Chapter Sixty-Two

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

The symmetrical pattern of Harriet's footsteps sounds alien. There's no tapping of her cane to signal her arrival.

The enormity of her subterfuge is staggering. Harriet faked an injury for years. What was her endgame?

I grip the wooden cane, testing its weight.

"Beth and Ian will see your blood!" I blurt. "You won't be able to clean everything up. They'll know something happened here."

Harriet grimaces. "Why did you have to hit me? You're making it worse for Rose."

"If you touch her—"

"I would never!" Harriet sounds almost indignant. "She's my granddaughter. I think what happened is she threw her book across the room when I told her she needed to stop reading and go to sleep. She didn't mean to hit me in the face with it."

Harriet is twisting and shaping the narrative, manipulating Ian and Beth into fearing the worst about their daughter. She made me fear it, too.

"Where is Rose?" Harriet asks. "She's not in her room. Is she hiding up here?"

"I have no idea."

"I'll find her." Harriet shrugs.

"Why did you pretend to have a limp?" I blurt, hoping to give Rose time to follow my instructions and text the police.

"Have you ever worked a blue-collar job, Stella? Do you know how soul-killing it is to scrub someone else's filthy bathroom and lug a heavy vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs all day, then come home to a lonely dinner in front of the TV? When I had knee surgery and Beth invited me to move in during my recovery, it was like stepping into a dream. Fresh-squeezed orange juice and coffee delivered to me on a tray by the housekeeper every morning. The gardens, the horses, the views. And best of all, the family dinners."

Her voice takes on a yearning quality. "At night Rose would play the piano while the chef whipped up something delicious, and then we'd all sit around the table together. I'd been alone since Ian's father left. I didn't know how worn-out and lonely I was until I came here. And I knew when I recovered from surgery, Beth would send me back to my apartment. So I just… didn't recover."

Harriet takes another step forward. My back is pressed against the wall. There's nowhere to run.

"You knew Ian and Tina were having an affair." I shout this so Rose can hear every word. "You were furious Tina was trying to break up Ian and Beth's marriage because if they got divorced, you'd go back to having nothing! You pushed Tina out that window!"

I want Rose to know that even if her grandmother has tried to convince Rose her reality is false, I see the truth.

"That's where you're wrong," Harriet tells me. "I didn't know Tina was home. She'd said she was going out. I snuck up to her room to do something else, and I heard her on the phone telling her friend she was pregnant. But I already told you I didn't lay a hand on her."

Harriet adjusts the angle of her Taser, aiming it at my chest. "I need you to walk downstairs. I'll be right behind you."

"How can you do this to your granddaughter?" I yell. "You used her to deflect suspicion away from you!"

Harriet's voice breaks as she says, "I know this is a tough time for Rose. I feel terribly about that. But once this is all over, she'll go back to school and she won't need any more medicine. Can't you see why I had to do it? A few short months of Rose's life being upended, versus me spending the rest of my years in a jail cell because of an accident. It wasn't supposed to get this complicated, Stella. We'd almost made it through."

Behind Harriet, the closet door silently glides open.

"What you did to Rose is unforgivable," I fire back at Harriet.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen! I was only trying to make Tina quit!" Tears fill Harriet's eyes. Her voice quavers. "No one was supposed to die! I'm doing everything I can to keep this family together!"

Rose is creeping up behind Harriet, her bare feet silent against the rug.

"What are you going to do to me?" I shout, trying to cover any noise Rose might make. Run downstairs! I silently urge her.

"I can't let you go. Maybe you had a terrible accident while you were here. Beth and Ian could come home to find you on the grounds."

My blood runs cold. "Beth and Ian would never believe it was an accident."

"Yes, they would. And they'll help cover it up if they think Rose inadvertently caused it. They're fiercely loving parents, Stella, and they will do anything to protect their daughter. Once you're out of the picture, we can continue on as a family. Rose will be fine, I won't go to jail, and after a little while, everything will go back to the way it was."

Get away, Rose! I want to scream it, but I can't.

I can no longer help her. I am completely powerless to do anything.

But Rose isn't.

In the next moment, she transforms. Her eyes blaze, and her small, thin body vibrates with palpable rage as she begins to run. She stretches out both arms in front of her and slams into Harriet, pushing in a furious, desperate gesture—exactly the way I used to imagine she pushed Tina through the third-story window.

Harriet stumbles forward, falling heavily to her knees.

The Taser's needlelike prongs shoot past me as the weapon slips out of her hands.

I've got a split second to decide: I can dive for the Taser, but Harriet might reach it first. Or I can get to Rose.

It's not even a choice. I run toward Rose, still holding the cane, yelling, "Downstairs!"

As we scramble to the second level, I gasp out, "Your dad is back by the edge of the property. Look for his bonfire when we get outside!"

If the Taser slams into my back, I'll go down, but at least Rose will have a chance. I've got on my jacket and Rose is wearing only a thin nightgown; I can't let her get hit. She might not survive it.

We've just made it to the dark, shadowy second-floor hallway when I hear Harriet thundering down the attic stairs.

We sprint down the hallway and arc around to the next staircase. I stumble on the first step but catch myself before I crash into Rose.

