Beach Thriller(109)
Anna used a knife to cut open one of the chocolates. Besides the creamy filling, out spilled a viscous opaque goo. She dropped the blade. When she bent to retrieve it, something shiny caught her eye. A glass vial. The guesthouse wasn’t perfectly level, and the small glass container had rolled into a corner of the room. The label was full of small print, mostly indecipherable, but one word stood out to her: Lypotrel.
Anna didn’t know what Lypotrel was, but she was certain that it must be deadly. She was equally certain the poisoned chocolates had not been intended for Krystal, but for her. Had Conrad lured her here, deciding he’d had enough of her and she’d become inconvenient? Or perhaps Elizabeth, in a jealous rage, had orchestrated this entire scenario, planning to rid herself of Anna once and for all.
Regardless of which Carmichael had done this, Anna knew her life was in danger.
Panicked, she raced back down the long road, leaving Krystal’s body untouched, the vial of Lypotrel back where she found it.
Breathless, she reached the beach cottage and snuck inside quietly, waking her mother with urgency. Her face streaked with tears, she told Carol, a nurse, what she had found. They left the house in a rush, Holly, sleeping peacefully, unaware they’d departed, Anna filling her mother in on the details as they raced back to the Miramar. No secrets went untold.
When they arrived at the guesthouse, Carol Sinclair showed little reaction. She had worked in emergency rooms for years and had seen the results of horrible illnesses, accidents, and even violence. Her professionalism kicked into gear, but her grim expression conveyed her dispiriting conclusion.
“We need to call the police,” Anna said, but her mother shook her head.
“Someone in this family wants you dead,” Carol said. “If they don’t kill you, they’ll certainly frame you for this girl’s murder. Your prints are all over this place, I’m sure.”
Anna was stunned. “But I don’t have a motive.”
“Isn’t this the same girl who was stealing from the Carmichaels? And you took the fall for it?”
“That’s hardly a motive for murder,” Anna said, horrified.
“It doesn’t matter how probable a motive is—it just needs to be possible—and with the Carmichaels’ money, their power, it will be enough. This was cold, calculating murder. They won’t stop until they get you. They’ll either send you to jail or finish the job—silencing you for good.”
“But what are we going to do?” asked Anna.
Carol thought quickly.
“Will you trust me?” Carol said, gazing deeply into her daughter’s eyes. Her voice was confident and calm. “You need to do exactly as I tell you. It won’t be easy. It will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. But you’ll be safe—I promise.”
Anna didn’t hesitate. “I’ll do anything.”
Carol gave her daughter’s hands a firm squeeze. “Take off your clothes.”
Epilogue
Jade
The following summer
Bright sunshine fills the newly constructed patio in the back of the beach cottage. Holly, Anna, Chester, and I have all been living here for the past year. We winterized the screened-in porch and used it as an extra bedroom. Gail’s vision for an outside living space was pretty awesome. Ethan did the construction himself—leveling the ground, laying the brick, doing all the edging and plantings. I helped a little. I would have done it for free, but Ethan insisted on paying me.
“Mom, if you’re going to the kitchen, could you bring us some lemonade?” I ask.
I’m sitting under the umbrella at a big picnic table with Ethan’s daughter, Scarlet, who is the cutest nine-year-old on the planet. Fine, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but she’s full-on adorable, with her big ponytail, cherubic face, and expressive blue eyes. We have drawing paper and colored pencils. Scarlet loves animals and she’s been sketching Chester, who’s become her shadow.
Anna, passing by with an empty platter she used to bring Ethan burgers and hot dogs for grilling, gives me a surprised smile. Her eyes well with emotion.
“What?” I ask. “We’re thirsty.”
“That’s the first time you’ve called me Mom.” Her voice catches.
My smile slips out. I shrug, but inside, I’m melting. “Do you like the sound of it? Should I try it out some more? Mom, could you get me a hot dog, too?”
Scarlet joins in. Her voice is tiny but bright. “Mom, could I have one, too?”
We all laugh.
“Could you both say please?” Anna says, her face glowing. She rests her hand gently on my shoulder.
My heart swells at her touch. I often think about what she went through—giving birth to me up in the attic, the same attic that became my hideaway many years later. My grandmother, Carol, acted as her midwife. Carol used her job as a traveling nurse to move between her house—where she and Holly lived—and the beach cottage, secretly caring for her pregnant daughter. And then saying goodbye to me for what she assumed was forever.
After I was born, Grandma Carol took me to the fire station in a nearby town and left me in a Safe Haven baby box like I was a package for UPS. Her only request was that they pass on the necklace Conrad had given my mother as a keepsake, and that whoever adopted me kept my birth name, Jade. My adoptive parents couldn’t even do that right. They gave me the name, but not the necklace.