CORDELIA COULDN’T REMEMBERever feeling so happy and expectant. She should have realized it couldn’t last.
For once, things were going her way. Gordon had installed the security equipment, carefully tucking the cameras under the eave of the house so they wouldn’t be noticed. There was one in back near the solarium entrance, two in front, and another on the house’s west side, where the gardens spilled around. He’d set up a small monitor in the parlor to keep tabs on things.
And her experience staging houses had come in handy with the party planning. She’d thrown their grand soiree together in a matter of days, ordering online anything Gordon couldn’t pick up in town. It had to be impressive if they were going to luremost of Bellwick’s residents. If nobody else came, neither would their target. So, Cordelia pulled out all the stops for decorations, lighting, and catering. They would host the main event in the back garden, with a little tour through the house for everyone who showed. She had the invitations printed on expensive vellum with a pearlescent backing.
She’d spared no expense to pull this off. But with her savings gone, her checking at an all-time low, and her credit wrecked by John, to get what they needed they’d had to leverage Eustace’s good name, and even better FICO score—though her sister had lost everything in her battle against cancer, unlike Cordelia she’d been able to pay every fee, down to the last dime.
With the party and the signing on the horizon, however, their financial woes would be over soon enough. Arkin was due any day with the new set of papers for them to sign. In fact, she’d expected him already, but with so much to do for the party, Cordelia didn’t have time to chase the young man down. She’d thrown their plans into overdrive, setting the event date for just under a week away and expediting all the shipping. She’d even texted Busy Mazzello to tell him she would have his money by week’s end. His response came swiftly—See you Sunday. The thought of a carful of gangsters pulling up beside the Japanese cedars was enough to give her the sweats, but they’d be signing in three days’ time. And then it would all be over.
After toiling in the house and garden each day, Cordelia would slink off to the carriage house at night to feel Gordon’s body ripple under hers, hard and insatiable, and to drink in the smell and feel of him. Sometimes they would talk for long hours into the night. Though it had been a challenge at first, Gordon said, the people of Bellwick were coming around to the idea of a party at the estate. Not much happened around their sleepy little town, and most folks were nearly as curious about the Bones and their property as they were afraid.
But everything went sideways one morning early in the week. She woke with her body delightfully sore from the night before. Untwisting her long limbs from the sheets of Gordon’s bed, she kissed him on the cheek and tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen, where she filled the French press with fresh coffee grounds and heated some water on the stove.
Looking for the little spoon he kept in the sugar dish, Cordelia quietly rifled through several kitchen drawers. When she didn’t find it, she pulled his cookbook stand away from the backsplash, wondering if it had dropped behind there. She was imagining him trying to perfect his grandmother’s recipe for borscht when she noticed the little notebook tucked behind a much larger cookbook.She’d seen him with it when she came over with the ledger. She wondered now if it was where he kept notes on his favorite dishes.
Pulling it out, she spread it open on the counter, expecting to find handwritten recipes, maybe even some of his original plans for the carriage house. Instead, it was full of dated entries, jotted words and phrases all about her aunt, his mom, and the estate.
July 1: Togers shows up unannounced. Why?
September 1: The White Lady surprises me by the barn, tells me to expect a storm, move all equipment to the shed.
October 10: I walked the western woods again. Found nothing. Why was she there? What was she running from?
Cordelia swallowed and flipped back a few pages. Scribbled words covered both sides. In the center, circled many times in black ink, was written,Beware the pair. Beware the heir.Beneath that, Gordon had asked simply,Who?
The someone his mother had obsessively feared. Not one person, but two.
She was scared to see more. And unable to turn away. Then, she found this entry: The White Lady has a niece. Correction—a pair of nieces.
Suddenly, she didn’t like the way he kept referring to their aunt asThe White Lady.At first, she’d thought it a term of endearment, but now it struck her quite differently. As though Augusta was a thing he didn’t trust, maybe didn’t see as human.
Flipping forward again, Cordelia found an entry corresponding to the date of their arrival.They’re here,it read plainly.BEWARE.
He’d been keeping notes on them all this time. He’d been keeping notes on everyone.
“I can explain,” she heard him say from behind.
Cordelia nearly jumped out of her skin. “Now who’s sneaking up on people?” she snapped.
He took a tentative step in her direction.
“Who are you?” she asked, voice low and taut. “Who are you really, Gordon Jablonski?”
He placed a hand to his bare chest. “I’m exactly who you think I am,” he told her. “Nothing has changed.”
She held the book up. “What is this? Are you some kind of reporter or private investigator? What is this?!” The walls of the carriage house shook threateningly at the sound of her voice, and a stiff wind kicked up outside, beating at the windows and glass doors.
“It’s nothing like that,” he told her, glancing around.
“I’m waiting,” she said, refusing to set the book down.
“I told you about my mom, how she wasn’t right before she died. All of that was true. I came here looking for answers about what happened to her,” he began, holding both hands out.
“You failed to mention this,” she spat, wiggling the book at him.
“I know. At first, I didn’t know what to think of you. Things had changed so rapidly after I got here. And then suddenly shewas gone, and here you and your sister came. As I got to know you, I wanted to say more, but I wasn’t sure how. Not without looking and sounding like a creep.”
She pointed to the open page. “What does this mean—Beware the pair? What do you think I am? Are you sleeping with me so you can learn the family secrets? Because I’ve got news for you—we’re just as in the dark as you are.”
