“You know the French,” Suzanne said, almost admiringly.
“Did Belinda name you ‘Suzanne’ after the author?” Kate asked. “Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve?”
“Maybe I chose the name myself,” Suzanne said. “We come into the world with the names our parents gave us. But when we learn from the right teacher, we become someone brand new.”
“The right teacher?” Kate asked.
“How do you know so much aboutBeauty and the Beast?” Suzanne asked, sounding genuinely curious. Kate looked at her, realized how young she really was. How young and brainwashed. Was the club really a cult?
“Cocteau,” Kate said. “One of my favorite artists. The photograph is a still from his film. You know, the one with the Beast looming over the sleeping woman. The black-and-white photo above the bed in the mansion on the island.”
“Kindly shut up, Kate,” Crispin said.
Kate was squeezed so tightly between Suzanne and Caroline, she felt Caroline trembling at the mention of the Beast and the bed. Or was that Kate herself, shaking to think of what these young women had gone through?
“You need to be trained,” Suzanne said. “We have to introduce you to our lady.”
“That sounds religious,” Kate said.
“It’s spiritual,” Suzanne said. “It transforms us. She teaches us the correct behavior and how to please.”
“To please men who use you?” Kate asked.
“You don’t know anything yet,” Suzanne said.
“Where are we going?” Kate asked. “Where are you taking us, Maeve?”
“To the Finishing School,” Maeve said. “The secret garden, where the roses grow.”
And where, if you pick one, there is a forfeit to be paid, Kate thought.
Tuesday, July 6; 4:00 p.m.
Sam stumbled through the woods. Her mind was on fire, thinking of Kate. The sound of her aunt yelling from the back of that car filled Sam with the worst helplessness she had ever felt. She reeled with the shock of realizing that Maeve—and Lincoln—had fooled everyone. They were all in on it, Crispin and Suzanne too. And they had Kate.
She crashed through thick brush, snagged by briars that tore at her clothes and scratched her legs. Eventually she stumbled upon a very narrow trail that made the going easier. She hoped that it wasn’t the same one that Lincoln had talked about—she didn’t think it was, because he had pointed up toward a hill, and this ground was flat.
Besides, the trail seemed too haphazard to have been cleared by humans; she thought perhaps it was a track used by deer or other wildlife. She hadn’t seen any houses, so she assumed that she was still on Lincoln’s family’s property.
Why had he even brought her to Enchanted Petals? Now that she knew how involved he and Crispin were with 1740, she wondered if Lincoln had been setting her up. Had he planned to do something to Sam, then changed his mind when they were in the barn and his father showed up?
Sam was furious at herself for leaving her phone in the car. She wanted to call Conor that minute and tell him to hurry, find Kate, save hernow. Her only hope was the fact that Miranda had warned him that Kate was about to be taken. Conor had snapped into action. I’ll help him, Sam thought.We’re going to save Kate.
That became her mantra, and she timed the words with the rhythm of her steps as she lengthened her stride and ran faster:We’re going to save Kate. Knowing that she had a mission made her feel brave, made her think about Kate instead of being scared for herself. Kate had been her champion, her cheerleader, not just her aunt, but a friend and, at times, a stand-in for her mother.
Every so often, she caught a glimpse through foliage of blue water off to her right. Was that a lake, or could it be Narragansett Bay? If it were the bay, and she kept it to her right, it meant she was traveling north. At some point, the trail had to intersect with a road. She would come upon a house, a neighborhood. But deep down, she remembered what Lincoln had said: that the Enchanted Petals property abutted the Maynard-King grounds.
And Sam admitted to herself that that was where she was heading. This evil had originated at Maynard-King, with Dr. Jonathan Tyler. His grave was where she, Kate, and Maeve had found the note in Suzanne’s handwriting. Maeve’s act had been so convincing. Neither Sam nor Kate had had any idea that they were being played. But Sam knew that now, and that knowledge was her power.
The woods began to thin out, and up ahead she spotted an expanse of green grass. It was a clear line of demarcation between forest and lawn; she suspected it might be the spot where the Enchanted Petals property met that of Maynard-King.
A white rail fence ran the length of what appeared to be a well-tended lawn. She stood still and stared at the top rail. If the fence were electrified, there would be electrodes and wires running between the posts. There were none. She figured that the hospital had a sophisticated security operation, so she scanned the area for cameras. Shecouldn’t see any place where they would be mounted, but then she heard a faint beep.
She knew immediately what it was. Both Cloudlands and Kate’s gallery had advanced alarm systems that relied on cellular connections to transmit data to the monitoring company. When the satellites passed over or the cell tower misfired, the systems lost signal, and the console began to emit an intermittent beep.
The sound seemed to be coming from one of the fence posts. She walked closer and saw the camera—the rim of the lens was white and camouflaged the camera by blending it into the white fence. She saw a red light, indicating that the camera was offline, so she jumped the fence and ran fast across the lawn until she reached a copse of birch trees.
The grounds of Maynard-King began to look familiar. She skirted the lawn until she came to the boxwood hedge that marked the back edge of the cemetery. The late-afternoon sun struck the granite headstones with golden light. Up ahead was the angel that marked the grave of Dr. Jonathan Tyler.
