Dove Sport

Chapter Fifteen: Did You Do It?

Fear.

It was one of the most basic and most human emotions. Children especially, are scared of everything; the shadows moving in the corners of their rooms, the boogeymen beneath their beds and in their closets.

Blair and Grace's childhood bedrooms were across the hall from one another. Whenever Blair would have a nightmare as a little girl, she would cross the hallway and crawl into her sister's bed to sleep. She would pray for the morning to come and for the monsters to fade away. Grace had always told her that nothing was quite so scary in the daylight. Grace had always protected Blair, even when Blair wasn't aware of it. It was time for her to return the favor.

Blair invited Arsen over for breakfast at her house on Saturday morning. They'd hatched a new plan at school once she'd explained the argument she'd had with her father and her newfound suspicions about him. Arsen agreed to help her find Grace, not just for the sake of their investigation but also because he was a good friend. Blair didn't tell her mother until the last possible minute. Her father was already at work in the Hook but Mrs. Wallis typically didn't work on Saturday mornings.

Now Blair, her mother, and Arsen all sat at the dining table with plates of pancakes and full glasses of orange juice before them. No one was speaking but it was different from the family dinner Blair had shared with the Larks. This was a comfortable sort of silence.

Or course, shortly after Blair thought that, her mother broke it. "So, Arsen," Mary began, "I suppose I have you to thank for my daughter's ongoing obsession with Seth Lark?" Arsen continued chewing his pancakes.

"Actually, Mom," Blair said, "I was the one who asked Arsen to help me write an article about it for the school paper."

Her mother laughed, but it sounded a little strained. "Relax, Blair," she said, "I'm only making conversation." Across the table, Arsen met Blair's eyes. Blair tried to give him a reassuring smile but his returning one was thin. She raised a brow at him and he swallowed down the food that was in his mouth.

Arsen looked at her mother and asked, "Do you guys have a bathroom you could use?"

"Sure," Blair said, "It's just down the hall, I'll show you."

"No," Mary interrupted, "I'll show him. You can keep working on your breakfast, honey." Mary stood and beckoned for Arsen to follow her. For this moment, Blair was alone.

It wouldn't last for long and she needed to move fast. Grabbing her phone, Blair opened up her camera and reached for her mother's purse. She pulled out the checkbook and began quickly flipping through it, searching for anything that could provide a clue about her sister's whereabouts. Blair snapped pictures of every record of payments that she could and was back in her seat just moments before Arsen and her mother returned.

"Did you get it?" Arsen asked when the front door shut behind them. Blair waved her phone at him.

"I wasn't sure how much time I would have so I just took pictures of it all." Blair told him. "I figure we can plug them into the internet and try to figure out which one my sister is at."

Arsen nodded and gave her an appraising look, "Good plan. Shall we?" He gestured towards the street and Blair nodded affirmatively.

They would go to the public library to make their searches and from there they'd have to make a new plan depending on what they found. They could have used Blair's laptop up in her room but Blair knew that more than anything, her mother would be most suspicious of a boy in her room. Even Arsen. Especially Arsen. Besides, the computers at the library wouldn't save her search history so someone could go back through it like Blair's own computer would, which was a concern solely because her mother was nosey and prone to snooping in Blair's things.