The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George Read Free Book Online Page B

again and asked her if it was short for Rebecca and she said it was. He asked why she was called Becca and not Becky like most girls, but to answer this was going to mean constructing a history of lies. She didn’t want to do that, knowing she had to stick to the main story, so she said she didn’t know and she told him that she’d only got to the island yesterday. She said she was supposed to stay with Carol Quinn, over on Blue Lady Lane and—
    “Wow, triple bummer.” Seth’s tone told her he knew that Carol Quinn was dead and as if to assure her of that, he went on to say, “Small town. Everyone knows what’s going on.”
    “Yeah, triple bummer,” Becca agreed. “She was my mom’s friend, since they were kids.” She let him fill in the rest of the information the way people tended to do when you told them something.
    She ate her sandwich. She made quick work of it. Seth left her and went over to a cold cabinet where he took out a plastic bottle of orange juice. He brought it to her and said, “It’s on me,” when she took some coins out of her jacket pocket.
    He handed her another sandwich, this one wrapped in plastic. He said, “For later. Just in case.” Then he took a napkin and a pencil from the deli counter and he began to draw upon it.
    Becca saw that he was making a map. It was simple enough, just two streets with two others running perpendicular to them. “First and Second,” he said, pointing. “Anthes and Park.”
    Near Second and Anthes, he said, there was a public bathroom where she could do . . . well, whatever she needed to do. It would be open. It was near the bank and behind a yellow cottage, which was the visitors’ center. He drew an X-marks-the-spot and then he drew another, this one on the corner of Second and Park.
    He said. “You go to this place at one o’clock, okay? Little white house there, but don’t go inside or knock on the door. It’s an AA meeting and they won’t want you listening.”
    “Okay,” Becca said slowly, drawing out the word and waiting for more information. Did he think she was an alcoholic?
    “Just wait outside at the picnic table,” he went on. “There’s a lady? Debbie Grieder? She goes to the meetings. She’ll help you out.”
    “Why?” What sort of place was this? The last thing Becca was used to was people who handed over sandwiches and pointed out other people who would help you out.
    “It’s just who she is,” Seth said. “She’s okay. You won’t need to ask her to help you, even.”
    “How will I know who she is?”
    “You won’t need to,” he told her. “She’ll know you.”

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    FIVE
    S eth walked outside with her. He took another look at the bike.
    “It’s not really that bad,” he said, “but you got to know how to ride a ten-speed. A mountain bike would be better here, but a ten-speed will work if you’re in decent shape. You know how to ride one?”
    Becca didn’t know there was any particular way to ride a ten-speed. All she knew was that you shifted when the pedaling got too tough, and that was what she told him. He said that she had to rely on her legs to tell her when to switch gears and if she didn’t do it right, she’d wear the gears out. She said that her legs weren’t telling her anything but to get off the bike and push it. He smiled and said, “Look, I can show you. Not now, because I’ve got to get back to work. But I’m here every morning. You have the map?”
    She said, “Nope. You’ve got it,” and he looked at his hand. He said, “Oh. Right,” and he pushed the map in her direction. “Remember. Debbie Grieder,” he told her. “Wait at the picnic table. Okay?”
    Becca nodded, mounted her bike, and took off. She knew he was watching but it didn’t matter, because she also could tell that Seth Darrow was going to be a friend.

    SHE FOUND THE public bathroom. She was able to clean herself up in the place. She looked more horrible than she’d ever looked in her life, though, and