Swim Deep - Page 65

He waved uneasily to his right. I realized I couldn’t see what he was referring to, and opened the door wider.

There, standing on the stone pavers of the circular drive, was the old, demented woman. She stood several paces away from the steps, her manner extremely wary. I was glad to see her. I knew it was unusual for her to come so close to the house or to other people.

“Good morning. Are you out walking?” I asked her warmly. “Are you hungry at all? Would you like some breakfast?”

She didn’t reply. I had the impression she’d bolt at the slightest move. She just stared at me with those filmed-over blue eyes I recalled so well. Today she wore a faded flower print dress, which hung on her loosely and was slipping off one bony shoulder. Beneath the dress I spotted a grayish tank top that had once been white.

“Have you two met?” Wes asked, looking surprised.

“Yes. We ran into each other up at the overlook a few weeks ago,” I said, speaking directly to the old woman. “But I didn’t ever find out your name.”

I noticed Wes give Valeria an uneasy glance.

“Anna, this is Lorraine Madaster,” Wes said.

I started.

“No. No, that’s not right,” I insisted.

“Wait… are you sure?” I asked Wes when I saw his blank incredulity. He’d clearly been taken aback by my flat denial of what he’d said.

“Yes, I’m quite certain,” Wes said with an awkward little laugh. “I’ve been her physician on and off for seven years.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that Evan said—”

“Worthless piece of shit,” the old woman hissed.

While all three of us stared at her in open-mouthed surprise, she turned in her dirty high tops and stalked away in the direction of the road. Her stride was much steadier than it had been that day on the overlook.

Had she been talking about Wes or Evan?

Before I could elaborate on the thought, or think of anything reasonable to say to call her back, she disappeared around the bend in the road.

“Anna? Are you all right?”

I blinked, focusing on Valeria.

“I guess. When I met her before, Evan told me she was—”

A harmless demented woman who lived down the coast a ways, and who occasionally wandered onto the property.

“How long as she been like that?” I asked Wes.

He shrugged. “Ten years? It started around then, anyway, and has gotten progressively worse every year. Early onset Alzheimer’s.”

A roaring sound like a muffled high wind had started up in my ears. Ten years? Evan must have known who she was when I described her to him. He’d lived here at Les Jumeaux when she’d first been diagnosed.

Of course he’d known.

Which meant that he’d known the Madasters were living in the South Twin all along. He must have known when we came there.

Evan had been lying to me all this time. But why?

The only answer I got to that question was a black, enigmatic coldness. It was that same void I saw in Evan’s eyes sometimes.

My heart gave an uncomfortable jump in my chest. I put my hand over it, pressing down as if trying to keep it in place.

“Valeria? Do you think you could drive me somewhere this morning?” I asked. I saw her and Wes exchange another uneasy glance.

Tags: Beth Kery Romance
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