Hanna
Call me.
I sent the fifth text to Jeremy after leaving two voicemails. On any other day the kid lived on his phone. He picked this moment to ignore it. I hated to think about him sitting with friends, having fun, not seeing the raging storm headed right for him.
“Come on, honey. Answer.” I shook the phone as if that would help.
I had to get to Jeremy first. Before anyone else. There were too many unknowns. Too many variables I couldn’t control. Aubrey skulking around. All the people in that room.
God damn you, Xavier.
My hands shook as I turned off the car engine and hopped out. The cool night wind whipped around me and whistled down my protected driveway in a haunting screech.
I’d gone two steps before the café’s side door burst open.“You’re finally back. I needed to ask you about Halloween specialty items.”
Daniela. She looked more harried than usual for the end of the day. Ready to go home. She had every right. It was the usual time for her to escape. When I hired her I promised the hours at the café would not drag on and pile up.
“I can’t.” Those two words were the only response I could muster, and it sucked. It wasn’t fair to dump my mess on her. I owed her more than this but the emergency siren wailing in my head refused to tamp down. “Please. Can we discuss this later?”
Whatever she saw when she looked at me must have shaken her. She treated me to a slow nod. “Okay.”
No, my behavior was not okay. “Sorry. I just need...”
What the hell did I need?
“We’ll talk tomorrow.” Daniela grabbed the door and shut it, cutting off the awkward conversation and leaving me alone to stew in my failure.
A new wave of panic flooded my system. The churning sensation of being too late, of not being able to catch up and tackle the shadowy menace ten steps ahead of me. I texted Jeremy again and nothing.
Inside. I needed to get inside the house and regroup. Figure out how to deal with this and what to say. The rumors, once rampant, would ratchet up again. This time Jeremy would get swallowed up in them. He wasn’t a child anymore but at nineteen the shot to his reputation would hurt. My ability to control the outcome and my protection only reached so far.
I could no longer dismiss the pieces of my life that created so much shame.
You made a choice. Now you get to live with it.
Xavier’s haunting words. I hadn’t thought of them in years. Now they ran nonstop through my head.
I rounded the bottom of the staircase on my way up to my second-floor home and saw it. A note sticking out of the mailbox. Not just a note. Another envelope with my name printed on it.
I grabbed it and ripped it open. The thick stock tore and the postcard slipped out. Again, one short line in black ink conveyed the cryptic message.
Don’t forget the fountain.
I only knew about one fountain. The elaborate one at the far end of the pool at Xavier’s house. I’d tried for years to forget about what happened there. And failed.
Why did it matter now?
This was a game I didn’t want to play... but someone wasn’t giving me a choice.
Chapter Nineteen
Stella
“This is an outrage.” Isabel made the pronouncement as she paced in front of the refrigerator.
Even my thundering headache couldn’t block out her nagging voice. “Mom, please.”
What I really meant wasplease stop whining. I needed five seconds to think. A glass of wine. Quiet. A big sloppy kiss from Everly.
