I have seen the way you look at him, while you two were up at the overlook. I saw my daughter look at him in much the same way. I know, more than anyone, the effect Evan Halifax can have. He poisoned my Elizabeth against me. Sadly, I know he’s likely been doing the same to you. His web around you is thick, but I hope not impenetrable.
I realize that you must be in very much pain right now, learning what you have about your marriage. But I beg of you. Don’t leave Les Jumeaux without coming to see me, as soon as possible, in the South Twin. Come today, if possible.
You have only learned half of the truth, Anna. As an artist, you’re struggling to see the whole landscape. But Evan can’t give it to you. I can. I have discovered something that is of vital importance to both of us.
Come quickly.
Noah Madaster
I sat still for a stretched moment after finishing the letter, staring off into space. Who had told Noah that I’d found out I looked like Elizabeth Madaster? Wes via Valeria? The librarian, possibly? The librarian had seemed to know Elizabeth well. For all I knew, she also was an acquaintance of Noah’s as well, and had called him to tell her story about my visit at the library.
I didn’t trust Noah Madaster. I couldn’t trust much of anything associated with Evan and Les Jumeaux at that point. But my distrust of Madaster didn’t come from Evan. Not entirely, anyway. It came from the feeling of his gaze on me, when I’d been up at the overlook. It came from the vision of his bloody fist of rage.
(He’s dangerous. He’s a cancer. Never underestimate him. But you have to face him.)
It was my voice in my head… but it wasn’t. Some note in it was off, familiar and yet different, somehow. I didn’t have the energy to puzzle it out at that moment.
I got up and went over to the pile of clothing Evan had brought in for me. I secreted the letter between a couple T-shirts.
As an artist, you’re struggling to see the whole landscape. But Evan can’t give it to you. I can.
Evan had said that Madaster was subtle in his manipulations. I wasn’t kidding myself. I recognized the cleverness of his mentioning my art to convince me to his cause. Somehow, he’d intuited the exact language to sway me. Both Evan and he had targeted that vulnerability in me.
Ever since Evan had singled me out on that dating site, I’d felt as if my senses were only half operating. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite focus on the truth. Before yesterday, part of my refusal to see reality had been my own denial. Some psychological reflex had kicked in, willing me to see only the fantasy of my picture-perfect marriage to Evan versus reality.
But now the stage and the sets had been ripped down. The horror and pain of seeing the truth had happened right in front of my eyes. I wouldn’t flinch from that pain anymore. I wanted to see the entire picture.
No matter how ugly that portrait was.
When I opened the bedroom door, I did so silently. I crept down the hallway, wincing at the slightest squeak on the
wood floors.
Evan would go ballistic if he knew I planned to visit South Twin.
I don’t know what I expected when I lifted the heavy wrought iron knocker on the South Twin’s front door. But it wasn’t that Lorraine Madaster would be the one to respond. It seemed strange, to see her within the confines of a house.
She looked afraid when she saw me standing there, her filmy blue eyes sprung wide.
“It’s okay, Lorraine. It’s just me, Anna. From next door.”
“You should go.” Her voice sounded hoarse, like she didn’t use it much.
I started when she reached and pushed me back on the shoulders—hard. I lost my balance.
A shout that was almost a roar emanated from above us. I regained my footing only to see Lorraine freeze in the process of shutting the door in my face.
“Let her in, you imbecile. Don’t you dare touch her again!”
Lorraine now looked terrified. Regret swamped me. I rushed forward and touched her upper arm, stroking her to try and soothe her.
“It’s okay, Lorraine,” I whispered. “Please don’t be afraid. I just came over for a quick chat with him.”
“I was weak. I’m sorry.” Her ragged, broken whisper was unlike anything I’d heard from her while she rambled about in the outside world, wild and a little fierce. In here—in the South Twin—she was cowering and helpless. A prisoner. A feeling of profound sadness went through me. I knew instinctively she was seeing Elizabeth when she looked at me.
I squeezed her shoulder softly, my pity amplifying at the realization of how bony and thin she was. I needed to do a lot better than a sandwich a day.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing.” The desolation on her face didn’t ease.