“And she said?” I laid my hand on Nora’s arm and felt the tension in her muscles.
“She said I couldn’t be afraid of water and I’d have to get him myself.”
“And then?”
“I wanted her to come with me while I got him, but she said no.”
“So you got Bunny yourself? Where was he?”
“On the dock. He was all the way at the end. I had to go all the way to the end.”
I could hear the fear rising in her voice.
“It’s okay. We’re just remembering now. It’s not happening now. Did you pick up Bunny?”
“Yes.”
“Were you alone?”
“No.”
I held my breath.
“Sondra was in the water,” Nora said. “When I picked him up, I saw her floating in the water.”
I sagged back against the wall. My mother had fallen in before Nora arrived.
“I killed her.”
“You killed her!” I exclaimed, then softened my voice.
“Did you push her? I thought she was already in the water.”
“I didn’t get her out. Holly said I should have pulled her out.
Holly said I knew how to swim. I killed Sondra when I didn’t pull her out. But I was too afraid. I knew I should go in, but the water was dark and scary. I thought the river wanted me, too. I rang the bell.”
“Nora, listen to me. You didn’t kill my mother. It wasn’t your fault. You rang the bell. That was a good thing to do.”
Clutching her legs, pressing her forehead against her knees, Nora rocked herself. “Holly said she wouldn’t tell anyone I killed Sondra if I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone I saw her outside. It’s a secret, she said, don’t tell.”
I bit my lip, bit back my anger at Holly. She could be innocent, I argued with myself; she could have been nothing more than scared. She was only eleven at the time. Perhaps she had set up Nora in case she herself were falsely accused, guilty of nothing more than looking out for herself at the expense of someone else. But she had used Nora cruelly, and today she had hit her, left her, and lied to Aunt Jule and me — at least to me.
Nora began to cry. “Holly said you were coming back to Wisteria because you were angry about your mother’s death. She told me not to talk to you and said that you would hurt me if you knew.”
“She was wrong. I’m not going to hurt you, Nora.”
Nora sobbed loudly.
“And you must believe me — you didn’t kill my mother.”
The sobs grew uncontrollable.
“You didn’t. I swear to you!”
Were Frank and Holly working together? What about Nick? I shrank from the thought that he was involved, but he was Frank’s nephew and Holly’s boyfriend, the link between them.
“Nora, why would Frank lock me in here? Do you know?”
Her sobbing grew less as she thought. “To help me?” she guessed.
I doubted it. What puzzled me was the fact that Frank didn’t disguise his effort to trap me. No one would believe what crazy Nora might say, but why wouldn’t Frank worry about an accusation by me?
The answer stopped my breath, shrank my stomach into a cold, hard rock. He wouldn’t worry if I were dead. He planned to kill me.
He — or they — were setting up Nora, beginning to work on her mentally by trapping us together. My death would be hung around her neck. It wouldn’t be hard; she had shown herself confused enough to accept the guilt for my mother’s.
I pulled away slowly from Nora. “I have to get us out of here. I’m going to look for a tool.”
I walked all the way around the boathouse, feeling for something I could use to smash the hinges of the door. The place had been stripped clean.
“Okay, Nora, I’m on the other side now. Don’t get scared.
I’m going to scream for help.”
I shouted till I tasted blood in my throat. It was useless.
Who would come — Aunt Jule? She couldn’t hear from the house. Besides, she could be part of the plan.
She’d have to be if my inheritance were the goal, and that was the only motivation for murder that I could imagine.
Frank, as lawyer and executor of the estate, would be able to process the will as quickly as possible, using his local clout to pull strings if necessary. But Aunt Jule was the designated heir, so there would have to be some agreement between them. As for the tension between my godmother and Frank, partners can quarrel, especially when the stakes are high.
I heard movement outside. I screamed again. Nora started shrieking with me. I hurried around the walkway to her. There was barking.
“Rocky!” I shouted. “Rocky, get help.”
Rocky, get help? What did I think he would do — run off like a dog in a Disney movie and fetch the police? I started laughing and crying at the same time, getting hysterical.
I heard noises at the back wall of the building, Rocky barking, Frank telling him to keep quiet. The noise stopped.
I heard Frank leave, his voice fading as he called the dog.
I removed my shoes. “Nora, there’s only one way out of here, under the doors to the river. I’m going to swim under and go for help.”
I put my feet over the side of the walkway, then rolled on my stomach so I could slide into the black water.