Zena ran down the steps, turned the corner and slid to a stop in her father's sitting room. Her father held up a finger, asking for her to wait for a minute, as he read the last paragraph in his book. Her sister and the boys came to a halt beside her and she turned to Lacey, who opened the diary to the page with the bombshell news about another cousin.

"Dad, you need to look at this, and the last page. And then we want to take it to the police. We need to show Aunt Deanne and Uncle James. We have so many questions. Did you hear if they found Uncle Theodore? Which prison he's in?"

"Slow down Zee," Matt held out a hand to Lacey, and she gave him the slim leather bound book.

"The page it's open to, Uncle Matt." Lacey said. "Then the last one with writing on it."

"Since when do you call each other's parents Uncle and Aunt?" Terry turned Lacey so he could look at her face.

"Since we found out they were our real parent's best friends." Zena answered him. "We're actually orphans."

"Whoa," Percy's said, "That's too much to process. How are you dealing with all of that?"

"By remembering our parents raised us from before we could remember anything else," Lacey said. "They're still mom and dad, only Zee only has her dad now. Her friend Sara made sure we got that straight. You have to meet her."

They watched as Matt Henderson scanned the pages Lacey told him about and then started to flip through a few more pages. "There's more in here. They were never married, but Theodore told her it was a formality they didn't need. I don't think the man was ever right in the head. From what I remember, he was very much a loner and much older than Elise." He stood and placed the diary on his desk. "I agree, we need to take this to the police. I'm also very curious as to where this cousin disappeared to. Where did Theodore stash his daughter?"

"Have you and Dad figured out where Theodore disappeared to in the system?" Lacey asked.

"Your Dad will talk to a judge on Monday. We're not getting anywhere with the warden where he was incarcerated." Matt dragged his fingers through his hair. "Show me where you found this."

"In one of the rooms on the other end of the attic from where the broken window was," Terry answered. "We were stuck in there until Zee found the diary."

"Come on, Mr. Henderson, we'll show you." Percy turned to lead them back upstairs.

>>>>>>>>>>

"Who would think it would be so complicated to track down a prisoner?" Zee paced back and forth in her room with her blue tooth headset stuck in her right ear.

Sara answered her. "It's complicated when the prisoner probably escaped, and the warden was in on it. Or he's so worried about his job, he covered it up."

"It's been another week. Homecoming is this weekend, along with the Labor Day holiday. I hate the way this makes me feel. I keep looking over my shoulder. Anya is always hanging around. We can't get an injunction against her. The judge said she has a right to an education as much as we do. Dad is taking it up another level to a higher court. The judge we got seems to think this is something we can work out." Lace sounded so bitter. Zee understood completely. One run in with the bully was enough for her, and Lace was going on almost twelve years with Anya on her back.

"Right, like we can just reach inside Anya's head and untwist her brain," Zee responded with a sarcastic groan.

They switched to a conference call and their cell phones for their nightly talk when sitting in front of a laptop made them decide it didn't work anymore.

"Has she done anything to hurt either of you since the first day of school?" Sara sounded concerned.

Zee kicked the bean bag in the corner of her room and flopped down as Lace answered the question.

"No, she hasn't. But it's like she's a snake coiled to strike. We've got three classes with her. And then poor Zee, has to make it from drama to the cafeteria without Anya catching up with her. It's like there are teachers who just let the bitch leave class whenever she wants. She's always ahead of us now matter where we're headed."

"I'm lucky. Percy has been an angel right from the first day. I know, not something you'd expect me to say about a boyfriend." Zee added.

She heard Sara snicker.

"I hope he's a bit a devil too. I'm so looking forward to coming to visit you."

"Is it going to be okay for you to be away for a few days? I can't wait to see you again."

"Yeah, I can't wait to meet you too," Lace added.

"I'm ahead on my assignments. The school I'm in has us studying in independent lesson modules. I'm doing online classes and working at the airport café Mom runs. By the way, I've made friends with one of the accident investigators looking at your mother's crash." Sara said.

"Really? How?" Zee had to hear this story.

