Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Driven by the need to protect it for Bea’s sake, I plucked up the doll before anyone else could move, said, “I’ll take care of it.” I glanced at the others. “We should let Darcie and Ash be alone now.”
No one argued, and I pulled the door shut behind us after we were all out.
“What are you going to do with that?” Vansi whispered from a safe distance away. “I love you, babes—enough that I’m willing to walk at least ten meters behind you while you go and throw that cursed object into the river. Or better yet into the fire.”
“We are not throwing away Bea’s doll,” Aaron whispered, low and fierce, the muscles of his chest rigid beneath skin the shade of ebony. “She loved that thing.”
“I’m with Aaron,” I said. “And Creepy Bea never bothered me like it did you, V. I’ll hang on to her tonight and we can sort it out tomorrow.” I tucked the doll gently against my side. “Darcie will probably want it.” Much as it pained me, I couldn’t just keep it. “You know how unstable she is in a crisis.”
Kaea shoved a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Remember how she used to cry about having nowhere to go to mourn her sister because Bea wasn’t buried anywhere.”
I’d honestly wanted to slap her during those breakdowns, even as I felt for her. Mother, father, sister, all dead. No wonder Darcie had gone a little mad. I could understand that, even hurt for her, and still hate her for depriving us all of one last glimpse of our Bea.
“But how did the doll get on the bed?” Grace said, chewing on her plump lower lip. “Or is there something I’m not understanding? Is Darcie . . . ?” She made a worried face.
“You mean, did Darcie orchestrate the whole thing?” Vansi frowned, while Phoenix looked at Grace with a little too much intensity for a married man. “Look, I’m not blind to her faults—girlfriend’s got an ego bigger than Mount Everest—but Bea’s death shattered her.”
Though I agreed with Vansi, I also couldn’t forget what Ash had said about Darcie’s belief that Bea was haunting her. Was it possible she’d become unhinged enough to bring out the doll from wherever she’d hidden it, then not remember what she’d done?
“I think,” Aaron said, one hand on Grace’s shoulder, “right now, we’re all too emotional to be rational. We’ll talk about it more tomorrow.
“It might be as simple as that Beatrice came down here when she took off, and left the doll behind on purpose,” he added. “Could be one of the cleaners found it and thought it would be cute to put on the bed. I mean, if you don’t know who the doll looks like, it’s just an unusual piece of art.”
My shoulders melted, the burning sensation in my gut subsiding. “Of course,” I said, relieved that we weren’t going to have to deal with a psychotic break. “Darcie didn’t say that she put it into the casket. I just assumed. What she said was that Bea had it with her.”
Kaea was nodding, too. “It makes sense that Bea would’ve come out here if she wanted to get lost without being lost, if you know what I mean? A place no one could kick her out of, but that she knew really well.”
I swallowed hard. “Do you think that’s the reason Darcie would never tell us where Bea died? Because it was here?”
No movement, all of us frozen.
“No,” Vansi said firmly, her cheekbones pressing hard against her skin. “I am not going to go to sleep in this monstrosity of a castle with that thought in my head. I’m going to go light a fire in our hearth, eat chocolate, bathe, and read a fucking beach novel.”
“It’s not a castle,” Phoenix murmured, his attention no longer on Grace. “But I can pretend to be a dark knight chasing you through the halls if you like.”
It had been a long time since I’d heard Nix crack a joke. His words snapped the frigid tension and made Vansi lean into him as they turned to walk back to their room. Aaron and Grace did the same, Aaron’s arm around Grace’s shoulders.
Poor Grace. She definitely hadn’t signed on for this.
Kaea spoke up, stopping the others. “If you want a fire,” he said, “the logs are stacked beside the living room fireplace. I’m not schlepping them up for you. According to Ash, the rooms are already kitted out with a full fire-starting set. Just add logs. Oh, and picnic leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry.”
“Oooh.” Grace rose up on her toes and beamed at Aaron. “We should definitely have a fire. Shall we go grab the logs now?”
At Aaron’s nod, the two of them changed direction. “Careful, darling!” Grace clamped a hand around Aaron’s forearm when he almost slid on the old Persian-style runner laid out along the wood of the hallway.