Present Day
I was dreading my meeting with Kat.
After everything that had happened since Howard’s death and all that I had learned about her, I didn’t know what to expect. Would she be the same Kat who’d been my best friend for the past three years, or would I be meeting a virtual stranger? This thought unsettled me for most of the morning. But I had to go. I needed to find out what was going on.
I also wasn’t crazy about the idea of meeting at the Jupiter Lighthouse, a popular local tourist destination. I’d visited the lighthouse once before, chaperoning Liam’s class on a school field trip. It was a long climb to the top, and once you made it, you were rewarded with a scenic view of the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. But the lighthouse would be closed at nine o’clock at night, so we would be trespassing if we met there. I’d already been arrested once that week and wasn’t eager to repeat the experience.
I finally decided that my best course of action would be to go early, while the lighthouse was still open to visitors. I’d buy a ticket for the tour, then try to find a spot where I could hide and wait for Kat to arrive. I was probably being overly cautious, but something about this meeting was making me edgy. I needed to be prepared for whatever might happen.
There were still a few problems I had to solve beforehand. And for that, I’d need Ebbie’s help.
I found my mother in the kitchen, sitting at the table, working on a sudoku puzzle. This was a sight so shocking, I stopped abruptly and stared at her.
Ebbie looked up, peering at me over the top of tortoiseshell readers. “What?”
“You’re working on a puzzle?”
“And why is that such a surprise?”
“Because you hate puzzles. You’ve told me that for years. Pretty much every time I’ve talked about my career in your presence.”
“No, I haven’t,” Ebbie replied.
“Yes, you have. When I told you that I was writing a series of books of logic puzzles for tweens, you scoffed.”
“I never scoff at anything. I’m open to all of life’s many experiences.” Ebbie took off her glasses, letting them hang down around her neck, secured by a chain.
“Your exact words were ‘I don’t know how you can do that. I hate puzzles. My brain doesn’t work that way.’”
“I never said that.”
I could feel my inner fifteen-year-old rising to this bait. Ebbie had said that, almost verbatim, and it was annoying listening to her pretend she hadn’t. She’d always thought if she simply denied saying or doing something, that would magically make it true. I took several deep breaths and fought down my irritation. I had larger issues than a narcissistic mother to deal with at the moment.
“Do you know what your problem is?” Ebbie asked. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.
“Living under a cloud of suspicion? The threat of spending the rest of my life in prison for a crime I didn’t commit?”
My mother ignored my sarcasm. “You’re far too rigid. You always have been, even when you were little. You don’t allow people to change and grow.”
I poured a cup of coffee from the carafe and sat down across the table from my mother.
“Is that what this is?” I asked. “Changing and growing through sudoku puzzles?”
“Maybe,” Ebbie said.
I sipped my coffee. It tasted slightly scorched. “I need your help. I have to go somewhere this afternoon. I’ll be gone for a while. And I don’t want Todd to know where I am.”
“That sounds very mysterious. How can I help?”
“The first problem is getting past the reporters outside. If I drive myself, they’ll follow me.”
“I’ll drive you,” Ebbie offered. “They won’t follow me.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Oh, I know how to deal with them. Leave it to me. You can hide in the back seat. We’ll find a way to camouflage you.”
“Okay.” I was pleasantly surprised at Ebbie’s sudden burst of helpfulness. “If you think that will work.”
“I’m sure it will.”
“Now I just need to figure out what to do about Todd.”
“Why don’t you want him to know where you’re going?”
I smiled ruefully. “Because he wouldn’t approve and would probably try to stop me.”
Ebbie nodded. “I’ll think of something to tell him.”
“Like what?”
“I’ll say we’re going to the grocery store,” Ebbie suggested.
“And when I don’t return home for six hours?”
“You’re going to be gone that long?”
I nodded.
“Well, he probably won’t buy that you spent so long buying groceries. I’ll try to come up with something else. I wonder if he’d believe me if I told him you were at a meditation center, processing your feelings about the arrest,” Ebbie said. “Probably not.”
“Probably not,” I agreed. I reached out and rested my hand on her arm. “Thank you.”
Ebbie patted my hand and smiled. “Anytime you need to sneak away for a secret assignation, I’m here to help.”
* * *
I’d never been on a stakeout before, but I assumed there would be two major challenges—not being seen and overcoming the boredom. I dressed for comfort—leggings, a long-sleeve sweat-wicking shirt, running shoes—and pulled my hair back in a low ponytail. My picture had been on the front page of the Palm Beach Post that morning, so there was a risk someone might recognize me. I decided to wear a baseball hat and a pair of large sunglasses and hoped they would be enough to conceal my identity.
Next I loaded a backpack with bottled water, granola bars, bananas and a paperback novel I’d been meaning to read for a while. I also brought my wallet, my cell phone—the volume muted—and, just in case, a can of pepper spray.
One piece of good luck was that Todd decided to go into his office after lunch. He hadn’t been there since he first found out about my arrest, and he had to pick up the partially completed blueprints for a house he’d been hired to design.
“You don’t mind, do you?” he asked before he left.
“No, of course not.”
“I won’t be too long,” he promised. “I’ll work here.”
