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Morgan boarded the plane to New York first, leaving Charlie and Abby racing to catch up to her.When she got to her row, she put her purse on the seat, then bent deeply at the knees trying to pick up her weighty carry-on.

“You’re holding everyone up,” Charlie piped up, gesturing to the line of people behind her.

With a grunt, Morgan lifted the overnight bag over her head and shoved it in.She moved into the window seat, stretching her back and grimacing.

Charlie tossed her suitcase into the overhead compartment as easily as if she’d only packed a down pillow inside, then she sat in the aisle seat.

Abby stood looking at them, tapping her foot.“Why do I have to take the middle seat?”she asked Charlie.“You’re the middle child.”

The passengers waiting behind her began to grumble.

“Abby, just sit,” Morgan said.

Charlie pulled her legs up to her butt, and Abby crawled over her.Abby sat and expelled a powerful breath of air through her nose like a killer whale through its blowhole.

Charlie sniffed.“I can smell the peanut butter you had for breakfast.”

“And I can smell the spinsterhood on your breath,” Abby said.

“Okay,” Morgan said.“We’re all a little tense.Some of us more than others.”She put her hand on both her sisters’ knees.“Why don’t we hold off the snotty insults and try to enjoy each other on this long plane ride.”

“When did you become the therapist here?”Charlie said, grinning.

“I have my moments,” Morgan said.

When the plane left the gate, the scream of the engines filled the cabin as it picked up speed along the runway.Abby grabbed her sisters’ hands as the front wheels lifted off the ground.Morgan had forgotten that Abby had a fear of flying.

“If we all go down, does Albert inherit Mom’s estate?”Abby asked, clenching her teeth and not letting go of her sisters until the plane leveled off.

The flight was smooth, but the six hours went by excruciatingly slow for Morgan.She spent most of the time with her eyes closed, wishing she could fall asleep, but questions ping-ponged around her brain as she wondered what else they might discover about Carla’s life.The only clues they had so far were a magnet from New York, suitcases filled with stacks of money, and that their mother had lied to them about where she’d grown up.None of which answered the question as to why Carla would have wanted to die.

When the plane landed and pulled up to gate 44 at JFK airport, the flight attendant turned off the seatbelt sign.When that familiar ding reverberated throughout the cabin, Abby jumped up, pulled her suitcase from the overhead bin, and tried to race off the plane ahead of other passengers.

“Abby, you have to wait your turn,” Morgan said, holding her back.

“I need to get out of here,” Abby said, seemingly unable to keep it together a second longer.

Morgan gestured to the couple in front of them, who were each over six feet with two suitcases and two backpacks blocking the aisle.“Unless you’re planning to fly over them, you aren’t going anywhere,” Morgan whispered to Abby.

The driver who picked them up at the taxi stand had a thick and unidentifiable accent.His red beard, peppered with gray, grew below his chin to a point like an upside-down triangle.Morgan got into the back of the cab and sat directly behind the driver.Abby made a mad dash around to the other door and sat behind the front passenger seat, leaving Charlie to crawl into the middle seat.Morgan glanced over at Abby and saw the satisfied smile on her sister’s lips.

“Can you take us to the William Vale Hotel,” Morgan asked.

As the driver hit the gas, he asked, “Brooklyn?”somehow making the one word seem like a judgment.

“Yes,” Morgan said.

“We aren’t staying in the city?”Abby wailed.

“No,” Morgan said.

“First, I got all excited about going to Vegas, only we were in Henderson.And then I was thrilled to be traveling to New York City, but we’re staying in Brooklyn,” Abby said.“Is this a mean joke on the person who never travels anywhere that doesn’t have a water park?”

“We’re staying near where Mom grew up,” Charlie said.

“If we have time, we’ll go into Manhattan,” Morgan said.

“Just so you know, these trips aren’t living up to their hype,” Abby pouted.