“Certainly.”
“If my father happens to call, please don’t mention this visit to him.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Florida!” Lia said. “Are you crazy?”
She and Patch were already in a cab going across town, in the direction of the Midtown Tunnel. Patch had simply told her that he had a surprise, and that she should pack a change of clothing. It was only their second official date, so it was more than a bit unexpected, but Patch appreciated that Lia understood the value of spontaneity. The trip was like a present that had been dropped in their laps, the chance to escape from Manhattan.
“I thought maybe we were going to, I don’t know, the Hamptons or something,” she said. “But Palm Beach? What are we, like, eighty years old? Will it be warm there? I thought it would be freezing where we were going!”
“It’s really nice there,” Patch said as they entered the Midtown Tunnel. “Nick’s grandfather has a pool and everything. It has these stone dolphins that shoot water. It’s kind of fun, in that old rich person sort of way, you know?”
“Well, I didn’t bring a swimsuit,” Lia said. “What are you going to do about that?” She frowned, pushing her black bangs away from her forehead.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure Lauren packed five. Besides, it’s casual. The girls will lend you some clothes.”
She shrugged hesitantly. “Okay, so, what, is this like some kind of preppy ritual or something? Heading south in the winter?”
“Oh, come on,” Patch said. “I’m not that preppy.” He gave her a playful poke in the stomach.
“Whatever, preppy boy. You’re right out of a Brooks Brothers catalog.”
“Hey, no fair!” It actually did surprise Patch-he had thought that with his new haircut and new body, he was shedding the preppy image he had grown up with. Apparently not. “I don’t actually feel like I’m that preppy,” he continued. “I’ve always felt sort of-well, sort of different.”
“How so?”
Patch wasn’t sure he should get into his family history. He glanced at the cabbie in the rearview mirror. It seemed like a strange place to be sharing such intimacies.
“I don’t really have the most traditional family structure,” he said. He explained about growing up with his grandmother, his father’s death, and his mother’s hospitalization.
Lia’s face softened as he told the story of his mother being put away. “And you still don’t know exactly why she was sent there?” she asked.
“She has borderline personality disorder, but it can be quite severe at times. She just doesn’t see the world the way that you or I do. Everything is a danger to her. I’ve never fully understood why she is the way she is.” He didn’t want to explain about seeing the Society’s ankh branded on the back of his mother’s neck last November, or about the picture of her that he had seen the previous night at the display of clippings about the last Dendur Ball. He didn’t want to talk about how he now was questioning her entire history, everything that had happened to her. It was part of what was making the Society thing so confusing, and what made it different for him from the others. The rest of them wanted to get out of the group, whereas Patch had an additional goaclass="underline" to understand what his mother’s involvement with the group had been. He had tried talking to Genie about it over the past few weeks, but she wouldn’t tell him anything. He knew that the obvious thing would be to go visit his mother at the hospital in Ossining. He had mentioned this to Genie, but she had discouraged the idea. It was so painful for Patch to see his mother in that condition. He hated visiting her, and it was not likely that Esme would tell him anything. Her memories were so fragmented, like shards of glass.
He had a multitude of reasons for putting it off.
However he went about it, though, he knew that it would be his journey alone.
The cab pulled up at La Guardia, and Patch leaned forward to pay the driver.
Lia took a deep breath. “This should be interesting.”
“Relax,” Patch said. “You’ll like my friends.”
When they got to La Guardia, Phoebe, Lauren, and Thad were waiting by the ticket desk. “Nick is checking on a few things,” Phoebe said.
Patch introduced Lia to everyone. Phoebe and Lauren were incredibly friendly to her, as if they were Patch’s older sisters and Patch was presenting his first girlfriend to them.
“We’ve heard so much about you!” Lauren said as she gave Lia a hug. Patch was momentarily embarrassed that he had told Lauren and the others all about Lia the day before. Patch noticed Lia giving him a slightly uncomfortable glance, but he also sensed that she was grateful the girls were being so friendly. They invited her to come to a coffee place with them to grab some bagels before the flight.
As excited as he was to be with Lia, his mind was now jumping to the clues that Nick had told him about briefly on the phone. He didn’t know what they meant, but he relished the chance to figure it out-and even better if it could help get them out of the Society.
Patch sat down in a waiting area outside of the security screening checkpoint. Lauren joined him with her cup of coffee, a few steps ahead of the others.
He gave her a look that could only mean one thing: What do you think?
Lauren laughed. “Patch, relax, will you? You did well. She’s adorable.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
As Nick’s green and white cab pulled up at his grand-father’s estate, he found himself smiling from behind his sunglasses. Palmer Bell’s Palm Beach home was a coral pink beachfront palace, complete with elaborate plasterwork, multiple fountains, marble elephants guarding the gates, and columns held up by carved monkeys. It had been built by a film star in the 1930s and was known as a local landmark. Nick’s parents had always derided the house as gaudy, but Nick liked it. It was so different from any of the other houses in the Bell family, which were more austere. The Palm Beach house was fun, like a momentary glimpse into fantasyland.
The front door was opened by Horatio, his grandfather’s majordomo, a large, thick man with olive skin, dark hair, and eyes that were a little too close together. Horatio managed the household, rather like a butler, and, in Palmer’s old age, attended to many of his medical needs as well. He made sure that the kitchen was stocked, that the pool was clean, that every inch of the house was dusted and polished by the housekeeping staff. He was of indeterminate age himself, somewhere between forty and sixty, and attributed his agelessness to the dried goji berries that he ate with every meal. The Bells were grateful to Horatio, as he had taken care of Palmer after Elizabeth, Nick’s grandmother, had died. Palmer had refused to move back to New York City, and so it was lucky that the family had someone to look after the eldest member of the Bell clan.
The other cab pulled up behind Nick’s, and the six of them were led to the east wing of the house, where the guest bedrooms were located. The girls immediately changed into swimsuits-Lauren did indeed have a teal one that met Lia’s approval for her to borrow-and they went out to the pool, where Horatio served them iced tea and lemonade. After changing into trunks, Nick reconvened in the living room with Thad and Patch, where the three of them stood in bare feet on the sisal rug. Nick’s grandmother had decorated the room in classic Palm Beach yellow, and the room was punctuated by large linen couches and banana leaf trees in wicker baskets. Patch and Thad wore board shorts and T-shirts, which looked strange, as their arms were pale from the New York winter.
Nick and Phoebe had told the others about Palmer’s challenge after everyone was checked in for the flight. They all had the same questions that Nick and Phoebe had mulled over, but ultimately, everyone agreed that pursuing Parker’s enigmatic riddle was the best course of action. Nick mentioned the missing Pollock painting and the clue of the family photos that had led them down to Palm Beach.