She tried not to flinch, but it was hard. As if too restless to sit, Gray stood and wandered closer to the pond, hands stuffed into his pockets as he stared into the water. His face was drawn and sober as he spoke in a low voice. “I think Otis betrayed us.”
She recoiled, so stunned by the unexpected statement that it took a moment to process the words. “What do you mean?”
“Luke said that his codebook was discovered. It was hiddenin the raccoon shed out at Windover Landing. Otis had a key to that shed. He had access to everything. I think he’s probably the one who turned Luke in.”
Her mouth went dry, and it was hard to breathe. What a fool she’d been to imagine that if she escaped Gray’s detection, he wouldn’t find someone else to blame.
But she couldn’t let him blame Otis.
She didn’t know how she was going to survive the next few minutes, for every instinct urged her to run away and never look back, but she stood on legs that felt like water to face him. There was no easy way to do this, and no point in delaying.
“It wasn’t Otis,” she said quietly.
He turned to gape at her. “What? How do you know that?”
“It was me.”
There was no change in his expression. Her heart pounded so hard that she heard it in her ears, and he seemed to gape at her forever. Why didn’t he say something? She had to get this over with.
“I found the codebook and the maps,” she said. “I’d been told someone in your house was spying, so I was on the lookout, and I immediately recognized it for what it was. American lives depended on stopping the insurgency. I didn’t know what else to do.”
He still hadn’t moved, still stared with that blank, uncomprehending look. “Who told you someone in my house was spying?”
“Someone from the army.”
The breath left him in a rush, and it looked like he was about to topple over, but he braced a hand against the trunk of a tree. He drew several breaths and gazed around in dumbfounded anguish. Finally he straightened and looked at her.
“You didn’t suspectme, did you?”
She hadn’t thought this could get any worse, but it did as heat flushed her face and Gray’s mouth turned hard. His stunned look faded as he narrowed his eyes.
“How much of it was a lie?” he demanded. “When did you start coming to my house to prowl for secrets and papers? Was it from the very beginning?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Thenwhen, Annabelle?”His voice lashed out like a whip, and she flinched but didn’t back away. “When did you start faking affection and holding your nose so you could poke through my study? Through my father’s letters? When did your every interaction with me become nothing more than a ploy to spy on us?”
He was losing his temper, and nothing she could say would soothe him. It would only pour oil onto the fire, and he had a right to be incensed. Why did doing the right thing feel so wrong?
“I’m not going to answer that.”
His gaze slid past her shoulder to where the mansard roof of the Department of Agriculture could be seen above the trees. Comprehension dawned, and bitterness twisted his face.
“You were bought,” he said in a disbelieving voice. “They promised you a plum job, and you pounced on it.”
It wasn’t true, but he would never believe her. It didn’t matter how badly she wanted a permanent position, she had done it for Dr. Norwood’s grandson and the thousands of other young men stationed in Cuba.
“I did what any loyal American would have done,” she said.
“And were richly rewarded for it.” He walked toward her, and the icy calm in his gaze was somehow more frightening than if he yelled and screamed. There was nothing she could say that would make sense to him. “How long was it after you turned the information over that you were offered this job? An hour? A day?”
“It wasn’t long, and I’m sure you know that,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do, and I will forever wonder if there was a better way I could have handled it. If I acted wrongly, then Ican only pray that God will forgive me. I know I’ve hurt you, and I am so desperately sorry.”
He braced his hands on his thighs, bending over almost as though he was going to be sick. She wanted to offer comfort, but he’d only fling her away.
“Well, the scales have fallen from my eyes,” he finally said. He pushed himself back to his full height. His face was twisted with bitterness and his eyes accusatory. “Good-bye, Annabelle. I hope to the bottom of my soul that I never have to see you again.”
The words scorched, but she deserved it. She stood motionless by the pond as he turned his back on her and walked away.
