Page 113 of Play With Me

I run my hand over my head, thinking. “Did her husband have a baby with someone else, maybe? Was she forced to look afterhislove child?”

“No,” she says, adamant. “George died with no heirs, remember? Even illegitimate. JEQ mentioned in the diary that their lack of children was something he blamed Eleanor for.”

I feel overwhelmed, suddenly. “Maybe we have enough to go to Griff’s contact at the police. You’ve got the cot on video, right?”

“I do. But how are we going to explain to them that we got it?”

I grimace. Shit. I hadn’t thought about how a B&E probably wouldn’t work as evidence.

“What we need is hospital records,” Nora says. “A birth certificate.”

“Would they have gone to the hospital? What if she had the baby here?”

Nora frowns. “What, like, right here?”

“My mom had all of us at home, except the twins. It wasn’t common, but it happened.”

“So there wouldn’t be any record at all of this baby. You don’t think…” Nora looks panicked.

People used to lose babies all the time. But I can’t believe the worst, not before exploring every other option.

Then an idea hits me, as I remember the sign we passed on the way up here. Excitement lifts my chest. “Nor, what about the neighbors? That was a thing people did, back in those days, right? They took babies to churches when they couldn’t care for them themselves.”

Nora’s eyes go wide. “The convent! Jude, we have to go!”

Just then there’s a rattling sound from outside. It’s loud, and the slit letting light in wobbles.

Nora yelps, and my stomach flips hard.

“Just the wind,” I say hopefully, gathering Nora in my arms again. I pull my phone out, glancing at the time. It’s nearly three.

I don’t want to let Nora go, but we can’t stay here either. We don’t know if the road’s going to be clear by the time we head back—if it isn’t, we could end up driving the long way again.

“We should probably head back to the resort,” I say. “Catch the last of the light.”

Nora looks up at me hopefully. “Could we at least stop at the convent? See if they have any records at all?”

I tuck a strand of hair that’s come loose from her braid behind her ear.

I know she’s not asking my permission. She’s reasoning with me, like friends do. This is like old times with us in the library; when we were on the hunt for anything at all related to Eleanor Cleary, and then on the physical hunt for the cache that took us all summer to find.

My chest does a strange squeeze. We were friends then. I thought things couldn’t get any better. But this is better.

As if to prove it to myself I frown. “Let me think for a sec.”

Then I dip my face down to hers and kiss her, taking her mouth against mine. Because I know now that this is where I feel most at home. Even in this dark and slightly terrifying place, with the wind rattling the plywood and my extremities starting to go numb despite my giant parka and boots, I feel an indescribable warmth with the press of her against me.

“Yeah,” I say, breaking the kiss. “Let’s go see the nuns. But I’m going to need 100% more kissing on this trip.”

Nora laughs, slightly breathless. “If it’s like that, definitely.”

But another rattle has me glancing to the window again. “I need to check on Cap.” Thank God for Gerrard’s satellite phone. We don’t have service here, but hopefully when we get back down to the highway we will. Still, a little knot of worry begins to grow in my stomach.

Nora nods.

The trip back through the dark basement isn’t half as bad as it was going in, mostly because there’s more light down here than there was upstairs, given the top of the cellar door has blown open.

But that knot tightens as we get outside. It’s snowing, and the wind is blowing in hefty gusts. I’m suddenly worried about driving all the way back to the resort. But I don’t show Nora that. She pulls her hood tight around her, heading for the Range Rover. I stick the bar back on the door, wedging it as best I can into the old hinge, then look around and grab a small, snow-covered boulder, thumping it onto the door to make sure it stays closed.

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