The Sisters of Nowhere

s e v e n t e e n : s e c r e t s

Birdie and Ophelia sat across from each other in NiNi's Soda Shop.

"I feel like a character in a Hitchcock film," Ophelia said, slurping down her Coca-Cola and twirling a blonde curl around her finger.

Ophelia wasn't much into reading, but when it came to murder mysteries, she and Birdie could discuss them for hours.

Though the issue on the table wasn't of the violent type, there was certainly a mystery to be solved and the two sleuths were eager to figure it out.

Birdie pulled a pencil out of her hair and scribbled something down on a notepad. "Over the past week, Marigold Penny has left the house five times around mid-to-late afternoon, plus the time she snuck out at night after our fight at the lake. She doesn't think I know, but I do."

"And once before sunrise on Saturday," Ophelia added.

Birdie frowned. "Really?"

Ophelia nodded. "She had to of. I distinctly remember fixing the doormat that always flips up before going to bed. Dad and Mama were still asleep when I got up--it must've been her."

It was a small detail that Birdie would've questioned if anyone but Ophelia had said it. She was the only one who could have remembered--or been bothered--by such an insignificant misstep.

"She has to be seeing someone," Birdie concluded.

Ophelia averted her eyes then and busied herself by slurping down the rest of her soda.

"What?" Birdie asked.

"Nothing."

Birdie kicked Ophelia under the table.

"Ow!"

"What is it? You're hiding something."

Ophelia bit the inside of her cheek. "Offering further information would be self-incriminating."

"Not if the suspect is in danger."

"She's not."

"Or if the information is told in solidarity."

Ophelia sighed. "You have to promise never to tell Marigold--or Mama."

"You have my word as an American citizen."

Ophelia spun her straw around with her finger and said, "I was worried about her, alright? So I may or may not have snuck into her room while she was working at the shop and found a letter."

"A letter?" Birdie repeated, her pencil hovering over the notepad.

"It was a love letter. To Wyatt."

Birdie froze. Wyatt? She looked up at her sister and scowled. "She's over Wyatt, Opie. He's like a brother to her now."

"Then why did she say, "when I found you, I knew things wouldn't be the same"? Who else could she be talking about?"

Birdie's frown deepened, both at the prospect of Marigold being in love and at her depressing lack of poetry in expressing it. "What else did she say?"

"That they'd meet in the clearing tonight."

"Tonight?" Birdie echoed. "Are you sure?"

Ophelia shrugged a shoulder. "She wrote the letter two days ago, so if my math adds up, it's tonight."

"It's worth a shot," Birdie mused.

"What're you thinking?"

Birdie tapped her pencil against her lip. "We'll tell Mama and Dad that we're going to help Wyatt finish his rose garden."