Rose sat opposite Annie in a chair, next to a room-service table covered with the remains of roasted chicken. The aroma of rosemary filled the small hotel room, and its window overlooked the lights of Philadelphia and the Delaware River, black and thick as a python. She’d told Annie all about Thomas Pelal, bringing them both to tears, then caught her up on everything else, including Mojo’s mansion.
“Well, well, well.” Annie scratched her head, her blunt fingernails disappearing in her little corkscrews. “This Mojo guy is wack. He needs a gun, for what? To protect copper piping?”
“I know.” Rose hugged her knees to her chest, finally feeling validated. “So I’m not nuts?”
“No, I think he’s fishy, too, and it worries me, for your safety.” Annie shifted in the patterned chair, tugging the hem of a white sundress over her sleek legs. Her feet were bare, her toenails bright red. “I get that you don’t have enough evidence to go to the State Police with, but why don’t you hire a private detective? That would be safer.”
“I’d have to find one, and right now, I feel like I know what I’m doing and I want to do it myself. I want to get to the bottom of it, and somehow I think I’m the only one who can.”
“What if something else is going on, with you?” Annie pursed her lips. “What if you’re feeling so guilty about Amanda that you’re trying to find some nefarious cause of the fire, so nobody thinks it’s your fault?”
“No, I wish the town didn’t hate me, but that’s not it. It’s not about me, Amanda, or even Melly.”
“Are you trying to make up for what happened that night, with Thomas Pelal?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about him, Rose?” Annie cocked her head, her tone gentle. “I wouldn’t have judged you. It could have happened to anybody.”
“I was ashamed, embarrassed. It’s horrifying.” Rose ran her fingers through her hair. “But I finally let him go. I’ll always mourn him, but that’s something different.”
“I get that.” Annie tilted her heard backwards, appraising Rose with calm, dark eyes. “You know, I see a change in you. You’re digging in. Trying to get to what’s really going on.”
“Instead of running away?”
“Yes.” Annie smiled softly. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks,” Rose said, touched.
“The only problem is, I’m also worried.” Annie pursed her lips. “These dudes don’t play. I don’t like you spying on them, and they won’t either.”
“I know.” Rose had been starting to worry, too. She was a mother, and the sight of Mojo’s gun stuck in her mind.
Annie brightened. “I have an idea. You’re staying the night here, aren’t you? I have the extra bed.”
“I’d like to, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to go home to Reesburgh. I’m kind of betwixt and between.” Rose knew what the real problem was. “I hate when Leo and I are in a fight.”
“I feel you.” Annie shook her head, with a smile. “Look at us. Wild girls turned wives.”
“I know, right?” Rose thought ahead to seeing Leo, not knowing how that would work, then getting Melly back to school, and not knowing how that would work, either. “All of a sudden, I don’t fit into my old life.”
“You never did, girl. Now, you finally have a chance. Make a life that fits you. Leo will come around. It’s a rough patch, is all. That’s marriage.”
“We’ll see.” Rose knew it was more complicated than that. “We have to change a few things, both of us.”
“That’s just what I was thinking.” Annie stood up, newly energized. “I can help you with that.”
“How?”
“Get up. You’re staying the night, and we need to get started.” Annie was already in motion, heading toward her black bags, stacked up like blocks near the luggage carrier.
“What’s going on?”
“You’ll see.”