Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I drive away as fast as I safely can, fleeing the darkness that still feels like it's trying to cling to me. I'm not quite at the gate when an incoming call lights up my Jeep's console. Caller ID shows it's coming from the private school Rose attends.

I shouldn't answer. I'm too shaken to concentrate.

But I've been trying to reach Rose's teacher all week.

I pull over by the gate and put my Jeep in park, letting it ring again while I try to steady my breathing.

"Stella Hudson."

My voice sounds high and tight. I stare at the gate, wondering if the camera is capturing me now. I reassure myself that even if there is one with audio capabilities, my windows are rolled up. They can watch me, but no one can hear me.

"Ms. Hudson, this is Diane Jackson. I'm the principal of Rollingwood Primary School."

I'd left messages for Rose's teacher, not the principal. She must have passed them up the chain. Still, I go with it, taking my notepad and pen out of my purse as I start to give the principal details about my involvement in the case.

She cuts me off, her voice crisp.

"Rose Barclay was a student here only for a short time. Less than a year. I'm not sure I can be of any help."

My mind snags on the word she used: was.

"My understanding is Rose will return to school," I say. Ian and Beth both told me the homeschooling was temporary; I'm certain of it.

"That is not correct," she tells me. "Rose is no longer a student at Rollingwood. She won't be returning."

"Her parents withdrew her?" I ask.

Silence fills the line. Behind me, the enormous house looms in my rearview mirror.

"Rose was asked to leave. We take violations of our rules very seriously."

It's another enormous lie Ian and Beth conspired to make me believe.

When I first talked to Ian, he acknowledged colluding with Tina. Now he's colluding with his soon-to-be ex-wife. The one he acts like he hates.

My head is spinning. Rose was expelled? "I don't understand."

"I suggest you contact her former school if you're seeking more information."

Rose is only nine. How many schools has she attended in her short life?

I feel a tingle between my shoulder blades, a sixth sense someone is watching me. My hand jerks out and hits the button to make sure my doors are locked.

I whip around and look back in the direction of the house. No one is behind me.

I clear my throat and regain focus. "My job is to get Rose into the best possible environment. That means I need to ask questions that may seem like a violation of her privacy. But the law requires me to do so. I can get a court order to release her records, but it would be simpler for you to tell me. Why was Rose asked to leave?"

She exhales. "Any student bringing a weapon to school faces immediate expulsion."

"A weapon?" I repeat.

"Rose brought a knife to school. Her teacher discovered it in her backpack."

My heart leaps into my throat.

"That's all I can tell you." The principal ends the call.

I think of the way Beth ushered me out of the plastic house during our first meeting. And the grim expression I caught on Ian's face as I studied the vegetable gardens where Rose was supposedly picking tomatoes at the time of Tina's death. Ian and Beth didn't like the idea of me being alone with Rose; I had to negotiate to take her to Lucille's. And Harriet—so warm and welcoming at first—didn't want me anywhere near Rose's bedroom.

The pieces begin to fit together, as Charles promised they would.

This shattered, battling family is united when it comes to the little girl who is obsessed by weapons and who hides a book about a sadistic serial killer beneath her pink comforter.

They are closing ranks around Rose.