We’re saved from further interrogations by Gabe and George, who join our group. Gabe wastes no time turning up the British charm to eleven for Daphne and her mother. We leave them to it and make another circuit of the room. I notice familiar faces from school – Chad and Brenda and Finneas, all being dragged around various groups by their parents, desperately trying to get their kid into the right school or the right internship.
“Oh, there’s Grace.” I spy my stepmother over by the food table. Regret stabs at my chest as I watch her lean heavily on a cane – I should have gone to see her more since she’s been bed-ridden, but with everything happening with Claws I just… I ran out of time. I didn’t want to step foot in that house again. I was afraid. Name a shitty excuse, and I made it to myself. Nothing changes the fact that I left her alone in that house with Dad when she didn’t have the strength to defend against his temper.
Yet here she is, standing – albeit shakily – on two feet. Grace was always a fighter.
I drag Claws toward her. Grace is speaking to a group of over-Botoxed ladies-who-lunch. She sees us pushing through the crowd, and she waves us over. The women look like they’re ready to pounce on Claudia and pepper her with more questions about deserted islands and the status of the Malloy fortune, but one hard look from me and they scurry away like the rats they are.
“You came.” I lean in to kiss her cheek. “I was so worried you’d be stuck in that bed for a while longer.”
“I wouldn’t miss the chance to see you shine,” she beams. I notice she sways a little on her feet, and grips the edge of the table with her free hand, like it’s holding her upright. “Every school representative in this room is eager to talk to you. Your mother would be so proud. Thank you for saving me from that horrendous conversation.”
I choke up a little at the mention of Mom. In all the chaos of senior year, I’ve thought of her less. There are even whole days that go by now when I don’t remember her bright smile and kind voice, or her blue skin and how cold she felt when we pulled her out of the pool. Yet another thing to feel guilty about. “Always a pleasure.”
“Your father abandoned me the moment we walked through the door. I’m so happy to see you. You scrub up so nicely.” She leans in to kiss my cheek, but before I can pull away she catches my arm, her grip shaky but firm. She whispers, “There’s a small anteroom off the coatroom. Meet me there in fifteen minutes.”
I’m too stunned to reply.Did she really just say that?
Grace pulls away and starts chattering to Claudia about school and the cheerleading team. I notice how heavily she leans against her cane. Is she still struggling after the scare? I know Grace has neurological problems; it was one of the reasons she quit her job as a journalist. But did Claudia’s revenge prank scare her that much?
Should I be worried?
Maybe that’s what we’re going to discuss in the cloakroom.
My father pulls Grace away to talk to some of his Senate buddies. He gives Claudia a nod of acknowledgment, his hard eyes reminding us of our agreement to remain silent in exchange for new lives for Yara and her girls. I don’t even get a nod, not a wrinkle of his nose or a disgusted curl of his lip. I’m still nothing to him. The son he didn’t want.
A year ago that rejection would have sent me straight to Antony’s club to burn away my rage by beating some poor guy nearly to death. But now, I feel nothing. John Marlowe isno oneto me. He doesn’t deserve my hatred.
I lean in close to tell Claudia about Grace’s whispered invitation.
“Oh, intrigue.” She glances over her shoulder at Gabe and Daphne. He leads her through the crowded club toward the bar. Her face glows with joy to be on Gabriel Fallen’s arm. “It looks like Gabe has everything under control out here. We can spare a few minutes to find out what Grace wants.”
We circle around the food table, stuffing our faces with tiny foods until the fifteen minutes are up. I check that my father is occupied with Eldritch Club members, then we slip away into the coatroom. There’s no attendant on duty – in this den of thieves, there must be a semblance of honor.Thou shall not steal thy neighbor’s Burberry coat.
We hunt around behind the jackets, but can’t find the anteroom Grace told us about. I’m starting to panic when an arm waves at us from behind a mink.
“Pssst. In here.”
Grace ushers us into a narrow door disguised in the paneling. She pulls it shut behind us, plunging us into darkness. I pull out my mobile phone and flick on the ‘fireplace’ app, and a flickering pixelated fire lights up a small storage area filled with boxes and racks of skimpy costumes for the club. Grace sinks into a pile of peacock-feather fans, her eyes closed as she takes the weight off her legs. Her hands tremble around her cane.
What’s wrong with her? That doesn’t look like nerves. It looks like she’s really fucking sick.
“That’s better,” she says. “I can hear myself think in here.”
“How do you know this room exists?” I ask.
“Nero invited me and your father to tour the new club while it was being built. I happened to notice this little room.” She taps her forehead. “I guess he didn’t expect I’d have such a journalist’s memory for details.”
“Grace, are you okay? You look really sick—”
“We don’t have much time.” She glances at the door. “I need to get this out. You’re going to find out tomorrow anyway, but I… I couldn’t go through with it without telling you in person. You need to hear this, too, Mackenzie. It concerns your late father. And my sister.”
Fear churns in my gut. “Grace, what are you talking about?”
“Harriet didn’t kill herself.” Her breath comes out in ragged gasps.
I know.
We figured this out weeks ago, but hearing Grace speak it aloud brings it all rushing back – the memory of finding her, of clutching her suicide note in my hands.First Felix left me, and now you. Everyone I love leaves me to face the darkness alone.
