AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sandrine looked toward the main house, only about ten yards away now. “I’m sure there’s not, Josie. Cooper never made me uncomfortable or said or did anything inappropriate. I felt very comfortable with him. If I didn’t, I would not have allowed him to stay. He could very well have left our supplies here for the week and let us handle everything.”
The wind whipped around them, stinging Josie’s face. When she licked her lips, her mouth felt dry. “Did Meg ever complain to you about Cooper?”
Extricating her arm from Josie’s, Sandrine put her hands on her hips. “What are you talking about?”
Josie saw no harm in relating what Alice had seen during the week so she told Sandrine how Cooper and Meg had been spotted behind her cabin on at least three occasions, deep in conversation. How Cooper had squeezed the back of her neck and Meg had pulled away. Frowning, Sandrine said, “How strange. You have no idea what they were discussing?”
Josie shook her head. The cold was creeping into her toes and the tips of her fingers now. She was relieved to see a column of smoke rising from the chimney of the main house. She couldn’t wait to warm herself by the wood burning stove. “It could have been innocent, but I was wondering if Meg ever came to you with concerns about Cooper.”
Sandrine turned and glanced to the top of the slope where Nicola sat on the steps of the last cabin watching Taryn shovel. “It wasn’t Cooper that Meg was concerned about.”
“What do you mean?”
Sighing, Sandrine faced Josie again. “I shouldn’t say.”
“Is it something Meg confided to you in a private session?”
“Oh no. I just…” Sandrine paused. Her gaze was drawn to the last cabin again. Taryn was still shoveling with enthusiasm. She’d removed her hat, and her long dark hair whipped all around her.
“Taryn,” Josie said. “Meg had concerns about Taryn?”
“Please don’t repeat this, Josie. I shouldn’t even tell you as I don’t think it has any merit, but Meg thought that Taryn was unnaturally fixated on me. She thought that—that Taryn was exhibiting the same types of behaviors as a stalker.”
The admission took something out of Sandrine. Her shoulders slumped. Josie reached out and linked arms with her once more. She thought about the way Meg had been increasingly on high alert around Taryn as the week went on. Taryn, who insisted on always sitting beside Sandrine; who asked Sandrine endless questions like a star pupil. Taryn even dressed similarly to Sandrine.
“What do you think?” asked Josie.
“I don’t know what to think,” Sandrine admitted. “It’s true that Taryn is very attached to me. I didn’t tell this to Meg, but she has come to at least three talks I’ve given in the last year in different locations.”
“And you let her come on this retreat?” Josie said.
“She has never crossed any lines, Josie. I think she sees me more as a maternal figure. You remember what she said in group sessions, don’t you? How her mother was cruel to her? So she sees me as a mentor. I don’t believe there’s more to it than that. She just needs help, the same as everyone else.”
“So you don’t consider her a stalker.”
“No.”
Josie watched as Taryn walked over to where Nicola sat and started gesticulating wildly toward the path. Reluctantly, Nicola heaved herself to her feet and took over the shoveling. “But Meg thought she did.”
“Yes,” Sandrine said. “But Meg was still so shell-shocked from her ordeal. With this guy still out there, she had not even begun to process all that had happened to her. She was on guard at all times. You remember the group sessions, don’t you?”
Josie felt a stab of pain in her heart recalling the way Meg had felt so stupid for not seeing the escalation in Cawley’s behaviors; how guilty she felt for not being more diligent about reporting him when his behaviors were more benign. “I should have gone to the police when he wouldn’t stop texting me multiple times a day,” she had said, “and showing up where I was working or eating dinner or going to yoga class, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of things. He really wasn’t doing anything wrong at that point. He just made me super uncomfortable.”
“Sandrine, I asked you yesterday if Meg had had any problems with anyone on this retreat and you said no.”
“I said ‘no, not really,’” Sandrine clarified. “Besides, Meg didn’t have trouble with Taryn. She only thought that I did. There wasn’t any conflict between them directly. I’m sure that Meg would have told me.”
Before Josie could press Sandrine further, Alice appeared on the porch of the main house. “Come in and get warm,” she called.
Josie looked back up the trail the others had dug from the main house to each cabin. Nicola and Brian had disappeared. Taryn had moved back down the path and now stood in the doorway of her own cabin. “I’ll be right there,” Josie said. “I want to check something in my cabin.”
“I’ll come with you,” Alice offered.
Josie smiled. “No, you stay here with Sandrine.”
“Josie,” Alice said, a warning note in her voice.
“It’s okay,” Josie told her. “You’ll be able to watch for me from here.”
