Page 53 of Little Last Words

“I don’t know what you're implying, Georgiana, but I can tell you this, I don't like it. Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to paint my daughter as someone different than the person I’m telling you she was, someone capable of stirring anger within others, a troublemaker? I assure you she was none of those things.”

“I am not implying anything. All I’m trying to do is to establish whether there was anyone in her life worth looking into now that Dean is off the hook.”

Perhaps Angelica was too close to it all to see the things she didn’t want to see. The flaws Penelope had, and she did have them, because we all did in one way or another—stains in our lives that couldn’t be rubbed out with a simple brush of the hand. Stains that couldn’t be removed. Stains that remained with us, following, lingering.

What stains followed Penelope?

And who was responsible for making them?

CHAPTER20

Before I finished my conversation with Angelica, I inquired after Sadie. She told me the child was beginning to understand her mother had died and gone to heaven, where she was watching over Sadie every day. Sadie was still having a hard time. As to what she’d seen or hadn’t seen the night her mother died, as far as we knew, she’d slept through her mother’s murder. She hadn’t realized Penelope was in the bathtub until she woke the next morning.

It was half past nine in the evening when I got in my car and headed for home. My mind had yet to shut off, but my body was ready for some much-needed rest. I made a couple of phone calls to Hunter and Simone to set up a time to meet in the morning and called it a day.

I showered and settled into bed next to Giovanni. It wasn’t long before I felt the heaviness of my eyelids. Sleep was coming.

…

I woke to find myself sitting on a grassy knoll in front of a lake. Light from the sun overhead gleamed over the water’s surface like stringy pieces of shiny ribbons. Penelope was sitting next to me, dressed in a bathing suit. It was wet, and she was crying.

“I stayed away from this place for a while, but I’m glad I came back, even though it was for the last time.”

“Do you know that you’re … umm—”

“Dead? I do. Do you know you’re dreaming, that none of this is real?”

I nodded. “Your mother hired me to solve your murder.”

“Yeah, I know. Even in death, she can’t stop meddling.”

“I think she’s just looking for closure,” I said.

“She promised me things would be different this time. If I came back and gave Sadie a chance to be in her life more often, she wouldn’t do to her what she did to me.”

“What did your mother do to you?”

“She controlled every aspect of my life.”

“Except Dean.”

She laughed. “You want to know something? I wanted to be in charge of my own life so much, I convinced myself I was happy with him. Maybe it’s the reason I stayed so long.”

“Are you saying you weren’t happy?”

“It’s hard to describe the feelings I had for him. The fact my mother despised him kept the relationship going, even when it was fizzling out—for me, anyway.”

“You wanted to get back at your mom so bad, you were willing to give up your relationship with Zachary?”

“I didn’t love Zachary, either. I mean, I did, once. I don’t anymore.”

“What changed?”

“I changed.”

“If your mother was so difficult to have in your life, I’m surprised you came back to Cambria. Even if she promised things would be different, it was a big risk.”

“I was older, better equipped to handle her. I never planned to leave Cambria for good, anyway. I just knew I’d never find myself if I stayed.”