The Lost Sister. Megan Kelley Hall
across from her bed. She imagined herself peering into the mirror before she left many months ago—younger, softer somehow. I guess that’s what losing people you care about does to you, she mused.
Maddie flopped back into the covers and stretched catlike in the bed before pushing back the covers and getting up. She pulled a silver-plated brush from the vanity table and started delicately brushing the pillow-kinks out of her hair. It was the start of a new day in Hawthorne and Maddie Crane had no idea what to expect.
She headed downstairs, surprised at the silence that filled the house. Abigail was still in bed. This was something that completely rattled Maddie. In her entire life, she’d never been the first one awake in the house. Maddie couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t come downstairs to a brightly lit kitchen, filled with the smell of breakfast cooking and coffee brewing. It was like a ghost house.
A list of groceries was waiting for her on the kitchen table.
Mom and her lists, Maddie thought.
But Maddie was happy for an excuse to get out of the house—the quiet was too much for her to bear. Getting out and seeing people—even Hawthorne people—was better than the funereal silence that was all around her.
“That’ll be one hundred and sixty-four dollars,” the cashier said in a monotone.
“What? Are you feeding an army?” came a voice from behind her. It took Maddie a moment to realize that the comment was intended for her.
“Looks that way, doesn’t it?” Maddie laughed politely and turned to leave, angling her head toward the door so that she wouldn’t get caught up in a conversation. Not now, not this early, she thought. She was pushing the carriage toward the exit when a hand reached out and grabbed her firmly by the arm.
“Not even a hello. Well, I guess a semester away makes you too cool to talk to me,” said the guy in the harbor patrol uniform standing behind her.
Maddie had to blink her eyes before she could believe what she was seeing. Trevor Campbell? The last time she’d seen him was at Tess’s funeral. She’d managed to avoid him for all these months, and now here she was face-to-face with one of the many people responsible for Cordelia’s disappearance from Hawthorne. Trevor had raped Cordelia last year before she left; just one in a long line of indiscretions the town of Hawthorne managed to sweep under the rug. Not surprisingly, he didn’t seem the slightest bit self-conscious or guilty.
“How’ve you been, Crane?” he asked, beaming as he proudly wore his harbor attire. While in other towns being a harbor cop may have been looked at as a blue-collar position, it was a highly coveted position in Hawthorne, reserved for only the coolest and wealthiest kids. It was really just an excuse to hang out on the harbor all day in the sun and get paid for it. It came as no surprise that Trevor Campbell’s family had bought his way into this cushy position, because he was widely known as a troublemaker. Yet she had no idea why he would commit to the job over Christmas break. He must have done something to piss his parents off for them to make him actually work during his vacation. He definitely had some ulterior motive, yet she couldn’t figure out what it could be. In any case, he was the last person Maddie wanted to see. “I know, I know, I’m hard to recognize in uniform.”
“No, I could recognize an asshole even when he’s all cleaned up and in uniform,” Maddie said through clenched teeth. Trevor was Kate Endicott’s boyfriend and the boy who used to taunt Maddie and Cordelia mercilessly at Hawthorne Academy. He could even be the father of Cordelia’s child and it didn’t seem to affect him in the least.
“Ouch!” he said, laughing. “Is that any way to treat an old friend?”
“I’ll let you know when I see one,” Maddie said. “So, working for the harbormaster, hmm? What prompted the switch to the other side of the law? I didn’t know that assholes were given jobs to serve and protect.”
He smirked, shaking his head. Even in his crisp uniform of white oxford shirt, khakis, and closely cropped hair, he couldn’t shake the spoiled, party-boy image that existed in her memory. Maddie pictured him passed out on the floor in a drunken stupor at every party. Unless, of course, he was hooking up with one of the many girls that followed him around the halls of Hawthorne Academy. And yet how he managed to do it right under Kate Endicott’s perfectly upturned nose remained a mystery. Luckily, Maddie avoided falling under the spell of his baby-faced, all-American charms.
“Decided to clean up my act,” he said. “Fresh start. You should be familiar with wanting to start over. Right, boarding school girl?” he asked smugly, holding her gaze a little longer than what felt comfortable.
“Um…yeah,” Maddie muttered, “I guess so.” She willed herself not to let Trevor Campbell under her skin—not again. Strangely, Maddie could almost feel the shy, awkward Maddie Crane—the one she thought she had disposed of years ago—gingerly rubbing her eyes and coming back to life.
“So,” he chuckled, “what brings Maddie Crane back to Hawthorne? Was Maine life too much for you? Did you get sick of all the maple syrup and mountain climbing?”
“Uh, that’s Vermont, Trevor,” Maddie said slowly. She could barely stomach sticking around much longer talking to this bastard. She couldn’t believe that he was related to Reed, the only person she had had feelings for until Luke came into her life. Yet Trevor was one of the few who knew what she had done to Cordelia on Misery Island—who had witnessed the act that she so regretted when she had thrown that stone at Cordelia’s head. And for that, she hated him even more. “Actually, if you really want to know, I came back to take care of my mom for Christmas break.” Then she added, “She needs help with my aunt Rebecca.”
“Oh yeah,” said Trevor. “How could I forget about that crazy aunt of yours?”
My God, Maddie thought, some people never change. She was just about to storm off, but not before she told him where he could shove that smug attitude of his, when he caught her off-guard by saying, “It’s good that you’re here to take care of your mother. Especially after what happened this past fall.”
“This fall?” Maddie asked. She had no idea what he was talking about.
“Wow, your mom didn’t tell you? That’s weird,” he replied to her confused look. Maddie wanted to punch that smug look off his face, but her desire for information got the best of her.
“It was the strangest thing. I was at the station, playing a game of poker with the boys. So, it was a Tuesday night, not much really goes on during the week. The bars are empty and the high school keggers don’t really happen until the weekend. Do you remember the parties we used to throw out on Misery? Man, those were the days.”
“Focus, Trevor,” Maddie said impatiently, wanting to physically hurt him for even mentioning Misery Island, but at the same time she desperately wanted to know what he was talking about.
“So,” he continued, “this crazy 9–1–1 call comes in. Turns out it’s your mom on the phone just crying and screaming and going on and on about someone in the house, and they need everyone, even me, to help contain the situation. That’s what this is for.” He pulled out a Taser gun and Maddie shivered at the thought of Trevor Campbell, a guy with a drinking problem, a history of assault and rape, and an overwhelming sense of entitlement, being allowed to carry a weapon. “So, Sully—er, do you remember Officer Sullivan? Garrett Sullivan?”
Maddie bristled. Trevor obviously was aware that she knew Garrett Sullivan. He was the one who was a part of that awful night at Ravenswood. Trevor was just taunting her.
“Anyway, he tells her to get out of the house and get to a safe place, and she just kept on screaming ‘It’s not my fault,’ blah, blah, blah. Sully barely understood a word of it, y’know? Then, nothing. Silence. He said it was like the phone’s just ripped from the wall.”
At that point, Maddie couldn’t hide her emotions. Why hadn’t anyone mentioned this before? “What happened?” she yelled.
“I’m getting to that,”