Page 17

I head downstairs just in time to find Sean coming up the stairs. “Mary. There you are. The children are asleep, then?”

I nod. “Luann just went to bed. Are the police still here?”

“They left a few minutes ago. Julian and Victoria are in the great room drinking some coffee. I wanted to see if you’d join us. I think the adults should discuss what happened without the children here.”

I nod again. “Before we go in, can I talk to you?”

His eyes narrow slightly. “Did the children say something?”

I take a deep breath. This is the right thing to do, but I feel horrible for revealing Luann’s secret, even if I am completely justified in doing so. “Luann’s boyfriend is the son of Julian Bellamy’s business rival, Robert Cartwright. Did I tell you that?”

“You did. And their family rivalry goes further back than the two of them. The police asked about Robert Cartwright straight away when they took his statement.”

“I see. So this is an old family feud.”

“Well, I only meant further back than Luann and Kevin, but it’s likely that they’ve been rivals since at least Parker Bellamy’s day. What did Luann tell you?”

I take another deep breath. “Kevin overheard an argument between their fathers. When it was over, Robert said that they had to do something drastic and stop taking baby steps.”

Sean frowns. “When did he tell Luann this?”

“Yesterday.”

“Yesterday? I thought they weren’t seeing each other anymore.”

“He’s been sneaking over here.”

“Without you noticing?”

His words are a knife to my chest. I’ve been failing these children. Even if Kevin and Luann are wholly innocent—and I still believe they are—the situation is too volatile for them to continue in this way. I should have paid closer attention. I thought that by preventing Luann from sneaking out, I had handled the situation. I assumed that if Kevin were to try to sneak in, I would notice him, but I was clearly wrong about that.

“They’ve managed to sneak around my back, it seems,” I reply. “I should have noticed, but I didn’t.”

He chuckles ruefully. “Kids are good at sneaking around when they get to this age. I’ll have to share some of my own stories with you later. In the meantime, this puts us in a bit of a predicament. Julian feels very strongly that Robert is behind this. Victoria feels just as strongly that Robert couldn’t be involved.”

“Victoria’s perspective might be a little… skewed.”

He stares at me. “Don’t tell me they’re sneaking around too.”

“I don’t have any evidence that the affair has continued,” I reply, “but they certainly had an affair when they were younger. Victoria all but admitted it to me the other night.”

He runs his hands through his hair. “Bloody Hell. It’s the damned Desperate Housewives here.”

I don’t think that’s an entirely accurate analogy, but I understand his point. “We need to tell them, Sean. If anyone had been outside when those charges went off, it could have killed them.”

“They would have had to be hugging the water lines for that little bit of ANFO to kill them, but the water pressure was no joke. It wouldn’t have killed anyone, but if it caught someone in the face, it could have meant an eye. You’re right. We need to tell them.”

He turns to head back to the great room, and I grab his arm. “Is there a way to keep Luann out of this? She’ll be so devastated.”

He meets my eyes. “I think you know the answer to that question.”

I lower my head. He’s right, but this is terrible. Those poor children.

The two of us enter the great room just in time to catch Victoria shouting, “You can’t blame Robert for every bad thing that’s happened in our lives! He’s an arrogant asshole, but he’s not this… stupid.”

“You and I have different opinions about his intelligence,” Julian retorts.

“So you think he’d try to kill us?”

Julian rolls his eyes. “No, I don’t think he’d try to murder us, Mom, but I do think he’d sabotage us. I do think he’d do everything he can to make our lives harder. He can’t handle the fact that he’s number two, and instead of finding a way to beat us fair and square—which he can’t do—he’s looking for a way to chop us down at the knees.”

Victoria sighs and rubs her eyes. “Look, I don’t like him any more than you do, but we can’t get caught up in this fantasy like this is the War of the Roses.”

“Then who else, Mom? Who else?”

She lifts her hands and lets them drop. “It could be an employee.”

“You think one of the servants did this?”

“Not one of the household staff, no. Most of them have been here since your father was alive, and they’d never dishonor his memory. But I think that one of the employees could have been paid.”

“Exactly! Paid by who ?”

“Paid by whom,” she corrects.

“Now you’re just being petty.”

Sean clears his throat, and the two of them look at us. Julian reddens and looks away, a dark frown on his face. Victoria chuckles ruefully. “Hello, you two. Sorry that you once again caught us jawing away.”

“I’m afraid we have some rather sobering news,” Sean said.

Both of them turn back to us. “What news?” Julian asks.

“Tell them, Mary.”

