Chapter 2

Lillian lifted her foot. White powder clung to her heel.

“These don’t look like anything special,” she said. “Joel, you’ll take me to get something better tomorrow, won’t you?”

He crossed the room and took her hand.

“Watch the glass, Lily.” He guided her onto the rug. “You could’ve cut yourself over a bottle of junk.”

I’d tried three hospitals before I found one that had it. At the third, I’d waited until a healer came off her rounds and asked her to check the dispensary herself. When she brought the bottle out, I held it in both hands all the way to the car.

Joel hadn’t asked what was in it then, either.

He looked from the floor to my face. “Do you have any idea how unhinged you look right now? Lily borrowed the bathroom. You locked her in there knowing she was pregnant. What were you trying to do, kill her?”

I looked down at the heel print in the powder. I’d spent weeks looking for those tablets.

I picked up my suitcase.

“Finish whatever you were doing,” I said. “Then get some sleep.”

I stepped around them. Lillian stuck her foot out as I passed.

My suitcase struck the doorframe. I caught myself with one hand before I went down. A dull pain pulled low across my belly, and I stayed where I was until I could breathe through it.

Behind me, Joel caught Lillian by the shoulders.

“Lily, are you all right? She didn’t bump into you, did she?”

“I’m fine.” She leaned into him. “It’s just that Pauline seemed so angry.”

I straightened and looked back.

“I’m not angry,” I said. “The dead don’t get angry.”

Joel’s hands went still on her shoulders.

“Who the hell are you talking about?” He waited for me to answer. When I didn’t, his voice sharpened. “If you want to put on a show, go do it at your family’s house. Get out of my sight.”

I picked up the suitcase and carried it downstairs. The ache had eased by the time I reached the bottom. I set the case down to switch hands.

“Leaving already, Pauline?”

Lillian leaned over the upstairs railing. The sleeves of my silk robe had come unrolled. She pushed one back and pointed at my throat.

“That’s a pretty necklace. Joel says you hardly ever wear it. Why don’t you give it to me? A little welcome gift for the baby.”

My hand went to the pendant. I rarely wore it because the chain was so thin. I’d put it on that morning before I went to see Dr. Finch. I wanted something of my mother’s with me when I went back to the hospital.

Joel came out onto the landing and followed Lillian’s gaze.

“It’s an old necklace, Pauline. Take it off and give it to her.”

I’d loved him for five years. The first time I wore that necklace around him, I told him where it came from while he fastened the clasp for me.

“It was my mother’s,” I said. “It’s the only thing I have left of her.”

“Your mother’s been dead for years. Why are you still hanging on to that piece of junk?” He put a hand on the railing. “Take it off. Don’t make me do it for you.”

Lillian was already coming down the stairs. She stopped on the last step, close enough to reach my throat without asking me to come any nearer.

She took hold of the pendant and pulled.

The chain bit into the back of my neck. I could have caught her wrist. I kept my hands at my sides.

The clasp gave with a sharp snap.

“Thanks, Pauline.” She dangled the broken chain between us. “It’s a little dated, but I think I can make it work with my dress tomorrow.”

Joel came down the last few steps and put an arm around her waist.

“You’re this happy over a cheap necklace? I’ll take you to the auction tomorrow. Pick out anything you like.”

I touched the welt on my neck. It burned in a thin line where the chain had been.

Lillian waited for me to ask for it back. I could tell by the way she held it just beyond my reach.

“If you like it, keep it,” I said. My voice came out so steady I almost didn’t recognize it. “I hope you wear it always.”

I picked up my suitcase, opened the front door, and stepped out into the cold.