David, R.J., and Sara stood where they wer
e, staring at the closed door with their mouths open, their brains in a state of shock. Eight months in a jail cell!
It was Ariel who started toward the door and the rest of them followed her. What had to be the entire police force of King’s Isle was in the outer office and smirking in triumph. They held their heads high and walked out without a word. Once they were outside, they looked at one another, then without a word, they grabbed hands and started running.
They ran down the main street of the island toward the narrow road that led to the ferry. Sara didn’t know what they were thinking. That maybe the ferry would be there and they’d jump on it, sail away, and forget that this ever happened?
But when they got to the ferry landing, the dock was empty. They separated, feeling a bit embarrassed about holding hands and acting so childish, and each person found a place on the dock to be alone and to collect him/herself. They were in a state of shock. They had no car, no money, and they had to appear before a judge in two and a half days.
Chapter Seven
“WHY WERE YOU SO AFRAID OF THIS island?” Sara asked Ariel.
“Afraid of the place?” R.J. asked, looking from Sara and Ariel. “Who was afraid of it?”
Sara nodded toward Ariel. “In New York she told me she was terrified of it and didn’t want to go.”
R.J. stood up and looked out toward the water, as though he might be able to see the ferry. There was nothing, not so much as a fishing boat in sight. He looked back at Sara. “When you two were in New York and planning this charade to dupe me into believing that you weren’t who you were, is that when she told you information that you could have passed on to me?”
“I’m sure that if I’d told you that my cousin said King’s Isle was a bad place, you would have called off your plans to go.” When R.J. said nothing, Sara looked at him harder. “You knew, didn’t you? You researched this place by yourself. You don’t do anything by yourself, but you researched this island without me.” Standing, she advanced on him. “What did you see that you didn’t want me to see? And why didn’t you tell me there was a possibility of problems?”
R.J. looked at David and Ariel as though for support, but they were looking at him with interest. “A few websites mentioned that past visitors had had some problems here, but it wasn’t something that I concerned myself with.”
“You were concerned enough that you hid them from me,” Sara said, still advancing on him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you wanted to get away from me so much that you were willing to treat me like a fool and wear that stupid wig and those clothes? Who made that jacket?”
“Chanel,” Ariel said. “Don’t blame Sara, it was all my idea.”
“But she went along with it. Is this why you were so tired for the last weeks? You and your cousin figuring out how to make me look like an idiot? Is that what you think I am, Sara?”
“Don’t you turn this on me!” Sara said. “Ariel and I did this—” She waved her hand in dismissal. “Why we did it doesn’t matter now. The point is that you kept vital information from us and that’s why we’re in this situation now.”
“You wouldn’t have listened to me,” he said. “Since when have you been interested in scary stories?”
“He’s right,” Ariel said. “I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen to me either.”
Sara sat down on a piling and looked out at the water. “I guess everything is my fault.” When no one spoke, she looked up at them. Ariel and R.J. seemed to agree with her, but David was frowning.
“I’d say it was Ariel’s fault,” he said. “After all, she was the one who got Mrs. Dunkirk to get her husband to—”
“What?!” R.J. shouted. “How could you manipulate a man like Charley Dunkirk?” He stopped talking and looked at Ariel in speculation.
She, in turn, only looked at her hands.
David stepped forward and looked at R.J. “Blaming people isn’t going to help. We need to think about how we’re going to live for the next few days. We’re in a hostile town, with no money, and no outside communication. And as for Ariel, yes, she warned us.”
“But no one said anything to me,” R.J. said, sounding sulky and left out.
“And you told no one what you knew,” Sara snapped back at him.
“I think I liked it better when you didn’t talk to me,” he said.
“You should be so lucky.”
“Could you two stop arguing for a minute?” Ariel said. “We need a place to spend the night. What about that house we saw with the sign in the window? Maybe we can bargain for a room.”
“Let’s pool our resources and see what we have,” R.J. said.