Харлан Кобен - Found

“Close friends,” said Ema.

“Well, that changes things,” he said.

“He’s working today, right?”

“What? No. In fact, I figured that’s why you’re here.”

I said, “Huh?”

“Jared just left for the ferry. He should be taking off in, oh” — he looked at his watch — “fifteen minutes. The applications are in the back. If you’d like to sit in the—”

But Ema and I were already back outside and sprinting toward the ferry. I was surprised at how Ema was able to keep up with me, but then again, determination counts for a lot.

Still, there wasn’t much time. I did a quick calculation and realized that we wouldn’t arrive before Jared boarded the next ferry.

Now what?

Then the answer came to me: I could break more laws.

“This way,” I said.

“What?”

The summer population here was under two thousand people. That meant there wasn’t much crime or need for law enforcement. People didn’t lock up their homes.

Or their bikes.

We found two in a driveway on the right. Ema and I hopped on and started peddling. Three minutes later, we spotted Jared sitting on a bench by the dock. When he saw us coming, Jared Lowell shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand and said, “You again.”

“Yep. And look who I brought.”

I turned and looked at Ema. I couldn’t help it. Part of me thought that this was probably not how Ema wanted to look the first time she saw her “great love” in person — sweaty, out of breath, disheveled — and a really small pathetic part of me took some small pleasure in that.

Ema looked at him. He looked at her. I took a step back.

“Hey,” Ema said to him.

“Hey,” Jared said back.

Ema seemed to be studying him. He started to shift under her gaze.

“I’m sorry,” Jared Lowell said.

Ema did not reply. She tilted her head, looking at him as though he were some kind of odd experiment.

“I should have told you,” he said.

“Told me what?”

“Excuse me?”

“What were you going to tell me, Jared?”

His feet shifted again. The ferry had arrived. The passengers began to disembark. “You know. I mean, I should have told you that I didn’t want to e-mail you anymore.”

I expected her to be hurt or crushed, but it was as though seeing him in person had given her an odd strength. “Why didn’t you?”

“Why didn’t I tell you?”

“Yeah,” Ema said, “start with that.”

“I don’t know.” Jared gave a big shrug. “It was wrong. Your friend here and I talked about it. I was going to get in touch.”

“So you wanted to, what, break up with me?”

He looked so uncomfortable, even I felt bad for him. “Well, yeah.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“What?”

“Just tell me, Jared. What’s your favorite color?”

Jared opened his mouth, but no words came out. Ema looked at me and shook her head.

“What?” I said.

“It’s not him.”

“What do you mean it’s not him?”

“Give me some credit, Mickey. I thought that as soon as I saw him in person, but after talking to him for just these few seconds...” Ema turned back to him. “You’re not the guy who talked to me online, are you?”

“What? Sure I am. Jared Lowell. You saw my Facebook page.”

Ema shook her head. “Yes, Jared, it was your Facebook page. And, yes, you clearly knew about it. But it wasn’t you, was it?”

“What are you talking about?” He tried to laugh it off, but it wasn’t happening. “Of course it’s me. Look, we had something. It was great, I guess, but it was just online. It wasn’t real.”

“Quick: What’s your favorite color?”

“Uh, blue.”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Pizza.”

“What’s your favorite place?”

“The hidden cove on the west side of this island.”

The color drained from Ema’s face. “Oh no...”

“What?” I said.

She turned to me. “He got that last one right.”

“So?” I was confused. “Maybe you were wrong. Maybe he was the one—”

“He got the color wrong. He got the food wrong. Don’t you see?”

Jared started to walk past us. “Look, I got a ferry to catch.”

I put my hand against his chest. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Jared Lowell looked down at my hand. “You serious?”

“Don’t move, Jared.”

“Who do you think—?”

“Don’t. Move.”

He heard the tone, raised his hands, and stayed where he was. Ema folded at the waist as though someone had punched her in the stomach. I hurried toward her. “Ema?”

“Don’t you get it?”

“Get what?”

“His favorite place. It was someplace on this island.”

“So?”

“So if it wasn’t him, who else do we know who would know this island?”

Now I was the one who looked horror stricken. “No,” I said.

She nodded.

“It can’t be,” I said.

“But it has to be,” Ema said. “It was Buck. Buck was the one I met online.”

Jared sat between Ema and me. His head was lowered in his hands.

“It started out as a prank,” he said. “I didn’t like the idea. I didn’t want to be part of it at all.”

He kept his head in his hands. Ema kept looking off, lost in thought, trying to put all the pieces together. She had been so sure that the feelings were real, and yet now she knew that it was a ruse by her longtime nemesis. It wasn’t computing for her.

“So you know Buck,” I said.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“He’s my cousin. Our moms are sisters. They both grew up on this island. When Aunt Ina met Uncle Boris, she moved to Kasselton. My family stayed here. Buck and I spent every summer together on this island. After the divorce, Aunt Ina moved back here.”

I couldn’t tell whether Ema was listening or not.

“So what happened?” I asked.

“Buck knew that I almost never used my Facebook. I don’t like social media. So one day he asked me if he could use it to get revenge on someone. I didn’t like it, but he said some girl had made up a nickname for him, started to call him Mr. Pee Pee Pants.”

“Wee Wee Pants,” I corrected.

Ema shot me a look. I just shrugged back at her. The charge wasn’t really true. Buck had been picking on us, and Ema had countered with some line about Buck being called Mr. Wee Wee Pants. It had been nothing, really.

“Whatever. Buck said the nickname was sticking. Other kids were calling him that now. He said my profile would be perfect to use because Ema already had a crush on a tall basketball player.”

We sat there for a moment saying nothing. All three of us knew who Buck meant. No one bothered spelling out the obvious.

“See, Buck found out your mom was someone famous and so he went to that board and started communicating with you. I don’t know what he really hoped would happen. That you’d say embarrassing things or maybe he’d just make you fall in love with him and then cruelly dump you. I really don’t know what he intended.”

“But you just said it,” Ema said.

“Huh?”

A tear formed in her eye. “He made me fall for him and then he cruelly dumped me.”

Jared closed his eyes and let loose a long breath. “No, Ema, that’s not what happened.” He stood and started pacing. He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know how much more to say.”

“She’s owed the truth,” I said.

A sad smile came to Jared’s face. “If only it was that simple.”

“Just tell us.”

He stopped pacing. “It worked the other way around, I guess.”

“What do you mean?” Ema said.