Part 11 (2/2)

And he started to place his hand on the doork.n.o.b- ”No, wait!” I cried, before I knew what I was saying.

Will looked at me questioningly. So, for that matter, did the dog. Marco's look was the only one that wasn't questioning. His was surprised.

Which was when I knew.

Suddenly I felt like throwing up all over again. Except that I didn't have time to be sick.

”W-wasn't that just her?” I stammered.

Will's hand continued to hover above the doork.n.o.b.

”Where?” he asked.

”Wasn't that her just now, calling you?” Practically falling over my own feet, I hurried to the top of the stairs to the first floor. ”He'll be right there,” I called down. Some people standing at the bottom of the staircase looked up at me like I was insane.

But it didn't matter, because Will couldn't see them.

”She's downstairs,” I heard myself say to Will.

And his hand, to my immense relief, fell away from the doork.n.o.b.

”Oh,” he said. ”Great. Well. See you around.”

And he started toward the stairs.

That's when it happened. The thing that afterwards, I was never quite sure how to describe, even to myself.

All I know is, Will started toward the staircase, and I glanced at his stepbrother Marco, to see if he'd follow....

Only to find Marco studying me with an amused expression on his face, as if I were a cat that had suddenly started reading the want ads. Out loud.

”Will,” he said, not taking his eyes-as dark as his stepbrother's were light-from me. ”Why don't you invite Elaine to come sailing with us tomorrow?”

”Oh, hey,” Will said, pausing at the top of the stairs, and looking back at me, ”that's a great idea. Do you like sailing, Elle?”

Elle. I couldn't help swallowing.

”Uh,” I said. What was going on here? I wondered. Thrilled as I was to be included in any plan of Will's, I couldn't help wondering why Marco wanted me to come along. He didn't even know me.

And from the way he was looking at me, I wasn't all that sure he even liked me. Especially after what we both-Marco and I-knew I'd just done.

”I don't know,” I said uncertainly. ”I've never been. We don't sail much, back in Minnesota.”

”Oh, you'll love it,” Marco said. ”Won't she, Will?”

”Yeah, you will,” Will said enthusiastically. ”Meet us by the Alex Haley statue at the city dock tomorrow at noon. You know where that is?” When I nodded, he said, ”Great. See you then.”

And then he hurried down the stairs to look for Jennifer. Leaving me alone with Marco...

...with whom I wasn't about to stick around and make small talk.

”Well, see you tomorrow,” I said, and started toward the stairs myself. Get out, my heart seemed to be saying with every beat.

But I didn't move quickly enough, since Marco's voice snaked out across the landing like an arm, almost physically drawing me back toward him when he asked, in an insinuating tone, ”You didn't really hear Jen just then, did you, Elaine of Minnesota?”

I froze, one foot on the stairs, and one still on the second floor. For some reason, my blood had run...well, cold.

”Sorry,” I said. ”I...I don't know what you mean.”

”Oh, I think you do,” Marco said, with a wink. Then, as I stood there watching him, he went up to the door Will had come so close to opening, and thumped on it, once, with the side of his fist.

”Jen,” he shouted through it. ”You in there?”

There was a pause. Then a thin voice called through the door, ”Um, yeah, just a sec! I'll be right out.”

Marco looked back at me and shook his head.

”Nice try,” he said. ”But he's gonna find out about them sometime.”

So I'd been right. He'd known. He'd known all along. He'd wanted Will to open that door and find the two of them in there.

What kind of sick person does something like that?

Will's stepbrother, evidently.

”Um,” I said, trying to play dumb. He'd known. But that wasn't the weirdest part. I'd known he'd known. ”I have to go-”

Marco wasn't falling for it, though. Not only did he keep talking, but he crossed the s.p.a.ce between us in two long strides and s.n.a.t.c.hed up my arm in fingers that were so cold, they burned. He held me in a grip of iron, so that I couldn't even dart down the stairs the way I'd planned.

”What were you trying to do, anyway?” Marco asked, with a sneer. ”Protect him?”

”Let go of my arm,” I said in a voice that shook a little. Something about his touch was really creeping me out.

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