“No,” Hope said. “Me either.”

“You’re smart to stay away from that scene.”

Well, it wasn’t exactly Hope being smart. She wasn’t welcome with Allegra’s crowd. They tolerated Hope to be polite, and they were nice to her corresponding to when Allegra was nice to her. There were times when Allegra seemed to think it was cool to have a nerdy twin sister, someone who was everything she was not. Allegra had once told Hope that together, they were like one huge, awesome, complete person, and Hope had replied that she, Hope, was a complete person on her own. Hope had her own group of friends, the very smart kids in her honors math class—Evan, Henry, Anya. They rarely ventured out socially, but they were good people to eat lunch with.

“I’ll take you home, then?” Hope said.

“Do you mind? I’m sorry, Hope. My parents promised to buy me a car, but… my mom got that new apartment for writing, so now there isn’t enough money.”

“That sucks,” Hope said. “I’m sorry.” She drove toward the Llewellyns’ house, which was on the other side of the world as far as Nantucket was concerned.

Brick said, “When you texted back saying you’ve been covering for Allegra, what did that mean?”

Hope wasn’t sure what to say. She was a terrible liar. “With my parents.”

“Your parents?” he said. “Does it have anything to do with Ian Coburn? Anything at all?”

“No,” Hope said.

“Have you ever heard Allegra talk about Ian? Does she mention him at home?”

Hope shrugged. “I guess.”

“You guess?”

“A little,” Hope said. “They’re friends, like you said. She’s allowed to have friends, Brick.” Hope wasn’t sure why she was defending Allegra. Allegra had no moral compass. She had lost it in the woods during their first Girl Scout camping trip, when she had decided to sneak out with Hollis Brancato and smoke cigarettes over a pile of dead leaves. At eleven years old, she had nearly set the Hidden Forest on fire.

“Tell me the truth!” Brick shouted. “Is she seeing Ian Coburn?”

Hope was so alarmed by the question—even though she had been anticipating it for weeks—that she temporarily forgot she was operating a motor vehicle and she swerved into the oncoming lane. There was no one coming from either direction, but Hope’s heart jumped into her throat and stayed there. If she crashed the car, her parents would kill her.

“Tell me, Hope!” Brick said. “Is she screwing him?”

“I have no idea!” Hope said. “Ask her!”

Brick made a strange choking noise, and Hope, fearing he was going to puke, pulled over onto the shoulder. Brick slumped against the passenger door. He was drunk. There had been nothing for him to do, she supposed, other than to try to drink away the fact that Allegra didn’t love him anymore.

“Brick,” Hope said.

But she was interrupted by blue and red lights in her rearview mirror and one short burst of police siren, which was enough to cause Hope to cry out.

“Straighten up!” she barked at Brick. “And don’t say anything!”

She turned the car off and pulled out her license and the Jeep’s registration. She put down her window as a flashlight came poking into the interior of the car. Hope looked up. It was either the best- or the worst-case scenario. The police officer was Curren Brancato, older brother of Hollis. Curren Brancato, Hope knew, had just joined the Nantucket police force. He was only six years older than Hope and Brick.

“What have we here?” Curren said. “Allegra?”

“No,” Hope said. “I’m Hope. Allegra’s sister.”

“Oh, right,” he said. “The good twin.” He accepted her license and registration. “I see you at church with your mom.”

Hope exhaled. “Yes.”

“Have you been drinking, Hope?” Curren asked.

“Me?” Hope said. “No. I don’t drink.”

“Do you have a good explanation for why you crossed the centerline and then nearly drove off the road?”

Hope vaguely remembered Curren Brancato when he was in high school. He had been a football star—his nickname was Blue Thunder—but in the final games of his senior year, he had been declared ineligible because he was failing Spanish. Hope had only been in sixth grade—back then, Hope and Allegra had shared all of their friends, including Hollis—but Hope remembered the outrage caused by Curren’s academic ineligibility. The Whalers had had a shot at the Massachusetts Super Bowl, but not without Curren Brancato. Although the Boosters made a fuss, Curren wasn’t allowed to play. Hope had taken the episode as a big fat cautionary tale on squandered talent.

Curren had pulled a phoenix, however, and risen from the ashes. He attended a military college in Vermont, then the Boston Police Academy. Then he returned to Nantucket, where he was hailed as a homegrown hero.

“I know I crossed the centerline,” Hope said. “I’m sorry.”

“But why?” Curren said. “And then you nearly drove into the trees.”

“Um…?” Hope said.

Curren Brancato—Officer Brancato—poked his head into the Jeep and studied Brick. “Is he drunk?”

“Affirmative,” Brick said.

Hope sighed. She had hoped Brick would pretend to be asleep.

“You have a junior license, Hope,” Officer Brancato said. “Which means that you’re breaking curfew right now. And your erratic driving? I could see to it that you don’t drive again until your eighteenth birthday.”