“For what?”
“Depression. She had a lot of problems with her family.”
There were no more cars coming at the corner, so they crossed the street. “Did you ever visit her?” Aria asked.
“Once.” He made a wry face. “The place she was in looked really beautiful on the outside and had this amazing lobby, but once you went to the patient rooms, it was pretty miserable.”
“Huh,” Aria said, keeping her features completely neutral. That sounded like The Preserve at Addison-Stevens, all right. “Did she have any friends there?”
Graham stared up at the sky for a moment, thinking. “There were these two blond girls who were, like, the queen bees of the place. They insisted on hanging out with Tabitha when I visited her—I think they were sizing me up, deeming if I was worth talking to or not.”
Even though the sun was blaring down hard on the top of her head, Aria shivered. She wondered if one of them was Ali.
“There was a guy, too,” Graham went on. “I could tell he was into her—he kept giving me these nasty looks across the room.” He set his jaw. “She was probably hooking up with him. All the girls thought he was pretty hot.”
Then he glanced at Aria. “I’m making her sound crazy, but she wasn’t—she was pretty awesome. Everyone was after her—I don’t know why she picked me.” There was another sigh. “I’ve talked to a therapist about it. She was actually the one who told me to go on this trip. She thought it would help me get over what happened, separate from the craziness surrounding Maplewood right now.”
“I hear that.” Aria’s skin felt so prickly she just wanted to scratch and scratch. What would Graham think if he knew he was standing next to Tabitha’s murderer?
They approached a public beach with a small boardwalk. A weathered man stood under a striped umbrella, selling sodas out of a cooler. Two tanned boys sat on a lifeguard stand, gazing at a few swimmers in the water. To the left was a heavy thicket of trees. Green, globelike fruit hung in bunches from the branches, and a sweet, pleasant odor filled the air. The trees looked just like the search images on Graham’s phone.
Thick leaves waved over their heads, and Aria spied an envelope pinned to one of the trunks. It had the cruise line’s logo in the upper right corner. “The next clue!” she cried.
She tore it off the trunk. Inside were instructions to put the clue back in the envelope for other hunters to find it, and then a link to a website that would tell them where to go next.
She showed Graham what she’d found. “We rock! High five!”
She raised her palm in the air, and Graham slapped it. Suddenly, his eyes widened at something on the beach. Aria swiveled. Two girls stood near the lifeguard stand, slathering sunscreen on their bare legs.
“What is it?” she asked.
Graham stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned away. “Nothing.”
Aria squinted at him, then back at the girls. One had long, hippie-wild hair and wore Birkenstocks, and the other had pixie-short brown hair and a nose ring. She recognized both of them from the cruise ship—they’d been behind her in the waffle line at breakfast this morning. “Do they go to your school?”
“Uh-huh,” Graham mumbled.
“They’re cute.”
Graham looked tortured. “Yeah, but whatever.”
“You wouldn’t ask one of them out?”
Graham snorted. “Like they’d say yes.”
“Why not?”
Graham chuckled sadly. “Honestly? I don’t know how to talk to girls—especially after Tabitha dumped me. And I don’t know why they’d want to go out with a dork who pretends he’s a knight.”
Aria stopped next to a French-language No Parking sign and stared at him. “You’re not a dork! Look at you! You’re cute, you’re funny, you’re smart—so many girls would be dying to go out with you!”
Graham blushed. “I doubt that.”
Aria placed her hands on her hips. “I don’t. And you know what? I’m going to prove it to you. With my help, you’re going to be dating one of those hotties by the end of this trip.”
Graham’s head snapped up. “No!”
“I’m serious! Now which one are you into? Elf Girl, with the nose ring, or Miss Hippie?”
Graham chuckled at the nicknames. “Fine. I’m sort of into Elf Girl. Her real name is Tori. But seriously—nothing’s going to happen. I’ve liked her for two months, and it hasn’t gone anywhere.”
“Have you actually ever talked to her?”
“Well, no.” Graham buried half his foot in the sand.
Aria groaned good-naturedly. “That should be your first clue that nothing’s going to happen. She seems perfect for you. Go offer to get her a soda from the drinks cart.”
“Now?” Graham looked panicked.
“Yes, now!” Aria really, really liked this idea. Here was her chance to do something nice for Graham. It was a chance to atone for Tabitha, too. Square things up with the universe. Restore her karma.
She marched over to the drinks cart and purchased four Oranginas, two for them and two for the girls. “Now you don’t even have to buy her a drink. Just go and offer these to Elf and Hippie. That’ll strike up a conversation.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know!” Aria exclaimed, laughing out loud. “French beverages, whatever! Now c’mon, do it!”
Graham licked his lips. But after a moment, the tortured look on his face fell away, and he seemed almost a little excited. “Okay,” he said.