Page 100 of The Lost Heiress
He fell silent, and Elena waited for him to continue.
“Vivi had never been sailing before, and Theo thought it would be a fun way to spend the day,” Ransom said. “So we rented a boat—a sailing yacht, about fifty feet, just small enough that Theo and I could handle it on our own and we wouldn’t need a crew. It was supposed to just be the three of us, but, well, Theo was being Theo. He thought Rosie was cute, and he invited her along. I was pissed at him, to be honest,” Ransom said. “That weekend was supposed to be about Vivi. But Theo always had a way of making things about himself.”
He paused and stared down at the floor. He didn’t like to think about that day. He had never talked about it, about what really happened, with anyone.
Ransom took a deep breath and went on.
“We anchored off the coast of Catalina. Theo wanted to take the dory out and take some pictures with Rosie. Vivi wanted to go, too, and she was upset when we told her she couldn’t, that she should stay back with me. She didn’t understand why she was being left out. But the truth was she couldn’t swim, and we were worried about her going along in the dory with the wind and the water being as rough as they were. There was an argument, and she stormed off. I thought she had gone off belowdecks and that I would just let her cool off, and then I’d go after her, maybe try to rouse her interest in casting a line off the back. So I helped Theo and Rosie into the dory, and it was at least half an hour before I went to look for Vivi belowdecks and realized she wasn’tthere. It took about as long for Theo and Rosie to figure out Vivi was on the dory with them. She’d hidden beneath a pile of blankets. By then, they were so far out it didn’t make sense for them to turn back. Rosie took off her life jacket and gave it to Vivi when she saw she wasn’t wearing one. It was selfless, what Rosie did. It probably saved Vivi’s life and ended up costing her her own.”
Ransom paused. This next part was the hardest to talk about. His heart squeezed in his chest like a fist was gripping it.
“A wave hit the dory, and it capsized,” he said. “Theo’s oar struck Rosie in the head as he went over, knocking her unconscious. It all happened so fast. He got the boat upright and went to Vivi first. Once she was secure, he went after Rosie. He didn’t realize until it was too late what had happened, how badly off Rosie was. By the time he rowed them back to the yacht, she wasn’t breathing; her lips were blue. We tried CPR, pumping her chest with our bare hands until we left bruises, but it didn’t do any good. When we got back to the harbor, Theo wanted to call for an ambulance right away, but I wouldn’t let him. Rosie was already gone; we couldn’t help her. I told him we had to get Vivi back to the hotel first, that Vivi couldn’t be there when the ambulance came. There would be police once they found out Rosie was dead; they would have questions. And we couldn’t explain Vivi without upending her whole world. And I never, ever wanted Vivi to feel like she was somehow responsible for what had happened to Rosie. I don’t think she could handle that. I told her that Rosie was sick, that we were getting her help, when I took her back to the hotel. And she believed me.”
Ransom fell silent.
“I think about your cousin often,” he said after a while. “How senseless her death was. I will carry the guilt of what happened that day with me for the rest of my life. But itwasan accident. There was no foul play.”
Elena sat back in her seat. This heavy thing that she had carried with her for the last four years—this hollow ache in her chest, this anger, these questions—she could finally set it down, release it, let it go. She felt at once relieved and, strangely, very, very tired.
Rosie had acted selflessly in her last moments, Elena thought. Even though she must have been very afraid, she had given up her life jacket to keep Vivi safe. And she had. Elena took comfort in that. Rosie had saved Vivi’s life. Elena wouldn’t dishonor Rosie’s final act of bravery by ever breathing a word about Vivi and what had really happened that day. She would do her part to keep Vivi safe too.
“Can I ask you something?” Elena said after a while.
Ransom looked at her grimly, as if he were afraid of what she might ask. Still, he nodded. “Sure,” he said.
“Why don’t you have any pictures on the walls?”
He blinked at her. “What?”
“Your bedroom,” Elena said, looking around. “It’s so ... impersonal. You’ve lived here your whole life, and yet there are no photos of you or your family or your friends. Your bookcase looks like it was curated by a college professor. I don’t think there’s a single book in there a normal person would actually want to read unless it was required. You don’t even have any lube or condoms in your bedside table.”
“How do you know what’s in my bedside table?” Ransom asked.
“Not important,” Elena said. “Just answer the question.”
Ransom sighed, ran a hand through his hair. “Truthfully, I couldn’t tell you what’s in that bookcase,” he said. “My mother renovated my room one summer when I was gone, and she stocked it with whatever looked nice. I think it was more about aesthetics than anything.”
“And the no-personal-photos thing?” Elena asked.
Ransom shrugged. “I suppose it just never occurred to me to put anything up. This place has never been home to me, not really. I went off to boarding school when I was twelve. And then it was on to college and grad school and then DC. I never actually spent much time here. I still don’t.”
Elena nodded. “I guess that makes sense. When I first saw it, I sort of thought, I don’t know ...”
“That I was devoid of a soul or personality?” Ransom asked.
Elena smiled. “Sociopathicis the word I would use.”
“You seem to use that word a lot, don’t you?”
“Just with you,” Elena said.
Ransom laughed. “I assure you, Miss Castillo,” he said, “at my town house in DC, where Iactuallylive, there are plenty of pictures on the wall and books you would want to read.”
“And in your bedside drawer?” Elena asked, raising her eyebrow.
Ransom smiled wryly. “As we’ve previously established, Miss Castillo, everyone has things they’d like to keep private.”
Elena nodded, bit her lip. “Please,” she said. “You can call me Elena.”
