Page 25 of Strangers She Knows

Rae mulled it over. “You know what would be great to tell Chloe? That we foundsecret passagesin the house!”

“That would be exciting.” Kellen considered all the angles, and decided she’d rather be close when Rae discovered her first secret passage, and said, “Shall we look right now?”

“Yes!” Rae jumped to her feet, ran to the wall by the door and started knocking on it.

Kellen examined all the walls, realized the window seat was inset in an inner wall set back three feet from the outer wall, and deduced the passage must be there. “Here, Rae.” Kellen felt around the window trim, found a notch at the bottom, and when Rae had joined her, she pressed it…and with a click, the wall swiveled open and musty air rushed out.

“The secret passage.” Kellen gestured Rae in. “After you.”

Rae stood, wide-eyed, and stared inside.

Dust rested deep on the unfinished boards of the floor. The wall studs were gray with age. Cobwebs draped the entrance, and a spider dropped down to hang as if interested in the new world that had opened to it.

Rae took a breath. “It’s dark.”

“It really is. You first.”

“No.” Rae took a step back, ran into Kellen, jumped. “I’ll wait until I’ve got a, um, flashlight.”

“That’s probably a good idea.” Kellen breathed easier. Rae would not be wandering into the secret passages on her own. “Do you want to read some more of Ruby’s diary?”

Rae looked at the window where rain still washed the glass with gray, and sighed dramatically. “There’s nothing else to do.” She grinned. “Unless you want to go down and practice piano.”

“Right. We’ll eat lunch.”

“Yes. Lunch…”

“And read another entry.” While Rae opened the picnic basket, Kellen opened Ruby’s diary again.

Father decided I didn’t need a governess anymore. He said too much education in a woman is a terrible thing. So he brought me a companion. Hermione Jasper is twenty, an orphan with no resources and only a public school education. Of course he would pick someone like her. She has no family to fall back on, ergo no choice but to obey him in all things. She is to report to him all my activities, keep me on a strict schedule of riding, embroidery, elocution, piano, drawing and—because he doesn’t want me to run to fat—swimming in the pool.

Considering his girth, I find this to be most amusing.

I long for Miss Harriman, with her intelligent insights and constant wit, and I distrust this Hermione.

Father won’t let me read the financial pages, but he wants me to keep up on current events so I can converse with the man he chooses to be my husband. So I know all about Germany and the horrors they are inflicting on Europe. Father approves of their tyranny. He says to the victor go the spoils, and Germany is strong and white, and the Jews and Gypsies deserve whatever Hitler hands out to them. Sometimes, when he doesn’t notice, Mother looks at him as if he is a particularly disgusting form of slug. She isn’t white. Not even he with all his power could make the world proclaim her white. Or me, either. I’m half hers. She has begun to speak to me in Japanese again, as she used to before he forbade her. I remember quite a lot, and am getting better all the time…

“Ruby’s mother was Japanese?” The mere idea mentally knocked Kellen off her feet.

“Is that weird?” Rae had very little experience with prejudice.

Kellen opened the basket and unpacked the sandwiches. “Yes! He seems like the kind of guy who would want a submissive woman of his own race. At the same time, some men find American women, with their education and their free speech, to be too challenging.”

Rae spread the blanket on the floor.

Luna joined them, sitting at the edge of the blanket and watching eagerly.

“I guess he could have gone to Japan and bought a girl.” Kellen loaded Rae’s plate, then her own, and they dug in.

“Bought her? That’s gross.” Rae stuck her finger down her throat and made a gagging noise.

“Disgusting.” Kellen took Rae’s dill pickle spear off her plate.

Rae took it back, polished off her lunch, gave some cheese to Luna (Kellen pretended not to notice) and said, “I wonder if there’s a picture of the lady downstairs.”

“Ruby’s mom? There’s got to be.”

Rae jumped to her feet. “Do you think she’s dead? His wife?”

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