Page 54 of Little Last Words

She was no longer wet, and no longer crying, and the bathing suit she’d been wearing was now a lavender dress—the same dress she’d been wearing in the casket at the funeral.

“What can you tell me about the night you died?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you anything. It doesn’t work that way.”

“Doesn’t workwhatway?”

“You have to seek the truth for yourself, see the thing you need to see even when you don’t want to see it.”

She made no sense.

“Why are we here, at the lake?” I asked.

“Have you ever seen something so inspiring and so beautiful, but so haunting at the same time?”

I had.

My daughter before she died.

I still saw her sometimes.

“Why are we here, Penelope?” I asked. “What’s the significance of the lake?”

“The lake is nothing more than a mirage. It’s the end. My end. So many memories here. Some good. Some bad. Still, it’s my happy place.”

It seemed like she was speaking in riddles.

“Did something happen here?” I asked. “Is it the reason you’re dead?”

“It is not. I told you. It’s the end. My end.”

Before I could say anything more, she was gone. I woke with the thought that even though it was a dream, I now had a better sense of what Penelope’s struggles must have been like. And yet, I still had no idea what direction to take to catch her killer.

CHAPTER21

Istarted the day off early and headed out with Luka for my morning walk. When I passed by Penelope’s place, I stopped in front of it, staring at the house for no reason other than to reflect on what had happened there.

“It’s a pity, isn’t it?”

I turned to see Rita’s husband, Aaron, beside me. He’d knelt down and was giving Luka a pat.

“It is,” I said. “Did you ever have any interactions with Penelope?”

“A few. We struck up a conversation one morning when I was walking past her place right after she moved in. I’d leaned down to grab her newspaper so it wouldn’t get wet by the sprinkler. At the same time, she started backing out of the driveway. She almost plowed right over me. She felt so bad about the whole thing she brought me a fruit basket. After that, we’d say hello and have a nice chat here and there.”

“Your wife never mentioned you and Penelope knew each other,” I said.

“I’m not sure I mentioned the incident to Rita.”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know. It never came up.”

“How did you explain the fruit basket?”

“She never saw it. I put the basket in the garage and the fruit in the refrigerator. As far as Rita was concerned, the fruit came from the store.”

It seemed strange to me that he wouldn’t have told his wife about almost being run over. Then again, Rita was high strung. Maybe Aaron steered clear of engaging in certain topics of conversations with her. Maybe if she’d known about the incident, she would have confronted Penelope, making it a much bigger deal than it needed to be.