Going to the hospital ended up involving Kayla's beat up old Audi station wagon and a trip on a ferry across the Puget Sound. I'd assumed we'd have to drive to one of the larger towns near Dorn, but Kayla told me none of the hospitals in our county were equipped to deal with the sort of traumatic injuries Zeke had.

"How are we going to get close enough to ID Zeke?" I asked her. "He's in Intensive Care. Isn't that a family-only situation?"

"Just tell the staff you're his cousin."

The nervous tingling started up again. "What if his family is there? They'll know I'm not his cousin."

"You only have to see him for a second to get your answer. Just apologize to them and tell them you have the wrong room."

"I don't know about this..."

"Do you want answers for Jack or not? I know your special Miss America talent is turning the shade of a radish at the slightest hint of adventure, but sometimes, you just have to slap on the baby oil, pour yourself into a bikini, and strut across the stage."

"I don't think anyone ever has to do that."

The ferry's foghorn blared. I looked up from where we stood leaning against Kayla's Audi on the boat's car deck. Seattle's waterfront wharfs loomed large as we approached the city.

"The hospital isn't far from the ferry terminal." She retrieved her car key from the depths of her purse. "Don't think about what you'll have to do. It will only psych you out. Just trust that everything is going to happen the way it needs to."

"You can't know that."

"That's why it's called trust."

The ferry came to a halt with a lilt that sent my body forward and then back as it steadied itself. Cars streamed off as soon as the ferry workers had put the ramp securely in place. Soon, we were part of that stream. We made our way past first avenue, up a steep hill, and within minutes, were winding our way through a cement parking structure, ready to face the hospital.

The pediatric intensive care unit smelled of bleach and cafeteria food. A brightly lit nurse's station dominated the space just a short corridor down from the elevators. Rooms emanated from the station like petals on a sunflower.

"Okay, here we go." Kayla pushed me forward. "Let's find out what room he's in."

The nurse asked how she could help us with the sort of plastered-on smile that made me imagine when she wasn't at work, she spent her time alone in the dark with a steady flow of alcohol.

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I was supposed to ask her something simple.

Kayla butted in next to me. "We're here to see her cousin, Zeke Campbell."

"I'm so sorry, ladies, but if you're under eighteen, you must be siblings to see a patient in this unit."

Kayla pressed her palms against the counter in front of the nurse. "Are you serious? We came all the way here and we can't even see him for like, two minutes?"

Her smile never faltered. She was used to dealing with grieving, sleep deprived family members. A couple of teenage girls upset over being denied access wasn't going to phase her. "It's hospital policy, dear. If I could change the rules for you, you bet I would!"

I kind of thought she wouldn't, but I didn't say anything.

"Can you at least point in the general direction?" Kayla asked. "We can stay right here and, um... pray that way."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you. Mr. Campbell is over there." She motioned behind her.

The walls of each room, including Zeke's, were made of glass, but from where we stood, it was impossible to see anything aside from a bed and a bunch of machines and tubes. My heart fell. I was going to fail Jack.

We shuffled away and stood as close as we could to Zeke's door without gaining a side-eye from Nurse Smiley. I leaned in towards Kayla. "I'm going to make a run for it."

"What?" She fake gasped. "Are you going to break a rule?"

"I can't let Jack down. Go talk to the nurse. Keep her occupied."

"Roger that!" She headed off on her mission.

As soon as I saw them conversing, I pressed myself close to the wall and, palms sweating, stepped forward. I could do this.

Three rooms away... I glanced back at Kayla. Still good there.

Two rooms... Kayla's laugh carried over to me. Hopefully that was a good sign. I was going to do this. I would not be going home without an answer for Jack!

One room away...

"Who are you and why did you say you're my cousin?"

I jumped at the sound of a male voice, my head hitting the handle of the janitorial cart I'd been crouching next to. A boy about my own age stopped the cart from rolling away with his foot. He would have been cute if a mean scowl hadn't been planted on his face. Confused, I rubbed my forehead and gawked. Was this Zeke? He'd asked why I'd claimed to be his cousin, after all.

Before I could come up with a reply, the nurse was at the boy's side, sans smile. "Miss, you'll have to leave."

Kayla stood near the corridor leading to the elevators, eyes cast downward.

My cheeks heated. "I'm sorry. I'll go." Hurrying over to Kayla, I stopped when someone tapped my shoulder.

This was the end, then. That boy, whoever he was, was going to take that scowl of his and throw it at me, or he was going to say he was calling the cops, or his lawyer. Maybe he'd get the military involved.

"Don't leave yet. Why did you want to see my brother?"

His brother. Of course. "I thought I might know him from somewhere."

"Like from where?"

"Just... around?"

"Zeke wasn't just around. You either knew him or you didn't." Scowl lines deepened on either side of his mouth. "Know him. Not knew."

"Don't give her such a hard time, Ethan." Kayla pressed herself in between us. "We just wanted to show our support. Mazie's new in town. She heard what happened and was trying to be nice."

