Ariana winced at the sight and didn’t bother to remind her mother’s sister that Aunt Deliria was an Addams family relative, not their own. The presence of the animal, who resembled the monkey on the television show Friends, spoke for itself.

Was it any wonder Ariana had escaped to Vermont and normalcy as soon as she was able?

And she’d stayed there until that phone call. The one telling her that her twin sister was missing.

“You people are insane! Aren’t you worried about Zoe?” she asked.

Zoe, the vibrant, lively one. Ariana refused to believe her sister was dead. According to documented studies, Ariana should have felt her death the moment her twin left this earth. She’d known the moment Zoe broke her leg when they were seven. Surely Ariana would sense her death now. She didn’t, and her heart insisted Zoe was still alive. She had to be or Ariana’s chance to make amends would be gone along with her.

At the mention of Zoe’s name, silence had descended in the kitchen and lasted long enough for Ariana to grow increasingly uncomfortable. And guilty. Of course they were worried. Despite the hustle of daily activity, Ariana had felt the pall of Zoe being missing, and when they thought no one was looking, she’d caught a look of sadness in each of her relatives’ eyes.

Finally Nicholas rose from his seat and hugged Ariana. “It’s okay,” he said, his hold on her tight. “It is just that we agreed not to discuss Zoe until she walks in the door. Safe and well.”

“And she will,” her mother added with certainty. “Until then it’s business as usual. And wait until you hear what new business we have planned.”

Ariana wasn’t interested in their newest scam, but those words of normalcy, at least by her family’s standards, along with the scent of her father’s aftershave, reassured Ariana as it had when she was a child.

Until he spoke. “Don’t worry about your sister. Zoe’s strong. After all, she’s an Addams.”