"Well, actually I'm lucky I didn't get arrested for snooping." Sara admitted. "So, yeah, first I'm coming for the long weekend in October, and again for the Halloween party at the end of the month."

"Don't stall, Sara. We're dying to hear about the crash." Lace demanded.

"The lady working on the metal fragments they recovered, says there is evidence of an explosion in the baggage compartment. It sheered the hydraulic lines to the elevator and the rudder when it happened. They have also recovered some of the device that was planted in the luggage. I'm telling you, so you can tell your Dad, Zee. And maybe you should tell your parents too, Lace. They can't use the information before the report is published, but the NTSB should publish a preliminary report very soon. She promised it would be in a couple of weeks."

"So, Mom was murdered." Zee barely whispered the words, as her heart stuttered.

"It looks that way. They are turning the evidence of a bomb over to the FBI on Monday. They are testing for explosives residue and the metal sheer patterns confirm it too." Sara finished her story.

"Zee, I'm so sorry. This is horrible." She could hear the shock and concern from her twin.

"How come you nearly got arrested?" Zee said, trying to lock the news into a place where she could ignore it.

"Because they caught me walking around their debris mock-up in the hanger by the café where I'm working."

"Oh crap, that's a federal offense. Jail with no key," Lace said.

"I know, but then one of them asked me why I was snooping. I wasn't taking pictures, and they'd seen me a few times."

"So, what did you tell them?" Zee asked.

"I told them you were my best friend, and I had to be honest with them about why you moved to New Hampshire. Sorry," Sara said.

"Okay, that doesn't matter. I'm sure they won't give us any trouble," Zee reassured Sara.

"The head of the investigation, said she didn't see a problem, and she went next door to talk to Mom, which was a problem. I ended up grounded except work. And they have put me to work in the investigation. I'm doing an internship with them. I always was interested in why things go wrong, so this is perfect. I'm loving it. I'm really only filing their paperwork and making sure things stay tidy around their hangar, but I'm loving it. I have to keep my mouth shut about what's going on too. But I don't think you two count. Or parents for that matter. I'll bet the FBI come calling to talk to you too."

"What so now you have two jobs?" Zee knew she sounded jealous.

"Yeah, and I'm busier than I can deal with. I'm working on getting into MIT for an engineering degree."

"You always did like the shows on Discovery and the Science channel where they told us why things went wrong." Zee said.

"Wow!" Lace said. "My tumbling tricks are nothing compared to what you're into, Sara."

"Yeah, but you're learning how to run an office, and your math skills are way ahead of anything I will ever do," Zee said.

"You're our actress. I know you're going to get the lead in your school play this year." Sara said.

"All of us have something we're great at. I've been told I have a chance at the Olympics if I keep working on my gymnastics. The cheer squad has its first competition in two weeks. And Zee has a solo with the dancers."

Zee could feel herself blushing. It felt so different to have someone brag about her. And she'd been working like a slave to get herself up to the same standards as the other dancers. She found a dance class to register with because of Sally, who was better than she was by a long shot. Just because she knew a few moves they didn't, didn't make her better.

"Hey, it's almost eleven here. We're going to have to hang up. Dad says I have to be asleep earlier if I'm going to take on more activities at school." Zee said.

"Yeah, can we talk earlier? At least Monday to Thursday?" Lace asked. "I need to get to sleep by ten so I'm up and ready to go in the morning. Training is hard work."

"I think so. How about an hour earlier? I'll call you at seven my time Tuesday. You can tell me about the dance and homecoming, the game all the other stuff then. Text me if anything really exciting happens." Sara said.

"Perfect. Will do," Lace agreed.

"You're the best Sara." Zee said. "We can always call if anything breaks here. Like we find out where Uncle Theodore really is."

"Okay. Bye you two."

"Bye, Zee. Bye Sara, I'm heading for sleep." Lace hung up at the same time as her best friend. Life wasn't boring. Who knew a small town was just the place to be?

Zee went down the hall to talk to her Dad. The nightly goodnight routine was new, but she wanted the connection. She had so much to tell him.