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I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “She left her entire life behind to move up here and take care of Mimi. Maybe she was angry. Maybe she just wanted it to be over.”
“There’s a difference between wanting something and doing something. Do you think she could have hurt your grandmother? Really?”
“If she was angry enough, or desperate enough, or...” I trailed off, thinking of the bruise on Mimi’s neck. Wondering if it had still been there when they pulled her from beneath the ice a day later, dark against her frozen flesh. I shuddered. “It’s not like I don’t realize how nuts this sounds when I say it out loud. But we were so busy fighting with each other, we were all drunk half the time—and that house is so damn big. Maybe it wasn’t someone in my family. Anyone could have been hiding there, even sleeping there, and we wouldn’t have known. And she said there was someone. She said she saw a man—”and so did I,I almost said, but didn’t. I tried to sip my coffee instead, wincing as it seared my tongue.
“She said a lot of things. Hell, shesawa lot of things. You know that. Hallucinations, confusion, those are normal.”
“And the shells outside her window? Did we hallucinate those? What if someone was watching her, messing with her head when she was alone?”
“Someone like who?”
“I don’t know. Someone from the past, maybe. The people she knew back then, some of them must still be here. Maybe she had an enemy, or—”
“Now you’re being ridiculous,” Adam said, impatience creeping into his voice. “Anyone who was on the island back when your grandmother lived here would be as old as she was. You’re talking about people in their eighties.”
But that’s not true,I thought,and felt gooseflesh rise on my skin.
“What?”
“Jack Dyer isn’t in his eighties,” I said. “And the last time I talked to him, I got the distinct impression that he wasn’t exactly a fan of my grandmother.”
“That’s the guy whose mom worked for your family?”
“Yes. You saw them at the funeral.”
“I remember. She had that iPad. I think she took my picture.”
“Yeah, she took mine, too,” I said. “Not at the funeral, though. At the bakery.”
“Which bakery?”
“The one we went to, where I got that holiday cake? Jack was there when I went in.” I shook my head, remembering. “God, he was such a dick. Thank god Mimi didn’t want to come in. Who knows what he would have said to her? Anyway, Shelly was in his truck in the parking lot. She took my picture when I came out.”
“You never told me that.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to upset Mimi. There was obviously some kind of falling-out between her and Shelly, something bad enough that her son is still angry about it.”
“What could be bad enough for him to want to hurt your grandmother?”
“Maybe someone should ask him.” I paused. “Or her. Shelly. I wonder if she knows he’s been coming around. Maybe I should talk to her.”
“That’ll be tricky. Shelly doesn’t really do visitors. And she can’t talk back.”
“I’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah, of course. Tell me if I can help.” Adam glanced at the dashboard clock. “I need to get back.”
I put the car in gear. I felt him looking sidelong at me as I pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward Willowcrest.
“Can I say something?” he said.
I felt a flare of irritation, and then felt bad for feeling it. It wasn’tAdam I was angry with. “You don’t need to ask my permission to speak,” I said.
He took my hand. “I don’t want to tell you what to do. But the way you’re obsessing over this, babe, it’s not healthy. You know Miriam wouldn’t want you tormenting yourself like this.”
The turn to Willowcrest loomed ahead and I signaled, passing through the front gates and down the long drive that reminded me of the one that led to the Whispers, pulling into a space where nobody looking out could see Adam getting out of my car.
He leaned over to kiss me and smiled. “It’ll be nice when I can kiss you in front of everyone at work,” he said.
