Page 77 of The Dysasters

It went out.

23

EVE

“There he is.” Eve spoke under her breath as the old man entered the Corner Café. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Eve had chosen a booth that gave them a clear line of sight to the front door of the little café. The newspaper clipping hadn’t specified at what time old man Bowen had breakfast every day, so the four of them had been there since the caféopened at six a.m. At first they’d hung out in the parking lot trying not to look conspicuous, and then at about seven-thirty Eve had had enough and they’d gone inside. Happily, they hadn’t had to wait long because at eight o’clock sharp, Bowen had entered the caféwith a book under his arm and an endearing smile on his face.

Eve leaned in and lowered her voice. “Okay, eat slowly. We need to time this so that we leave when the waitress brings him his check. That way we’ll be out in the rental car when the old man exits—we follow him.”

“Hey, we got it, sis,” Luke said, giving her a sassy wink. She sighed.Of course Luke’s in a good mood. He’s eating. He’s always in a good mood when there’s food or fire involved.

“Yeah, don’t worry. This will be a lot easier than dealing with rogue kids and their elements,” Matthew said.

“He’s an old man,” Mark said. “Let’s be sure that we keep that in mind and be careful with him.”

The four of them ate slowly while they watched Grandpa Bowen’s daily caféritual.

After a few minutes Luke snorted. “Mark, your frail old guy is wolfing down three eggs, a rib eye, fruit bowl, short stack of pancakes, and an entire pot of coffee—extra cream and sugar—while he flirts with the waitresses, who seem to like it. I’m not thinking we need to be very careful with him.”

“He’s seventy-nine. That’s old whether he’s in good shape or not. Don’t be an ass, Luke. We’re not here to hurt him. We’re only here to get the water kids and find out where Tate and Foster are,” Mark said.

“It’s okay,” Eve said softly, holding the gaze of each of her brothers, one at a time. She was the only mother the boys remembered, and she took full advantage of the soft spot they had for her. “We’re going to talk to Mr. Bowen.Talk.We aren’t criminals. We aren’t going to do anything wrong. Can we all please remember that it’s for the best that we find Tate and Foster, as well as Charlotte and Bastien. They could hurt themselves and others. That was already proven in Missouri. Once the old man understands that, everything will fall into place.”

Mark snorted again, but didn’t say anything.

Linus Bowen didn’t rush through his breakfast, but he didn’t dawdle, either. Less than forty-five minutes had passed when Eve told her brothers, “He just finished the last pancake. Time to pay and get to the car.” Then she put enough cash for a decent tip on the bill, and the four of them nonchalantly left the caféand waited in their nondescript rental SUV for Bowen to exit.

“Is the old guy really getting into that Miata convertible?” Luke said, craning his neck around so he could watch Bowen.

“Looks like it,” Matthew said. “Old dude’s got style.”

“All right. Here we go,” Eve told Mark, who was driving. “Keep him in view, but hang back. He wasn’t hard to find by accident. He obviously values his privacy.”

Mark nodded and pulled out of the parking lot, following the quick little Miata. And then they drove for almost an hour as the Miata made its way from Galveston Island to the eastern part of the Bolivar Peninsula.

“Good thing traffic is fairly steady each way. I don’t like that we’re on this one road following this one car,” Mark grumbled.

“Mark, some rain would help,” Eve said. “Just a little. Just enough to obscure visibility. Matthew, some low-hanging clouds would help with that, too.”

Mark nodded silently again and Eve watched his expression flatten, like his mind was suddenly elsewhere, and then a light rain began—a rain that slanted directly across the highway, almost like the Gulf had begun spitting at them. Moments later clouds started to billow overhead. Eve heard Matthew whispering to himself, and the billowing clouds lowered and expanded, changing to fog.

The lights in the SUV came on automatically as they slowed and the Miata put on a right turn signal.

“There!” Eve pointed, though all of them were already watching the sports car. “He’s turning down that little side road. There’s only one house down there. See! That big yellow one on stilts. He just pulled the car into the garage.”

“I’m going to keep going down the highway for a few minutes to give him a chance to get inside and relax,” Mark said.

“Smart,” Eve smiled encouragingly at her favorite brother. “And he won’t think that we followed him.”

Mark nodded silently again. Eve suppressed a sigh. He’d been withdrawn on the jet to Galveston, and silent last night at the hotel. This morning he was barely communicating. Was it just because invoking water was wearing on him, or was there so, so much more to it than that?

“Okay, I’m turning around. That’ll give him about half an hour to get settled,” Mark said.

“Perfect,” Eve said.

“Should we send the fog and rain away now?” Matthew asked from the backseat.

“No,” Mark answered before Eve could respond. “If we need to force Bowen to come with us, it’s better that we have some cover.”