Page 97 of Swan Song

Under the laptop, Kacy discovers a green Moleskine notebook. Jackpot.

It’s an enormous violation of Coco’s privacy to open it, but under the circumstances, Kacy feels she has no choice.

The notebook contains addresses, phone numbers, and the hours of operation for Pip and Anchor, Born and Bread, Dan’s Pharmacy. Following that is a log of sorts with dates lined up neatly on the left followed by notes on the errands Coco ran that day. July 8: Nantucket Meat and Fish (they’re out of Bull’s pretzels, shipment coming Tuesday), Bartlett’s Farm, post office. On another page, there’s a record of what packages came to the house and what they contained: Amalfi lemons, box of Bridgewater chocolates (thank-you gift from Rachel McMann), three bottles of Guerlain Double Vanille perfume from Neiman’s, copper mugs engraved with the letter R, strings of white lights.

Kacy pages forward until she finds August 22. Sunset sail, it says. Print out Google vow renewal, Zoe A. will drop off appetizers 5:00 p.m., ice, change sheets in primary suite on Hedonism, twenty-five champagne flutes. There’s even a note for August 23: Drop boxes at Hospital Thrift Shop, India Street, open 9 to 4.

The rest of the notebook is all blank pages, or so Kacy thinks until she gets to the back and finds a… diagram. In the center are the words The Personal Concierge, and radiating out like spokes on a wheel are lines that end in circled names: Bull, Leslee, Lamont, Kacy.

Kacy flushes at seeing her own name. What does this mean? She doesn’t think twice; she slides the notebook into her bag.

She realizes she hasn’t checked the second bedroom. She opens the door slowly, feeling like a girl in a horror film, half expecting Coco to jump out at her, soaking wet and bedraggled, seaweed in her hair. The room is dark; Kacy wants to turn on the light but they’ll see that outside, so she makes do with the glow from her phone.

The room is filled with cardboard boxes. Okay, Kacy thinks, these must be the boxes Coco was going to take to the thrift shop. Kacy opens one of them and finds jeans and cashmere sweaters; underneath that is the pink ombré Hervé Léger dress Leslee wore to the first party. This dress is going to the thrift shop? It belongs in a museum. The next box is filled with shoes—stilettos, platform sandals, Manolo Blahniks, Louboutins. Leslee is giving these away?

Kacy’s phone dings with a text and she jumps, thinking that somehow the text is from Coco: Stop snooping. But the text is from her father: Where are you?

Kacy is busted. Bathroom, she types. Be right down.

Kacy’s phone rings. It’s her father. She declines the call and rushes out the door. The Chief waits at the bottom of the stairs. “You didn’t touch anything up there, did you?”

“No,” Kacy says. “I had to go. We’ve been here for hours.”

The Chief has a roll of yellow police tape in his hands; he cordons off the entry to the stairs. “The Coast Guard is concluding its search for the night. They’ll start up again at dawn. Lamont took the Richardsons’ boat and went out to look for Coco on his own.”

“He did?” Kacy has more faith in Lamont finding Coco than the Coast Guard.

“We’ll stay until he gets back,” the Chief says. “Then I’m taking you home.”

Home? Suddenly Kacy feels like she’s going to vomit. Should she turn over the notebook or offer to put it back? It could be evidence.

“Let’s wait for Lamont on the beach,” Kacy says. She strides across the Richardsons’ lawn and the Chief follows. They hear a commotion and see Bull and Leslee down by the water; in her long white dress, Leslee looks like some kind of ghost bride.

“This is all your fault!” Leslee shrieks at Bull.

“Everything okay down there?” the Chief says.

“Fine, fine,” Bull says. “Leslee’s just upset. I was hoping to take the dinghy since we’re going to sleep on Hedonism tonight, but it’s already at the mooring.”

“Lamont took the other boat to go look for Coco,” the Chief says.

“Oh,” Bull says. “Good, good.” The Chief gets the feeling Bull only now realizes his other boat is missing. How did the Chief and Andrea get mixed up with these people? Part of it was Kacy befriending Coco and part of it was Addison. A perfect storm of sorts.

The Chief hears a motor and sees running lights. A boat pulling in. Lamont is back. Please, he thinks, let him have Coco with him.

Coco! Kacy thinks.

Bull wades into the water, cups his hands around his mouth: “Did you find her?”

Lamont heads for the mooring, not the shore. The Chief’s heart sinks. He didn’t find her.

Lamont cuts the motor, turns off the lights. As soon as the Chief’s eyes adjust, he can see that Lamont is alone in the boat. They all wait in silence for Lamont to row in. When he reaches the beach, he looks at Ed. “Do you have any news?”

“No,” Ed says.

“I covered every inch of water,” Lamont says. “She’s not out there.”

33. Kill Your Darlings

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