what now? | outerbanks

• one hundred twenty-six •

Cleo

    I can hear my own breathing.
    JJ looks at me. Then at Pope. He points toward the hallway.
    Stay here.
    I know that look.
    Before Pope can stop him, JJ slips away. He moves quietly, keeping low as he crosses toward the foyer. John B. watches him go but doesn't say anything. I can barely see him from where I'm sitting.
    He reaches the wall beside the front door and waits. Then, he slowly leans toward one of the narrow windows. His face changes just slightly.
    He backs away. "Two," he whispers.
    Pope looks at him. "Who?"
    "The guy." My stomach twists. JJ swallows. "And a woman."
    I know immediately.
    Marlene.
    "Older," he describes. "Reddish hair. Slim."
    "That's her," I whisper, terrified.
    "She looks calm as shit."
    I nod. "Always calm."
A knock sounds against the front door. Three slow taps.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Then Marlene speaks. "Cleo."
My stomach twists. I haven't heard her voice in years, but somehow I know it immediately.
"Open the door."
Nobody moves. John B. looks at Pope. Pope shakes his head.
JJ is still the only one with eyes on them. Suddenly, he tenses. "I think he's armed," he mutters. "Nobody be a hero."
Pope slowly walks to JJ and reaches for the lock.
"Pope," I whisper.
"I won't let them do anything. Promise." He opens the door.
The man steps inside first. He's even bigger than I remember. Broad shoulders. Thick arms. That same tattoo disappearing beneath his sleeve. His eyes sweep across the room.
Marlene walks in behind him. Dark, copper hair catching the light from the windows. She's dressed simply. Nothing about her looks threatening. She hasn't changed since the last time I saw her.
The man closes the door behind her.
Marlene smiles. "Cleo." Her eyes travel around the room, stopping on each of the guys and back to me. "You've made quite a life for yourself."
"What do you want?"
"Guess." She takes a step toward me.
The man behind her shifts. John B. notices, lifting the cane just an inch.
Marlene takes another step when she realizes I'm not talking. "The ledger."
My brow furrows. "I don't know what you're talking about."
She smiles. "You always were a terrible liar."
"I'm not lying."
She comes closer. Too close. I can smell her perfume, and it makes me sick. My skin prickles. I see Pope in my periphery try to get to me, make sure I'm safe, but the man stops him. I send him a quick look. I'm okay.
"Cleo," she says quietly, "you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"I don't."
Her eyes stay on mine. "You went with my sister." Her nostrils flare. "You were supposed to retrieve something. A ledger."
"I don't have it," I say again.
Then, she laughs. "That's so funny because I'm pretty sure I traced it back to this exact island. You expect me to believe it's some coincidence you ended up here?"
    "We. Don't. Have. It," I spit.
"Respectfully, ma'am," JJ blurts, "we don't know what the fuck a ledger is."
Pope coughs. "I know what a ledger is," he quips under his breath. I glare at them.
Marlene remains unfazed, turning to slowly look around the room. She stops on John B. "Who are you?" she asks.
"John B.," he says blankly.
A look of realization washes across her face. "Ah, yes. John Booker Routledge, is it?"
His face falters with this look of How does she know me? He instinctively recoils some.
She spends a second looking at each boy. "Which makes you JJ, and you... Mr. Pope Heyward. The lover."
Marlene doesn't do anything without doing her research first.
A chill runs through my body. "Why are you doing this?"
"You've made quite a life for yourself, Cleo. A real family," she smiles. "But you took that away from me."
"I didn't take anything from you."
"Think harder." Her eyes drift back to John B. "I think," she glances at the man, "I think you're missing a few friends. Where's that girl of yours, John?"
John B. doesn't answer. If possible, everyone gets even more tense at the mention of Sarah.
Marlene waits. "The blonde?"
Something cold settles in my stomach.
"She's not here," John B. says.
Marlene's smile grows. "Oh, I think she is."
John B. shifts his grip on the cane. "Leave her out of this."
Marlene takes a slow step toward the staircase. It's a twisted game of hot and cold.
John B. immediately moves in front of it, cane lifting in defense. "Don't."
She stops. For a second, neither of them moves.
Then she laughs softly. "Relax, Romeo. It's a joke."
Nobody else laughs.
Her eyes flick past him toward the upstairs hallway. A cry floats through the floorboards and down the stairs. Everyone in the room freezes. My heart drops to my stomach. John B. turns toward the ceiling, cheeks flushed and chest rising. I can see the panic in his eyes.
Marlene's face, however, lightens. "Oh," she says quietly. "That explains the medical bills."
Pope steps in now, shifting just enough to take the focus off Willa for just a moment. "Please. What else do you want?"
"I want John to tell me something," she starts. "How would you feel if someone took that girl from you? The one piece of family you have left?"
