The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Author:Karen M. McManus [Karen M. McManus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2020-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

We see the gate well before we see the house. It must be fifteen feet tall, made of thick wrought iron, flanked by an equally tall stone wall that stretches as far as I can see in either direction. There’s no way into Catmint House except for this gate, unless you want to try scaling the oceanside cliff that flanks the back of the house.

“Almost there,” our chauffeur says, pressing the brake as he rolls down his window. I’m immediately overpowered by the scent of honeysuckle. He extracts a slim silver rectangle that looks like a credit card from the sun visor, and holds it up against a sensor attached to a wooden post. There’s a loud clicking noise, and the gate doors slowly swing open.

We’re riding in a Bentley Mulliner that has four seats in the back, two on either side facing one another, with a chrome and walnut table between them. The seats are buttery espresso leather and equipped with dozens of buttons that let us adjust temperature and seat position. Jonah has been fiddling with his controls for the entire ride, but he looks up now as the car proceeds slowly down a winding driveway. Flowering honeysuckle bushes climb tall trellises on our right, and lush green trees that I haven’t seen anywhere else on Gull Cove Island are on our left.

Aubrey sighs. She looks stiff and uncomfortable in a striped shirtdress, the only article of clothing with a skirt that I’ve ever seen her wear. “I got a text from Hazel this morning. She said the funeral is going to be Wednesday. We should ask Carson for the day off.”

“Yeah, of course.” I run my fingers down a seam in the smooth leather of my seat. “Do you guys think Uncle Archer got a chance to talk to Dr. Baxter before he died?”

“I think…” Jonah hesitates, like he’s weighing how ready we are for bad news. Then he just goes for it. “To be honest, I think he’s been drunk since he saw us.”

He’s probably right. It’s been thirty-six hours since we left Uncle Archer’s bungalow, and we haven’t heard from him once. All our texts have gone unanswered, and any calls go straight to voice mail.

“Gran must know about Uncle Archer by now, right?” Aubrey asks. “I mean, she has to have seen the article.”

“I’m sure she did,” I say. I can’t imagine a piece of gossip like that not being brought to her attention straightaway.

Aubrey chews her lip. “Should we tell her that he’s the one who brought us here?”

“No,” Jonah and I both say at once. Then he grins at me, head cocked, and my stomach flutters. I’m not sure what would have happened in his room yesterday if we hadn’t gotten distracted by the news about Dr. Baxter. A not-small part of me wishes I’d found out.

“I know my reason,” he says. “I’m trying to hang on to this job as long as possible. JT’s already in a panic about the Archer thing.

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