Page 42 of That Last Carolina Summer

“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.”

—Victor Hugo

“We all are supposed to have our special powers that give us strength when we need it. Birds have wings. And we humans have choices, which can sometimes mean the difference between flying or falling.”

Excerpt from the blog The Thing with Feathers

Celeste

I PEERED OUT the kitchen window to check on Will.

I’d asked him to clean out the bird feeders and then refill them with fresh seed, knowing the entire process was painstakingly slow and laborious.

The feeders didn’t even need cleaning—I did it regularly and actually enjoyed doing it—but if I had to listen to another electronic boing or bing from his game console, I couldn’t be blamed for tossing it into the creek.

Forcing him outside had seemed like a better choice.

I watched as Will dropped a large bag of birdseed, his shoulders sagging. He’d been out of sorts all day because Ophelia was busy running errands with her mother. I was cautiously optimistic that Addie might finally be showing Ophelia some kind of maternal affection.

The timer on the oven rang. I removed the chocolate chip cookies and set them on cooling racks by the sink.

I’d planned to bring them over to the Manigaults as soon as they were cooled.

Will had wanted to take the jonboat and do some fishing, but I didn’t like the look of the clouds in the near distance, hovering over the harbor like a vulture.

Storms in the Lowcountry could be as sudden as they were ferocious, and I didn’t want him out on the water in a metal boat if one should decide to trouble the waters.

I heard the front door open and then Liam entered the kitchen, still in his work clothes. He usually went home first to change before collecting Will so they could go fishing before supper. It was also an hour earlier than he was normally finished with his office hours.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“My last appointment of the day was canceled. It was for Elizabeth Manigault, and Stephanie said that Addie was the one who called.” He frowned. “She didn’t reschedule.”

“That’s odd. Elizabeth seemed fine to me yesterday. Did you call Phoebe to make sure everything’s all right?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Why not? She would probably want to know.” I studied him closely. “Did something happen at that concert?” He’d been avoiding any mention of Phoebe since the concert a week and a half ago. I might not have noticed if Phoebe hadn’t also been avoiding any mention of Liam.

Instead of answering, he slid off his jacket and removed his tie before grabbing a beer from the refrigerator.

“Why aren’t you answering my question?” I asked.

He took a long swig. “Because I thought it was rhetorical.”

I shook my head then took out a small Tupperware container and began sliding cookies into it.

“Will and I are bringing these over to the Manigaults, and you’re welcome to come with us.

Someone needs to make sure that Elizabeth is all right.

Even if her doctor gets googly-eyed at the mention of her daughter. ”

“ Googly-eyed? Seriously? Are we back in third grade?”

“Only if you continue to act like you are.” I handed him the Tupperware. “Fill this up to the top, please. I’m going to call to let them know we’re on our way.”

The phone rang eight times before Ophelia picked up. I smiled at the sound of her voice repeating something I imagined Elizabeth must have taught her.

“Hello. Manigault residence. This is Ophelia speaking.”

“Hello, Ophelia. This is Miss Celeste. May I speak with your mother, please?” I held the receiver away from my ear so that Liam could hear the other side of the conversation.

“She’s not here. She dropped me off after we got our nails painted at the beauty parlor. We both got Shocking Pink. Even Mimi.”

I looked at Liam, and our eyes met. That might explain why Elizabeth had missed her appointment.

“That sounds lovely. I can’t wait to see them. Is your Aunt Phoebe available?”

“Nuh-uh. She left to go find Mimi on her bike.”

A spark of worry pinched the back of my neck. “She did?” I kept my voice calm. “Why did she take her bike instead of the car?”

“Because Mimi has the car.”

I jerked my gaze to Liam, who appeared to be as alarmed as I was. “I see. Did Phoebe have any idea where Mimi might have gone?”

“No. Mimi took a nap when Mama and I got back from the beauty parlor. Aunt Phoebe’s friend Mary-Simms stopped by and they went for a walk, and while they were gone Mama’s boyfriend showed up and she left with him and told me to keep an eye on Mimi.