Zeke's shoulders jutted up and forward like he was a gargoyle clinging to the side of a cathedral. "Heard what happened? How would she know anything if she's new?"

"Do you have to be so dense? I told her Zeke was in an accident and she felt bad about it."

"Fine, whatever. Did you get what you needed to make you feel better, new girl?"

I shivered as he glared at me. "Not really. I won't feel better unless your brother recovers."

This cracked his shell. Shackles down, he glanced in the direction of his brother's room. "Yeah, well... thanks."

"So, Ethan," Kayla said, 'do you have a picture of Zeke with you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We just thought it would be nice to have a recent picture of him to help us focus when we're keeping him in our thoughts and prayers."

"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard." He pulled a phone out of his back pocket. "But whatever."

Kayla looked aghast. "Wonders never cease. How many times did I ask you to get a phone back when we went out and you refused?"

Went out ... Kayla had some serious explaining to do.

"It was Zeke's idea. He thought it would be good if shit went down, you know?"

"Sure, sure... apocalyptic phones. Because cell coverage will be great when the nukes fall."

"This is why we broke up."

"No, we broke up because you're weird but not the right kind of weird."

Ethan pulled his phone towards his chest. "Do you want to see Zeke's picture or not?"

"We do," I piped up. It would be my luck to have gotten this far only to have Kayla's snark cost us what we'd come for.

"All right. Here's one I took of him last month when we went fishing up at Buck Lake."

I could barely breathe. I glanced over Ethan's shoulder and Kayla did the same. Then she looked at me expectantly.

I had to force myself to take air in. The room spun for a moment before I could steady myself.

"What's wrong with you?" Ethan's voice floated to me like it was wood slowly drifting to shore. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

I had seen a ghost, that much was true. But I hadn't seen that fish-catching ghost in the picture on Ethan's phone. I managed a brief shake of the head, my eyes connecting with Kayla's.

Whoever Jack was, he wasn't Zeke Campbell.

#

Kayla tried to engage me in conversation as she drove her car onto the ferry for our return trip. I pitied her because when I didn't want to talk, I could be unreasonably stubborn.

"It wasn't him. Fine. We've done what real detectives do: followed a solid lead and then ruled it out when more information came to light. So now we backtrack, try to gather more clues, find a different direction to take our case."

Our case. She'd been talking for the past fifteen minutes, basically restating the same things, but this our case business stood out. "Does this mean we're like, a team now?"

"Sure. We're detectives. And what do detectives do? They partner up and solve cases."

"Is that what this is? A case?"

She shrugged. "If we treat it like one, then it is one. And turning it into something solvable means that we can't let ourselves get discouraged."

"Yes, we can. I feel pretty discouraged right now."

"But you shouldn't. This is not a cold case. It's a pending investigation, which means we keep plugging ahead. Come on, let's go up to the top deck."

As the boat pulled away from its dock, the skyline of Seattle slowly receded, with its congestion of towering skyscrapers and the Space Needle, a bit of retro-futurism, set apart off to the left. Behind the city skyline were the Cascades, the mountain range that separated Washington State into West and East. Past the stadiums and the long necks of cranes making up the Port, was the region's active volcano, Mount Rainier. And that was only half of it.

I turned around to witness a wide expanse of dark water in front of me, twisting landforms breaking up the deep blue of Puget Sound with their rocky shores and dense forests. The roofs from the buildings in our destination town of Bainbridge Island sparkled under a canopy of yet another mountain range. There was nowhere to look that wasn't a feast for the eyes. I was sorry to leave these views behind when we docked.

After battling ferry traffic over the bridge leading from the island onto the peninsula, we made it back to Dorn. Kayla dropped me off in front of my house just before seven. "Door to door service, madam."

"Thanks for going along on my ridiculous adventure."

"You mean, thank you Kayla for making me, shy little Mazie, go to the big city to get an answer I needed. You're welcome."

"Right. Anyways..."

"Anyways, text me if anything new develops in the next two days. I'm going to keep researching in between making your parents' restaurant super fabulous. I'll let you know if I find out anything."

"Okay... partner."

"We're not cowboys. Call me Detective Ford-Lee. Tell your ghost boyfriend I said hi."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"The strange part of my statement was the ghost part, for the record, but whatever. Tell Jack I'm sorry but we'll keep trying. See you at school on Thursday."

My stomach launched itself off a cliff. "Don't remind me."

"Two days and counting and the hell begins! Bye, Mazie!"

She rolled up her window and sped away, leaving me standing by the curb. From the dark state of the house, my parents must still be at work. But someone else was at home. Jack stared at me through the window of my bedroom. He raised his hand and gave me his sweet little wave. I waved back.

Inside, I crept up the staircase, knowing I had to face him but not knowing exactly what I was going to say.

Jack's left foot was tapping away in the middle of my room when I arrived. My heart broke thinking how excited he must be for me to give him the answer I would not be giving him.

I opened my mouth, ready to admit we were no closer to uncovering his identity than we had been this morning. Instead, Jack had his own news.

"I remembered something else, Mazie! I'm not that guy Zeke, am I?"