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Rose sighs. “It’s just a small handgun. A lot of vets have guns and are licensed to use them. It’s normally locked in the safe at the practice.”
Nancy frowns. “But if you did…thaton the way here, does that mean there is a loaded gun in the house? With real bullets?”
“Don’t worry. I hid it somewhere safe when I arrived.”
The silence resumes, and I study my eldest sister for a while. I know that her vet practice is having a little money trouble, but I also know she has always been too proud to ask for any financial help from anyone, unlike Lily. Rose would have really benefitted from Nana’s money had she been left any, and would have put it to good use. I notice how she keeps checking her watch, and wonder whether she is just counting down the hours before we can leave.Just over four now,I think. Rose looks so sad. She has always found human company unsatisfying. She says she finds it exhausting to listen to the manufactured feelings of people too stupid to know when their thoughts are not their own. I wonder what her thoughts are now as she checks her watch again, for the second time in less than a minute.I’m not the only one studying Rose, and it’s as though the weight of our stares is too heavy for her to bear.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asks.
“I think, given everything that has happened tonight, we all might feel a bit anxious about there being a gun in the house,” says Nancy.
“Fine. My gun didn’t kill anyone, but if it will make everyone feel better, I’ll go and check that it’s still safe where I left it,” Rose says, standing to leave the room.
Vets are more likely to commit suicide than almost any other profession. That statistic used to make me worry about my eldest sister—vets work long hours, often alone—and when I think of all the horrific things she has seen, it scares me. Rose knows how to end lives as well as save them; sadly, it’s part of her job.
“I might see if I can get a signal on my phone upstairs… maybe it will work up there,” says Conor.
“It won’t,” says Lily. “I don’t feel quite right. I’m going to my room to try to find my diabetic kit.”
Nancy nods. “I can feel one of my migraines coming. I’m going to get a glass of water and some pills from the kitchen,” she says, heading for the door like the rest of them. My mother thinks there is a pill for any and all situations.
“Well, I might just get a bit of air,” I say, not wanting to be left behind. I think we’re all feeling a little claustrophobic trapped in this house together, but also all scared of being alone. I stand in the hallway and can hear different corners of the house creaking with quiet activity. The noise does nothing to calm my nerves. I have always preferred the sound of silence.
I notice that the front door is slightly ajar and step out onto the porch, but there is nobody there. The roar of the sea and the melodyof the wind chimes remind me how isolated we are out here, cut off from the mainland for several hours every day. And night. When you’ve spent as much time alone as I have, it can be hard to be around people for too long. Even family. Especially one like ours.
I was the last to leave the room, but think I’m the first to return to the lounge a short while later, and I spot something unfamiliar on the coffee table. The rest of the family come back before I can take a closer look. Conor is the last to return, but he’s the first to see what I saw, and from the tone of his voice, it’s as though he’s accusing me of putting it there.
“What’s that on the table?” he asks.
“It’s the tape we just watched,” Lily replies.
“I don’t think it is,” I say, taking a step back.
“No. It isn’t,” Rose confirms.
We’re all looking at the tape now. It wasn’t there before, and the Scrabble letters stuck to the case of this home movie spell a different message:
HEAR ME.
“What the hell?” says Conor. “Who did this?” He looks around the room at each of us.
“You’rethe one who noticed it, maybe it was you,” says Lily.
Rose picks it up carefully. “The last tape said WATCH ME. This one says HEAR ME. This is super messed up. Who would do this, and why?”
We are all staring at one another, silent accusations exchanged in the form of wary glances.
“We should watch it,” I say, and then everyone starts arguing about the pros and cons of doing so.
“Enough!” Nancy says, and the rest of us are quiet. “No more games. Nana and your dad are dead. There’s nobody else here atSeaglass and I don’t believe in ghosts. Who left that tape on the table?”
Nobody answers.
“Maybe the only way to find out is to watch it,” Rose says, and when nobody argues, she slides the video out of its case and into the machine, then presses play.
18
SEAGLASS
