Fullepub 
Chapter 36
36
October 31, 3:55 a.m.
less than three hours until low tide
“Maybe we shouldn’t watch any more of this tape,” says Rose in a voice that doesn’t sound like her own. She remembers what happened that night too. So does Conor.
“I agree. Several members of this family have died tonight. This isn’t the time for home movies,” he says. But that isn’t why Conor doesn’t want to watch anymore.
I ignore them both and cross the room, to take a closer look at the Scrabble board Nana’s agent gave to her that year. When I see what is on it, the room seems to spin.
“Did you do this?” I ask Trixie, and she comes to stand by my side. We tend to be the only ones to play the game these days. Rose joins us to see what we are looking at, and frowns at the board.
“Was this you?” she asks our niece. “It’s really important that you tell the truth.”
Trixie shakes her head and stares wide-eyed at both of us.
Rose starts pacing again. “I don’t understand the connection to Nana’s agent, or the link with Scrabble letters. Someone has been sticking them to the covers of our old home movies. But why would he be involved in any of this? Nana loved her agent.”
“Because she couldn’t write any more new books after what happened in 1988?” Conor says, staring at the floor. “She didn’t publish anything ever again after that. What if he trashed her studio last night, looking for her latest work? If an author can’t write, that’s got to be bad for their agent too, right? I mean, she was his biggest client.”
“His first and only client for a while,” I say, remembering how much I liked the man.
Rose shakes her head. “We must be missing something.”
She turns to Lily, as though hoping she might have the answer. But Lily continues to face away from us all, staring at the TV screen, as if hypnotized by what she sees. For now, all it shows is an image of a bonfire on a beach at night. The fire in the room crackles and spits again, and I see what looks like a chair leg burning on top of the logs. It’s painted blue with white clouds. I turn to Conor, and there is a scribble of a smile drawn on his face for no more than a second before a frown erases it as though it were never there. But that doesn’t mean anything. Sometimes our faces don’t know what to do with themselves when we are scared.
When I look back at the TV, I know that a lot of what happened after Nana’s birthday meal and before the bonfire on the beach is missing—moments that definitely weren’t captured on camera because Lily wasn’t filming at the time. Unfortunately, my mind remembers that night well enough to fill in the gaps.
