Ilifted my hand to my chest, my finger touching the aquamarine pendant hidden below the fine gray wool of my sweater.
Bea’s birthstone.
And her first gift from Ash. She’d had a habit of taking it off when she showered, but otherwise, it was around her neck. It would’ve made sense if I’d found it in the bathroom—but I hadn’t. I’d located it in a lime-green handbag stuffed in the back of Darcie’s closet.
Only Bea could’ve pulled off a handbag of that shade—and she had.
Live a little, Nae-nae. I dare you to choose any color but black, brown, or gray.
She was the only one who’d ever called me Nae-nae, as I’d called her Bee-bee. Silly girlhood nicknames that we’d allowed only each other. Hugging the handbag close in that house empty of the person who’d filled it with life, I’d sobbed, knowing the bag for what it was: part of Bea’s property.
Returned to Darcie on Bea’s suicide.
It had still contained the faint smell of summer sunshine and peach blossoms. Bea’s signature scent. She’d happily worn inexpensive jewelry and carried fun but low-priced handbags, but she’d refused to wear any scent but the luxury one she’d first been given by her mother.
Later, after I’d recovered from my shock and the last lingering notes of her scent were only a memory, I’d searched inside and found her wallet—complete with her driver’s license, credit cards, all of it. Also in the handbag had been a crisp white envelope, within it this necklace as well as a couple of pretty dress rings.
I’d taken the necklace.
I’d planned to steal her phone and journal, too. So many hours I’d spent reading while she wrote in the journal beside me. I hadn’t wanted her secrets—I’d already known them. No, I’d wanted them out of Darcie’s hands.
But I’d never found either.
Perhaps she’d given away or destroyed those items in her suicidal state, but one thing I knew—the necklace should’ve never been in the handbag. Darcie should’ve at least given Bea that when she died, cremating her with this treasured token of Ash’s love.
I’d taken it without any sense of guilt.
I felt none to this day.
It gave me a feral pleasure that Darcie couldn’t steal this from Bea.
Ash’s eyes went to the bed, his skin paling and a tic in his jaw. “It’s a fucking awful joke. I don’t care which one of you the fuck did it. Just get rid of the thing.”
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.
“Oops.” A kiss pressed to Grace’s cheek before the two continued on downstairs.
Vansi and Nix, however, kept on walking toward their room and from the way they were whispering to each other, there’d be another kind of fire burning in that room soon.
Well, at least Vansi’s marriage issues seemed to be working out.
“ ’Night, Kaea,” I said, the thought of Beatrice dying in this cold and dark place stuck in my head like a tiny stone in a shoe.
But he fell into step with me. “I think my room’s along here. Nix took my bag to put into my room when I volunteered to help Ash grab more logs from the barn.” But when he tried each of the doors in turn, one proved locked, the second a toilet, and the third an empty shell.
“Has to be that one.” I pointed out the room opposite Vansi and Phoenix’s. “It’s the only one left.”
Hands on his hips, he frowned. “You don’t mind being out here by yourself? You’re on the far end of the hall. You can bunk with me if you want.”
“You forget—I’ve heard you snore.” We’d shared many a tent during our student days when we’d hired a van and driven out to the bush for a budget vacation. Hiking, swimming in the water holes along the way, cheap beers with equally cheap sausages.
Some of the best memories of my life.
“And I’ve heard you snuffle,” he murmured darkly. “Snuffle snuffle, snort snort, snuffle snuffle, then a weirdo little giggle.”
Laughing, I shoved at his chest with one hand. The worst of it was that he was right. I did make odd noises in my sleep. One boyfriend had taped me and played it back. I’d been mortified, but he’d told me I sounded cute and if I’d ever been meant to be in a relationship it would’ve been with him. But he’d deserved to be loved—and I’d only loved one person that way my entire life.
“Go to bed,” I said to Kaea.
“Want me to grab a couple of logs for you?” He frowned. “Don’t tell the others. I’m only doing this because you’re all by yourself at the end of a dark and badly lit horror hallway.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t strain your chivalry muscles. I’ll probably go down to make myself a cup of tea anyway. I’ll grab a couple of small logs then. Enough to warm up the room before I fall asleep.”
Kaea gave me a small salute before backing off and heading toward his room.
I waited at the doorway to mine until he looked into his, then gave a thumbs-up to indicate it held his bag. Waving good night, I walked in and shut the door quietly behind myself.
Then I looked at the doll in my hand.
The doll that hadn’t been with Bea’s belongings.