And I won’t be here when you get back, I thought. I knew Todd would be upset when he returned home and found me gone. I hated to cause him additional stress and worry after everything we’d been through over the past few days. But there was nothing I could do about that now.
* * *
I read on the Jupiter Lighthouse website that the last tour of the day was at four o’clock, so I asked Ebbie to drive me over there at three thirty. I brought a throw blanket from the living room out to the garage, and after I lay down in the back of my Volvo station wagon, Ebbie arranged it over me.
“Well?” I asked.
“As long as you stay still, I think it will work,” Ebbie said. “Are you comfortable?”
“Not really.”
“You’ll have to stay back here only a few minutes, just until we get past the reporters.”
Ebbie closed the tailgate, and a minute later I heard her open the driver’s-side door.
“Are you ready?” she called back to me, starting the car.
“I guess.”
“What?” Ebbie asked. “I can’t hear you.”
I yanked the blanket off my face and said, “Let’s go.”
Ebbie opened the garage door, and I pulled the blanket back over my face. I could feel the car back down the driveway, followed by the shouts of the reporters. One or two of them were brazen enough to pound on the car. I was shocked to hear Ebbie roll down the automatic window.
What the hell is she doing? I wondered.
The reporters were thrilled at the interaction. I could hear them swarm toward the car, shouting out questions, and the sound of camera shutters whirring. I held my breath and tried to keep my body as still as possible.
“Hello,” Ebbie said in her friendliest voice. “How are you all doing today?”
If the reporters were put off by this unusually friendly response to their swarming, they quickly bounced back. They began shouting questions at Ebbie.
“Why did your daughter kill Howard Grant?”
“What is your reaction to the rumor that Katherine Grant paid Alice Campbell to execute her husband?”
“Is it true that Alice Campbell is on a suicide watch?”
This last question startled me.
Suicide watch? I wondered. Where’d they get that?
But Ebbie just chuckled, as though the reporters were delightful scamps.
“All of you have far too much negative energy. I’m going to the grocery store, and while I’m there, I’m going to buy some sage. When I get back, I’ll do a cleansing ritual on all of your news trucks,” Ebbie said. I couldn’t see what their reaction was, but from the silence, I thought they were probably momentarily stunned, as Ebbie added, “Free of charge.”
“Thank you, ma’am, but that’s really not necessary,” one of the reporters said in a faltering tone.
“Don’t be silly. I insist,” Ebbie said. “Sage cleansing ceremonies are wonderful for clearing bad energy out of spaces and bringing us all closer to the Goddess of Earth.”
This seemed to result in more stunned silence. Then one of the braver reporters said, “Where are you going?”
“Publix,” Ebbie said. “Do you want to come along? I can show you all of the herbs I need to buy, and I’ll explain how they’re used in various rituals. No? Suit yourself. I’ll see you all when I get back. Bye!”
I felt the car move forward and heard the sound of Ebbie’s automatic window whirring back up.
“All clear,” Ebbie called out a few minutes later. “No one followed us.”
I pulled the blanket off me and sat up. “You were taking an awfully big risk there.”
“Inviting them to come watch me buy herbs?” Ebbie laughed. “No, I wasn’t. The last thing any of them would ever want to do is hang out with an old hippie who wants to teach them about herbal cleanses.”
“Do you really know how to cleanse negative energy?”
“No idea,” Ebbie said. “I made it up. I’m surprised they bought it.”
I shook my head but smiled. My mother was still capable of surprising me.
* * *
Hunched low in the back seat, I directed Ebbie to the lighthouse. She pulled into the visitors’ lot, which was half-full.
“Here?” Ebbie asked. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” I said. “The person I’m meeting will be by the lighthouse, but not until nine.”
“Why do you need to be here so early?”
“An abundance of caution,” I said. “You don’t mind making dinner for the kids?”
“Not at all.”
“Great, thank you. There’s pasta and a jar of sauce in the pantry. And you’ll come back to get me later?”
“Yes, what time?”
“I’ll text you.” It occurred to me that I had never received a text from my mother. I wasn’t entirely sure she understood how to send one. “Do you know how to text?”
“Don’t be so condescending,” Ebbie retorted.
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes, I know how to text. What time should I plan on?”
“Probably nine thirty, maybe even ten.” I hesitated. “What are you going to tell Todd?”
“I thought I’d tell him you were having cabin fever, so you decided to go to the movies,” Ebbie said. “Will he buy that?”
“Probably not, but it’s as good an excuse as any. And far more believable than telling him I’m hanging out at a meditation center.” I picked up my backpack and reached for the door handle.
“I don’t know what you’re doing or who you’re meeting, but, Alice...please be careful.”
“I will,” I promised.
Ebbie nodded. I could tell she was reluctant to leave me, and to be honest, I wasn’t thrilled at being left there for the next six hours. I didn’t know what to expect, and not knowing unnerved me. But I had to speak with Kat, and this might be my only chance.
“I’ll be fine.” I opened the back passenger door. “Don’t worry about me.”
“There’s no such thing as a mother not worrying,” Ebbie replied. “I would have thought you’d have figured that out by now.”