Aunt Phoebe was really mad when she got back and Mimi was gone. ”

“She wasn’t mad at you, sweetheart, because you didn’t do anything wrong. Have you called your mother to let her know?”

“Aunt Phoebe and I tried, but Mama didn’t answer.”

“Okay, sweetheart. Will and I and Will’s dad are coming over.

We’re going to drive so we can help your aunt find Mimi, all right?

We’re bringing a mess of homemade chocolate chip cookies, too.

We’ll be there in a couple of minutes, but if your mother, aunt, or grandmother shows up, could you please call Will’s cell phone to let us know? ”

She agreed, and then the phone clicked in my ear, replaced by a dial tone.

Liam was already grabbing his keys and heading to the backyard to collect Will.

I snapped the lid over the cookies then followed Liam out to the driveway. “And that’s why it’s important to have a landline,” I called after him as I locked the front door behind us.

It was an old argument between us, my stubbornness to get a cell phone.

I continued to cling to my conviction that if satellites fell from the sky, I would still be able to communicate with friends and emergency personnel.

But Liam, with the best of intentions, told me that as soon as I got one, he would get rid of the landline.

Which was the wrong thing to say because, in the very slim chance that Julie was out there somewhere, that would be the number she’d call.

Once we were on our way, Liam tried to call Phoebe again from his truck, but it went straight to voice mail.

He shook his head and hit the end button.

“I think she’s having her dreams again. At the concert, she told her friend that she was going to have a baby girl when I don’t think the friend had yet announced that she was even pregnant.

I think she knew about it because she’d had a dream.

We left shortly afterward because Phoebe said she was feeling ill, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

And then she fell asleep in the truck on our way back, and she had another one.

One that shook her up pretty badly. She wouldn’t talk about it. ”

“What a horrible burden. She must be afraid to fall asleep, poor girl.” Even as I said it, a glimmer of hope sparked inside me, fighting with the shame of even feeling it. I wanted Phoebe to have peace from her affliction. Almost as much as I needed to know what happened to my granddaughter.

The driveway at the Manigault house was empty as Liam pulled in with his truck. Ophelia looked up from where she sat in a rocking chair on the front porch, reading a book. She ran down the steps to greet us.

“Nobody came home,” Ophelia reported as she eyed the Tupperware in Will’s hands.

“Why don’t you two go into the kitchen and grab a couple of Cokes from the fridge to have with your cookies?” I suggested.

They didn’t need to be asked twice.

Liam headed back to his truck. “I’m going to drive around and look for Phoebe and Elizabeth.

Please stay here with the kids, and let me know if anyone returns.

I’ll try to get Dale’s number from a mutual friend and see if he was the one who picked up Addie, but I doubt it.

From what I know about him, he’s a real Boy Scout.

He wouldn’t have left Mimi and Ophelia here alone.

Even if Addie would.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and slid behind the steering wheel.

I opened the front and back doors of the house, allowing a cross breeze through the screen doors. If anyone approached by foot or car, I had a better chance of hearing them.

I joined the kids in the kitchen and grabbed a Coke for myself while keeping my eye trained on the dock.

A strong wind blew the bird feeders against the tree trunks as the marsh grasses bent low as if in prayer beneath the darkening sky.

I kept looking for a flash of color bobbing in the water, but the approaching storm had erased even the shorebirds, who were smart enough to know to come inside in the rain.

I found the board game Clue in the family room and set it up on the kitchen table.

Will made a face to show me he was too old for it, but I gave him a look he understood to keep it to himself.

Childish handwriting covering the box made it clear that the game belonged to Addie Manigault and that no one else—especially someone whose name started with P and ended with an E —was allowed to touch it.

After explaining the rules of the game to Will and Ophelia, I went upstairs to Elizabeth’s room, looking for any clue to where she might have gone.

Finding nothing out of place, I headed toward the door, stopping in the threshold.

The photograph of Charles, in its replacement frame, was missing from its spot on Elizabeth’s bedside table.

It might be a clue, but I had no idea as to what it might mean, and the two people who might know were currently unreachable.