“Hmm?”
“You’re still not listening.” She put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “Look at me, Roen.” His eyes shifted to hers. “I’m not angry. I’m concerned. What happened today while you were out?”
“Does Fedora talk to you much while she’s here?”
It wasn’t an answer to her question, but Lily decided to go where Roen led her. “Not a lot. She stays busy, mostly in thekitchen. I’m usually working in the parlor or the sewing room. She and Lizzie chatter quite a bit.”
“She wouldn’t be chatting with Lizzie about this.”
“About what?”
“About the anonymous messages she receives. Hitch calls them threats, but I’m not sure they reach that level. They tell her to go home or mention the yellow peril, as if her presence is a danger to all of us. Hitch told me today that she gets at least one each week. Sometimes more than one.”
Lily frowned. “No, she’s never said a word. What a terrible burden to carry.”
“You would know something about that.”
His dry retort stung a little. “I do,” she said stiffly. “And we are not talking about me.”
“Oh, God,” he murmured. “Lily, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Not the way you said it.”
Roen rubbed his face. “Let’s leave this until morning.”
“If you like, but will you sleep?”
“Probably not.”
“Then tell me the rest.”
He drew in a breath and released it slowly. “Hitch says that Fedora is conscious of being watched. I asked if there was a specific person, but she’s never said as much. He dismissed it as a general awareness of being observed because she’s different. I accepted that explanation at the time, but I’ve been wondering ever since if Hitch is right.”
“Then you should ask her.”
“I want to but not alone. It would go better, I think, if you were with me.”
“I will, of course, but perhaps you should ask Ellie.”
“No. I prefer not to alarm Ellie. She’s been Fedora’s champion and takes all these smears and slights personally. She’ll want to take Fedora target shooting again.”
“Perhaps she should.”
“Fedora will hang if she shoots someone,” he said bluntly. “Self-defense, if it is that, won’t matter much. She will have no jury of her peers. No women. No one of Chinese heritage. It will be the yellow terror that some folks in Frost Falls are already imagining.”
Lily pressed her lips together, afraid just then that if she spoke, she would say too much. The secret that she kept locked inside needed to remain there. She knew that. Ben and Ridley and Hitch had insisted that she accept their version of what happened the night Jeremiah died. And she had. She loved her children too much to do otherwise, and now it was the same with Roen. The truth would not set her free.
“Are you asleep?” he asked.
“No,” she said softly. “Just thinking.”
“Hmm.”
Lily moved closer and rested her head against his shoulder. She found his wrist and drew his arm across her waist. “When will you want to speak to her?”
“Tomorrow. There is no advantage to waiting.”
“Do you suspect there is a particular person watching her?”