I wish wholeheartedly I could make Sean tell them, but it is my place, not his. I take a deep breath and say, “Luann spoke with Kevin Cartwright yesterday.”

Julian blinks. “What? When?”

“I assume after we went to bed,” I reply. “The children were with me all day, so that’s the only time she would have had a chance.”

“What did she say, Mary?” Victoria says curtly.

“She says that Kevin told her that he overheard an argument between his father and Julian.”

Victoria’s head snaps around to Julian. A guilty look flashes across his face. It seems Victoria wasn’t aware of his late-night phone calls to the Cartwright patriarch.

“When they finished speaking, he—Kevin—told Luann that he heard his father say that they needed to take more drastic steps.”

Victoria gasps. Julian pales. We’re silent for a minute, then Julian asks, “Was that all?”

“That’s all,” I confirm.

“When did she tell you this?”

“Just now before she went to sleep.”

Julian nods and runs his hand over his face. “Well, that’s it, then. I guess we know for sure.”

Victoria sits ramrod straight. Red flecks have formed in her pale face. She stares ahead at the fire and doesn’t respond when Julian challenged, “Still think he’s innocent, Mom?”

He turns to Sean and me. “Have you told the police?”

“Not yet. I only just found out a few minutes ago.”

“Right. Well, we have to tell the police.”

“I know.”

“And they’ll have to talk to her.”

“I know.”

He sighs. “What a fucking mess. How’s Luann?”

“Not good, sir. She really fancies him. Kevin, I mean. She’s afraid…”

I stop myself and leave it at that. I have betrayed Luann’s confidence as much as necessary. I don’t need to reveal anything else. In any case, it’s obvious what Luann is afraid of.

“Yeah, I know. Damn it. Okay, I’ll call the police.”

“Do you have to call them tonight?” Victorias asks, her voice barely a whisper.

“Yes, Mom, I have to call them tonight. They just blew up the damned water system. We’re going to lose the Chardonnay, you realize that, right? We can try to harvest some of it, but we’re losing at least ninety percent of the yield.”

Victoria doesn’t protest further. She only hangs her head in her hands and begins to weep. Julian deflates a little when he sees that. Rather lamely, he offers, “Well, at least no one got hurt.”

“I’ll call the police,” Sean says. “You stay with your mother.”

Victoria gets abruptly to her feet when she hears that. She brushes past me and stalks up the stairs, her footsteps echoing through the house. Julian stares morosely at the floor, then laughs softly. “I guess I’ll call the police. It’s my responsibility, anyway.”

“No! No, Grandma!”

The cry chills me to the bone. The slap that follows it chills me further.

Sean and I share a horrified look. The scream that Luann releases after the slap galvanizes us into action.

The three of us rush up the stairs. Nathan stumbles out of his room. He looks at us in confusion, then looks toward his sister’s open door.

“Grandma, stop!”

We enter the room to see Victoria grabbing Luann's shoulders. Her lips are pulled back from her teeth, and her eyes are wild. She shakes Victoria back and forth, her nails digging into the girl's arms.

“How dare you!” Victoria shrieks. “How dare you talk to that boy after we told you not to? Do you see what happens? Do you see what you did?”

“Mom!” Julian shouts.

He grabs Victoria and pulls her roughly away. Luann sobs and lifts her hands to her shoulders. Bruises are already beginning to form.

I step forward to pull her away, but she slaps me hard across the face. “You stupid bitch! You promised you wouldn’t tell them!”

The slap stings my face, but the physical pain is nothing compared to the shock. I stand rooted to the spot until Sean grabs me and firmly pulls me out of the room. “Let Julian handle this, Mary.”

“What’s going on?” Nathan asks. “What’s happening?”

“Ask your sister!” Victoria shrieks.

“Enough!” Julian shouts before dragging his mother from the room. “That’s enough!”

“What happened?” Nathan repeats, tears welling in his eyes.

“Nothing,” Julian calls before I can answer. “We’ll talk about it in a moment.”

“Help your sister,” Sean tells the boy. “Get her some ice and some bandages.”

Nathan rushes to Luann's side. They're both weeping now. Luann lifts her eyes to glare at me with pure white-hot hatred. Then, she allows Nathan to lead her from the room.

Footsteps pound down the stairs, and a moment later, I hear Beatrice call out, “Luann? What happened?”

I look to the end of the hall and see Grant behind Beatrice, the rest of the staff crowded behind him. The audience does nothing to help poor Luann, who bursts into tears and buries her face into her brother’s shoulder.

I stand where I am, my cheek stinging, powerless to do anything but watch this family fall apart.