When we reach the bottom step, I grab Rose's shoulders and steer her toward the kitchen. Ian is only a third of a mile or so away. All we need is a few minutes to make it to him.

We sprint through the kitchen, past the trail of blood coming from the elevator.

I waste precious seconds unlocking the back door as I hear Harriet's heavy footsteps enter the kitchen. It feels like she's almost upon us, the dark current she carries wrapping around us and trying to suck us back into her grasp, when the latch yields and we burst through the door, leaving it open behind us.

The cold, crisp air hits my face like a slap. Rose is like a ghost just ahead of me, flying across the patio in her white nightgown. She crosses the spot belonging to another ghost—the place where Tina's broken body once lay.

Rose must have known what happened all along.

Even if Rose was in the barn when Harriet snuck inside and pushed Tina, she would have heard Tina land on the patio. She must have seen Harriet coming from inside the house.

Rose has been living inside a nightmare.

My lungs are aching; it's hard to take deep breaths. I keep expect ing to feel an electric surge zapping the back of my head; I try to avoid moving in a straight line so I won't be hit.

The crescent moon provides dim light, but Rose's nightgown stands out like a plume of white smoke. Harriet could use it to track us. I search for cover: The raised vegetable beds are too low, but there are big trees a bit farther back as well as full, leafy bushes.

We're much faster than Harriet. We're going to get away.

Then Rose crumples, as abruptly as if someone swept out her legs from beneath her.

I skid to a stop and bend down and see her holding her foot, silent tears streaming down her face. The end of a small twig is buried in her skin, just beneath her toes.

I don't try to pull it out. I just scoop Rose up and feel her arms wrap around my neck. Her cheeks are wet with silent tears.

"I've got you, Rose," I whisper as she leans her head against my shoulder.

My jacket and pants are black, and my hair is dark. Harriet probably can't see me, and now that I'm blocking Rose's nightgown, she'll have to track us by sound alone.

But I'm losing ground. My legs feel heavy and uncoordinated, as if I'm struggling through quicksand. The weight of the child in my arms, my lack of familiarity with the grounds, my limited vision in the darkness—it's all slowing me down.

I hear a crashing sound behind me. Is Harriet getting closer?

"Help!" I scream, hoping the sound carries to Ian.

I stumble on a big rock, nearly falling and dropping Rose. The sickening realization hits me: Harriet may reach us before I reach Ian.

A bit ahead and to my right is a full, squat bush. I veer toward it as quietly as I can and duck behind it, dropping Rose beneath it. "Stay here," I whisper. "I'll come back for you."

I sprint away from the bush, not worrying about staying quiet now. I want to make noise to keep Harriet's attention on me.

I look back and spot Harriet a dozen or so yards behind me. I scream for Ian again, then see what I've been looking for: a thick-trunked tree in the distance.

I don't know if Ian heard me, or how far away he is. He might not even be at the bonfire anymore; he could have changed his mind and gone to a bar.

I can't catch my breath; my lungs are on fire. I dart past the tree, then double back and tuck myself behind it, gasping.

I hear Harriet coming toward me, branches snapping beneath her shoes, her breathing loud and strained.

I lift up the cane like a baseball bat and hold my breath, my lungs struggling for air. I can't give away my location.

My heart frantically pounds. I close my eyes and channel every ounce of concentration I have into tracking the sound of her footsteps. She's maybe ten yards away. Then eight.

I'm desperate for oxygen; my battered body needs it right now. But I can't breathe; she might hear me.

Five yards.

I open my eyes, my lungs screaming.

Then I jump out from behind the tree, swinging the cane in a broad, powerful arc, aiming to connect with her skull.

But I'm a split second too early; the cane doesn't quite reach Harriet.

As the cane whizzes through empty air, Harriet reverses course. Her arms flail in a reverse arc as she thrusts herself backward to avoid the blow.

In that frozen moment, I see an echo of Tina making the same motion.

I finally know exactly how Tina died.

Harriet snuck up to Tina's room when she was certain everyone in the house was occupied and Rose was with the horses. She was planning to do something to unnerve Tina as part of her campaign to get Tina to move out. Instead, she overheard Tina telling Ashley about the pregnancy.

Harriet lost control; Tina was about to destroy the family. Harriet lifted her cane, making some small noise that alerted Tina—or maybe Tina sensed the energy shifting behind her, turning threatening. When Tina spun around to see Harriet swinging, Tina leapt backward to avoid the stinging blow, not thinking about the thin old window directly behind her.

Harriet didn't intend to kill Tina—but she's right, who would have believed her?

"Ian, help!" I scream again.

I hear Ian's voice in the distance, shouting something.

"Harriet has a Taser!" I yell. "She killed Tina! Call the police!"

I don't wait to see what he does. I veer to my left and reverse course, zagging through the trees. My strength is coming back now, my feet light and nearly soundless as my eyes sweep the landscape, searching for the bush that hides Rose.

I see a wispy white beacon in the darkness, almost as if the moon has beamed down a glowing circle to guide me. It's Rose, huddled in a shivering ball, her face streaked with tears.

I scoop her up as if she weighs no more than a feather.

I say the words I yearned to hear when I was a child. The best words I could ever utter to her. "You're safe."