at her, then checked off the name beneath Jenn’s. It was Terry Grove, a convenient AC/DC name. He flashed a smile at the receptionist and handed the clipboard back to her. She told them where they could find Derric, and she said she hoped they’d brought something to read to him. “Reading’s best,” she said. “The sound of voices is what’s important, but sometimes when people get with a patient who’s unconscious and hooked up to machines, they run out of things to say pretty fast.”

“We’ll do okay,” Becca said. “We’ve got lots to tell him.”

They were on their way to Derric’s room when they saw Hayley. All three of them stopped in their tracks. Hayley got sunburn red, and Becca heard Seth swallow something that sounded like a piece of concrete going down his throat.