Read Online Sybil at Sixteen by Susan Beth Pfeffer - Free Book Online

Sam.”
    Nick shook his head. “The fewer people involved the better,” he said. “And Evvie’s closer to Daisy than she is to me. Evvie’ll be angry at first. She’ll have to be, if only to prove to Sam that she’s not at fault. But even if she realizes it was my doing, then she’ll be able to focus her anger on me, and leave Daisy out of it. Sam, too. He’ll cut me off for a while, but he won’t hold it against Daisy. Eventually it’ll all work out.”
    Sybil was silent. She tried to picture her family torn into pieces, Evvie and Sam on one side, Nick on another, Meg in the middle. But the picture was too easy. It felt that way already.
    â€œEvvie will forgive me,” Nick said. “Even if Sam doesn’t. She’ll understand I did it just to protect her.”
    â€œOh, Nicky,” Sybil said. “You don’t have to make up reasons for me.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Nick said. “I don’t.”
    Sybil knew twenty-five thousand was hardly a fortune, but Nick had turned fortunes out of a lot less. It was a stake. It would pay the bills for a while, giving him the chance to start something fresh and exciting. It would help a little bit with their debts, debts incurred through years of medical expenses caused by her accident. Nick had been a magician for so many years. Maybe this twenty-five thousand was what he needed to get his magic going again. And Sybil owed him. She owed him for all the sacrifices he had made for her. She owed him for all his love and all his time. She owed him at least twenty-five thousand more than she could ever owe Sam. Damn sisters. They don’t belong.
    Sybil belonged, all right. She belonged to Nick. “What can I do?” she asked. “Evvie won’t tell me where Sam is. There’s no point even asking.”
    â€œThere has to be something,” Nick replied. “Some note or message left in their apartment. The name of a motel. A phone number. Even an area code. The FBI is good at their job. If I can tell them the general location, it shouldn’t be too hard for them to find a woman dying of kidney disease. Sam was in a hurry, and Evvie is careless. She’s bound to have left something.”
    â€œAnd you want me to look for it?” Sybil asked.
    â€œIt’s up to you,” Nick said. “But if you do, I promise I’ll never tell Evvie or Sam you were the one who did.”
    â€œYou can’t tell Megs, either,” Sybil said. “If you tell her, she’ll tell Evvie. I know she will. She’ll do it to protect you.”
    Nick stood for a moment, and clenched and unclenched his fists. “I won’t tell Daisy, either,” he said at last. “If we can find something, and Evvie assumes I’m to blame, I’ll say I did it on my own.”
    â€œEvvie’s at her office now,” Sybil said. “In case Sam calls. This would be a good time for me to search.”
    â€œYou know where she keeps her spare keys?” Nick asked.
    Sybil nodded. “Next door,” she said. “Under their flowerpot.”
    Nick took out his wallet. “Take a cab,” he said. “Go easy on your legs. I’ll tell Daisy you went to the library looking for Thea. Call me from Evvie’s once you’ve found something, then go to the library, have lunch with Thea. The whole business will be over with before you ever get back.”
    â€œWhat about Megs?” Sybil asked. “Won’t the phone calls make her suspicious?”
    â€œI’ll send her to Clark’s,” Nick said. “She wants to tell him a thing or two, anyway. I’ll force her to do it, and then nobody will be around when you call me.”
    Sybil looked around the street, almost expecting someone, Claire maybe, or even Sam, to spot them, and stop her from her next step. But of course, no one was there, except her and her father and a few busy strangers.