John B. just stares back, muscles flexing. He's scared.
"Because that is exactly what your friend here did to me," she explains.
I shake my head. "That's not what happened."
"Then what did happen, Cleo? If you don't mind me asking."
I feel sick. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen—to have my past fanned out in the open. To bring the others into this mess. "It wasn't my fault."
Marlene is getting bored now. I can tell. She's got this look on her face that she always had when someone couldn't get her what she wanted. Pure dissatisfaction.
"You have a month."
JJ's head twitches. "A month for what?"
"A month to get me the ledger." She pauses as if she's waiting for one of us to argue. When we don't, she continues. "I think that's more than fair."
Pope interjects carefully. "And if we can't?"
She sighs. "Oh, I'm sure Cleo will tell you."
"We don't—"
"Find it." Her expression barely changes. "You have a month."
Pope's jaw clenches. He cracks his knuckles.
Marlene smiles. "Ta-ta, Cleo." She waves her fingers. "See you soon."
The man leads her to the front door, opens it for her, and exits behind. He shuts the door carefully as if Marlene hasn't already shattered the moment.
JJ shakes his head, already pacing like a madman. "Okay—what the fuck, you guys?"
I can't answer. I look to Pope for backup. He's still staring at the door.
Tanneyhill has never felt so small, with the scent of her perfume still in the air, lingering with the dampness from outside.
Pope looks at me. "Cleo." His face is tight. "Tell me the truth. This ledger... do you know about it?"
"Yes, she sent me to find it one time, but she didn't tell me anything about it. She never told me anything, and I didn't ask questions. That was our agreement."
Another cry slices through our conversation. John B. is already climbing the multi-level spiral staircase.
"I'll get them."
JJ stops pacing long enough to look at me. "She sent you to find it and you never asked what it was?"
"I was thirteen."
That shuts him up for a second.
Pope looks down at the floor. "Okay."
I look at him. "Okay?"
"We'll figure out what it is."
JJ starts pacing again. "With what? We literally have nothing to go off of."
"Thanks for the reminder," Pope quips.
The stairs creak overhead. A few minutes later, footsteps come back down. Kie is holding Willa against her chest, bouncing her gently. Sarah follows close behind her, one hand gripping the banister as she comes down. She looks shaken and pissed. Mostly pissed. John B. comes down behind them, eyes still fixed on Sarah and Willa like he's making sure they're both actually okay.
Sarah looks at us. "What happened?"
Nobody answers immediately.
Pope finally says, "Marlene wants a ledger."
Sarah's brow furrows.
"She says she tracked it to the island," JJ adds. "We have a month to find it."
Sarah looks between us. "What ledger? That's, like, the least specific she could possibly be."
"We don't know," Pope says. "None of us do."
Sarah lets out a frustrated breath. "Then how are we supposed to find it?"
"Exactly," JJ says.
Kie shifts Willa higher against her shoulder. "Why does she want us to find it? Can't she just look for it herself? I mean, if she found you—"
"She doesn't want us to find it. She wants me to find it. You guys are just collateral."
JJ snorts. "Gee, thanks."
Sarah rolls her neck. "Okay, well, if she tracked it to the island, somebody here has to know something. It didn't just sail over here on its own."
"Who would know something like this?"
I think we all have the same person in mind.
"Mr. Sunn," John B. says with a breath of realization. "If anyone knows anything, it's him. He pretty much found the Merchant Gold for us."
"Wouldn't hurt to ask..." JJ ponders, rubbing the back of his neck.
John B. pulls his keys out of his pocket. "I'll go right now. The school should be open. He'll probably be there."
Sarah catches his arm. "Absolutely not," she hisses. "You're not going anywhere."
"It's just—"
She doesn't even have to say anything to shut him up. She just makes this face, accusatory and slightly amused, and he surrenders. It's almost entertaining.
"We can go," Kie offers instead.
JJ looks at her for confirmation. "You sure?"
Kie nods. "He likes us." She sounds half-confident.
"Convincing." JJ pockets his keys. "We'll go."
Pope nods. "Call us when you get there."
"Yeah." Kie looks at Sarah. "Keep the doors locked."
Sarah gives her a look. "I wasn't planning on opening them for strangers."
"Just saying." Kie glances down at Willa, who has settled against her shoulder again, one tiny hand curled into the fabric of her shirt, before passing her back to her mom. "Bye, baby girl."
"Come on, Kie." JJ opens the door, then pauses. "Hey, if we don't come back in, like, an hour, call somebody."
Sarah's expression immediately tightens. "JJ."
"What? I'm being prepared."
"Go."
He gives her a little nod. "Sir, yes sir."
Kie follows him out, and the door closes behind them.
Sarah huffs out a breath. She still looks angry, but I can see underneath it all how afraid she is. She passes Willa to John B. "Your turn," she mutters, walking out of the room, deeper into the house than I've ever been. "I need a second."