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Half an hour later a knock made Grace jump. She hurried to the door and opened. Ben smiled at her. "Can I come in?", he asked. Grace nodded.

She knew her mother had left the house to do something, anything, Grace didn't really want to know. She led Ben into the kitchen and asked: "Would you like something to drink?"

Ben shook his head. "No, actually… what's going on? You sounded concerned."

Grace looked down. "Yeah, I… found something out today. I saw your dad talking to my mum and I… I heard what they were talking about."

Ben stared at her. "What did they say?"

Grace explained shortly the witnessed conversation. "Well, at least we know what happened."

Ben nodded stiffly. "Yeah. At least."

Grace stood up. "I don't know but… don't you have the feeling something's missing? I can't believe the whole reason my mum wanted to get away from Newport was because she wanted her own life. She had friends, she had your dad. Do you know what I mean?"

Ben nodded slowly. "But we can find out. We have to ask my dad."

Grace stared at him. "We can't. If he finds out he will tell my mum and she will know we are, like, spying on them."

Ben grinned. "We are, actually."

Grace frowned. "There's no chance you can ask him without raising suspicion. It won't work."

She raised her eyebrows at Ben's confident smile. "We can try."

"No we can't", she snapped, a little too harsh. "They will find out."

"Grace", Ben said calmly, "they'll find out anyway, sometime."

"Whatever", she murmured. "Go on, then. Call him. Now."

Ben's eyebrows rose but he shrugged and took out his cell phone. He speed-dialed his number and waited.

"Dad", he said. Grace watched him, biting her lips.

"Here's Ben. I… can I talk to you?... Alright. I'm at a friend's and we were just looking through an old year book of Harbor High and we found you on a picture with a girl. Her name's Marissa Cooper. Do you know her?"

Grace stared at him. What was he doing?

"Yeah, I know but can't you tell me just quickly? My friend and I really want to know. … Alright. See you later. Bye."

He hung up the phone and looked at her. "He said he had no time and he would talk to me later."

"You see?" Grace sighed. "They won't tell us anything. What's that great a secret?"

Ben shrugged. "We will find out someday. Maybe it's not that important. Let's go out, meet some friends."

Grace shot him a look.

"Right", Ben said quickly. "Then let's meet some of my friends."

Grace nodded. She put on her shoes and followed Ben to the front door when the bell rang.

Grace frowned at Ben. Her mother had keys. Who would know where they lived?

She opened the door.

A man stood in front of her. He was tall and muscular and Grace instinctively took a step back.

"Hello", he said without a smile, "is this Marissa Cooper's house?"

Grace froze. Nobody knew they lived here. Her mother used a false name. How did he know?

Ben answered instead of her. "No", he said stiffly.

The man looked at Grace. "No?", he asked suspiciously.

Grace found her speech. "No", she said. "My mom's name is Lauren Stern. I'm Grace. Who are you?"

The man replied coldly: "Doesn't matter. I must have been mistaken."

Grace nodded. "Yeah. You have."

They watched the man turn around and walk away. Grace shut the door. She sank to the floor slowly.

Ben stared at her. "Grace? What's wrong?"

Grace couldn't speak. She took a deep breath. She had recognized the man. He had been on a photo she'd found in their flat someday.

How could it be?

She had to be mistaken. She had to be.

She stood up abruptly and Ben had to grasp her arms to steady her. She hurried into the small living room and kneed down in front of a little cup board.

"What are you doing?", Ben asked, confused.

She ignored him. She looked into one of the drawers and quickly found what she was looking for.

The photo. And now there was no doubt anymore.

Ben took the photo she was holding out to him and drew in a sharp breath.

He had recognized him as well.

"Who is it?", Ben asked quietly. "The man. You know who he is."

"Ben", she whispered. "The man… he's Volchok."

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