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Chapter Twelve
July 1993
It was three days after Rose’s nightcap with Oren in his private room. She hadn’t seen him since and had all but convinced herself it hadn’t happened at all. The only proof was her copy ofJane Eyre,which she’d torn through and begun again. She was so hungry to talk to Oren about it. She ached for her next day off, hoping she could swing into his private quarters and talk his ear off about Mr. Rochester and Jane.
Rose dug through the chaos of a typical day at the Walden Estate. Hogarth was midway through his tennis lesson, and Kate was studying French, which meant Rose had two hours with Hamilton and Evie, making up games and running along the beach. Clouds frothed in the distance, threatening rain. Rose hated rainy days when she was babysitting. It meant being cooped up inside, where the children’s voices were so much louder. Rose was apt to have a headache within the hour.
Once, Rose had let the children play outside in therain. They’d gotten drenched and laughed themselves silly—letting out that boundless childish energy that was required if they were going to get to bed on time and sleep through the night. But Mrs. Walden had seen them soaking wet and launched into a diatribe about her children’s health and safety. When she’d left, Rose had rolled her eyes into the back of her head. It was all about appearances with her.
Evie took a stick and drew a smiley face in the sand. Hamilton took that opportunity to run through it, tearing it apart with his toes. Evie burst into tears and ran to Rose, burrowing her face in her thighs. Rose snorted and looked at Hamilton.
“Are you going to apologize to your sister?”
Hamilton scampered off toward the waves, calling out, “No.”
Rose strung her fingers through Evie’s hair. “He’s just a mean big brother,” she explained.
Evie hiccuped and nodded. She was too sad to speak.
But Rose knew the smiley face would be forgotten in just a few minutes.
“Let’s draw something else,” Rose said, eager to get Evie’s mind elsewhere. She picked up a stick. “What would you like?”
“An elephant,” Evie said.
Rose brought an image of an elephant to her mind’s eye and began to sketch. She was nervous. It had been a little while since she’d tried to draw something.
Voices came from up the walkway. Evie perked up, hopeful that it was her mother coming to spend time with her. That happened so rarely, but Evie never lost hope.
Instead, three cops appeared at the far end of the walkway. Rose stopped sketching to watch. Two of thecops were in their forties or fifties with big bellies, but one was in his twenties, maybe just a little older than Rose, with dirty blond hair that spilled out of his cop hat.
One of them clambered up the steps to the back porch and knocked on the door. They’d probably already knocked on the front door but had no answer. Where was Miriam?
That was when the younger one spotted Rose. In a flash, they approached, bumbling down the walkway, their eyes on Rose. They looked at her as though she had all the answers to their questions. Rose’s throat filled with dread.
Evie hurried up to say hello. “What are you doing here?” she demanded brightly.
The cops stopped and smiled down at her. They were Nantucket cops, which meant they weren’t accustomed to hard crime and spent much of their days saying hello to tourists and high-fiving children.
The blond cop watched Rose ponderously.
“We’re just here to ask some questions,” one of the older cops said. He raised his chin to look Rose in the eye. “Do you know where we can find Mr. or Mrs. Walden?”
“They’re not home right now,” Rose said. They hadn’t told her where they were off to, but they never told her that kind of thing.
“Any idea of when they’ll be back?”
“Probably late,” Rose said.
“What about Oren Grayson or Zachary Grayson?” the younger blond cop asked. “Are they around?”
Rose raised her eyebrows.Does this have something to do with the fire?Rose suddenly felt protective over Oren, as though it was up to her to stand between him and thelong arm of the law.He didn’t do anything wrong. He loved Natalie. His heart is broken.
“No,” Rose said, her tone dark. “What is this regarding?”
“We just want to ask the Graysons about the fire from the sixteenth of June,” an older cop said. “Have they mentioned anything to you about it?”
“No. I’m just a babysitter,” Rose said.
