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“Come visit me again soon,” she said, hugging me one last time.
“Definitely,” I promise. I go to the door and give her a wave.
On the way to the bus stop, my thoughts linger on Mom and the pleasant day we spent together. I turn a corner and almost runinto a man walking the other way.
“Excuse me, I didn’t see you there,” I say. I look up into Charles’ grinning face.
“Teresa, this is unexpected. Nice to see you. Were you visiting your mother?”
“Yeah, we spent the day together.” I can’t help looking at him with a mischievous grin. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I wanted to call in on Maggie. I just messaged to ask if she has time for a glass of wine.”
“Sounds nice. You guys have been seeing a lot of each other lately.”
I can’t resist the comment, and Charles’ expression is priceless. He’s clearly at a loss and doesn’t know what to say.
“Uh, I guess so, yeah,” he stammers. “You could say that. Uh... I really enjoy her company. Maggie’s an amazing woman.”
“I’m glad you guys have hit it off. She speaks highly of you.”
A smile appears on his face. “Oh, does she really?”
The scene from Kate’s vision flashes through my mind, and I know I can’t let the opportunity pass.
“She was your girlfriend, right? The woman Frida killed.”
I know this is totally out of left field and sounds harsh. But that’s intentional. I want him to react spontaneously in the hope that he’ll reveal something about the truth.
Charles instantly clams up. Something dark comes between us, like an impenetrable wall, and I know he won’t tell me anything.
“Who told you that?” he asks in an icy tone.
“You can’t keep things like that secret forever. They always come to light sooner or later.” I shrug, hoping he’ll accept my evasive reply.
He says nothing at first. “So? What do you want from me? You obviously already know everything.”
“Was it really an accident?”
He steps back, and for a moment his eyes are cold, with a lookof fear in them. “Of course it was! What do you take Frida for? She made a mistake, but she wasn’t a monster. I know you never met her, but you should have gathered that by now. She would never have done something like that intentionally.”
He sounds so convincing, so absolutely certain, that I don’t probe any further.
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” I say. “It must have been hard for you.”
“It was. I loved Patty. And until that day, Frida meant a lot to me too. The whole thing gnawed at me for a long time, and I still can’t forget it. But life has to go on somehow.” He catches my eye and says, “You should take that advice too. Leave the past alone. All you’ll find there is pain and misery.”
With that, he turns away from me. “I should go. See you later.”
I nod and glance after him. Why does he keep insisting it was an accident? It wasn’t; I saw that in the vision. What happened during that short period of time when Kate lost the connection? What could Frida have threatened Charles with? What deal did they make?
I take out the chain holding the ring that I found in Frida’s secret room. Maybe he’s right, and I should distance myself from my great aunt and leave things be. I examine the black stone. Frida was a murderer and evidently had some problems. It’s probably for the best if I stop delving into her life and just leave things alone.
I’m about to remove the ring from the chain and sever my emotional connection to her when I hear a noise behind me. Yoru is instantly at my side. He looks tense and is scanning our surroundings as if searching for something. His body language speaks volumes – there’s something here. The moment the thought pops into my head, I sense it too. I’m being followed. And that feeling triggers memories that I’d rather forget. I can still vividly recall Chiara ambushing me and almost killing me. Itwas terrifying being surprised like that and attacked so brutally, and I don’t intend to let it happen again.
I slowly turn around but can’t see anyone.
“I know you’re there! Show yourself! There’s no use hiding from me.”
