It was a receipt on Fernando Harris’s letterhead:
Restoration ofFoggy Nightby James Suydam
For Ms. Kate Woodward / Woodward-Lathrop Gallery
“Kate was in this Range Rover,” Conor said, his heart starting to pound. “She left the receipt so I’d know. She’s here.”
He picked up a big rock and tested its weight. It would do. He walked over to his brother and uncle; Tom had just finished talking to Joe on his mobile and was looking at Conor to tell him what the next step in the plan was.
“You stay here,” Conor said to them. “And see who comes out. I’ll run inside and get Kate.”
“You don’t know she’s in there,” Tom said.
“Yeah, I do know,” Conor said, holding the rock high above his head, then smashing it down on the windshield of the Range Rover. An earsplitting alarm began to screech. Tom and Mike ducked behind the shed, and Conor ran straight for the building. He figured that whoever would come out to investigate would exit by the back door, so he skirted around to the front.
He flew up the front steps and tried the door. It was locked. He jumped over the railing onto the ground and pulled himself up to look through the window. He was looking into a room full of people who were streaming to the other side of the building to see what had caused the alarm to go off.
Conor saw Kate, and he thought his heart would pound out of his chest. He had to hold himself back, just long enough to assess the situation, to not put her in greater danger. She was sitting on a couch, very close to a young woman Conor had never seen before. The young woman had bruises on her face and abrasions on her wrists. He had the immediate thought that she was one of the women held captive onPsyche.
They were whispering. Conor could see that they were handcuffed together. It drove him crazy, knowing that someone had touched Kate, put cuffs on her wrists, restrained her so she couldn’t leave. Kate nodded, and then the two of them stood up with Sam; Maeve ran over with a key and undid the cuffs, and Sam grabbed Kate’s hand and began pulling her toward the door. Then everything happened very fast.
Tuesday, July 6; 7:30 p.m.
A car alarm sounded from outside the building, and nearly everyone in the classroom ran to see what it was. Kate knew there was no point struggling against the bonds, so instead she leaned into Caroline.
“This is it,” Kate said. “We’re going to go for it, Caroline. We have to run hard and fast. We’ll knock down anyone who gets in our way.” They started to stand up, and Sam rushed over to them. She grabbed the handcuffs and rattled them, as if she could unlock them by force.
“Oh, Sam, why did you come?” Kate asked. “Now they’re going to get you too!”
“No,” Sam said. “We’re in this together.”
“Come on, let’s go,” Kate said. She started toward the front door with Caroline. Sam darted ahead. Maeve stood in their way, and at first, Kate thought she was going to stop them. But instead, she unlocked the handcuffs. Kate didn’t know what had changed Maeve’s attitude, but she had kept her promise to help.
“Hurry,” Maeve said. “They’ll be back in a minute. Lincoln’s going to get the car, and he’ll drive around front to pick us up. We’ve got to get out of here right away.”
Kate stopped short, thinking how crazy it would be to get into a car with Maeve and Lincoln after what they had done—to put Sam and Caroline in danger by taking them with her. But what was the alternative?
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jennifer asked, returning to the classroom, standing directly in front of Kate, looking straight into her eyes.
“We’re leaving,” Kate said calmly.
“I don’t think so,” Jennifer said, moving even closer. Kate had liked this young woman when she had met her at the cemetery. She had sensed a vulnerability had had bordered on emotional frailty, but just then she was speaking with force and authority. Kate knew that the power and coercion of 1740 had to be overwhelming, but she had to believe that a patient’s innate goodness could override the evil.
“Jennifer,” Kate said. “Come with us. We can all get away ...”
“Don’t you recognize me?” Jennifer asked.
“Yes,” Kate said. “From the cemetery.”
“Not just there. From my baby picture. The one my mother showed you. My blue eyes fooled you, didn’t they?”
Kate stared at them, those blue eyes that Belinda had said were just like Conor’s. But they were just like Leo’s too. She remembered when she’d first met Leo, in the lobby of the Ocean House, she had noted how Irish he looked, how his eyes were the color of Galway Bay.
“I don’t want to get away from this place,” Jennifer said, glaring at Kate. “This is my home. I grew up here. And now it is really mine.My stepfather’s gone, my mother’s gone, my father was never here, and my life is finally about to become mine. Fuck 1740, fuck every single person who messed with me. Especially you.”
“Me?” Kate asked. She knew that Jennifer was delusional, and she didn’t want to debate with her, but the statement shocked her.
“Do you know how much you ruled my existence?” Jennifer asked. “First, I had to hear about Conor all the time. How if he loved my mother, she would be so happy, we would have such a wonderful life. She said that all the time, even when she was married to Jonathan. He got sick of it. He was going to divorce her just to shut her up about Conor. So I killed him. If he’d divorced her, we’d have had nothing. They’d have kicked us out of here.”
