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in the room would be stifling by the afternoon. There was no such thing as central air-conditioning at Shepherd’s Point, and Aunt Agatha wouldn’t have the extra money to run it even if there were.
    As Madeleine’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she spotted the diminutive figure sitting on one of the two sofas beside the Italian-tile fireplace.
    “Aunt Agatha, it’s me.” Madeleine bent to kiss the clammy cheek.
    “Ah, Madeleine. My Madeleine. How are you, my dearest?” Without waiting for a response, she called, “Finola, please get Madeleine some lemonade.”
    “No, thanks, Auntie. I’m not thirsty.”
    “You’re sure? All right then. Never mind, Finola.” A clawlike hand patted the worn velvet. “Come. Sit here beside me, my Madeleine.”
    Madeleine obediently took her place.
    “I want to see it again.”
    “See what, dear?” Agatha asked.
    “You know.”
    “Oh, Madeleine, why do you tear yourself up this way?” the older woman implored.
    “Please, Aunt Agatha, I have to see it.”
    Agatha rose and slowly walked across the room to the antique mahogany desk in the corner. She took the key from under the blotter and slid it into the brass lock. Pulling the bottom drawer open, Agatha lifted out the yellow leather-bound journal.

Fool. Why am I so naïve? People lie and cheat all the time. I can’t let this go on one more minute. Tonight’s disappointment at the country club was enough.
    The handwriting was strong and clear, so unlike the more youthful scrawl in the rest of the diary. In her childhood bedroom, Charlotte had pulled out her old diary to unburden herself that last night of her life.
    Madeleine read her mother’s final diary entry, as she had done easily a hundred times before, but this time she ignored her aunt’s outstretched hands.
    “Not this time, Aunt Agatha. I want to keep it now. It’s time for it to be mine.”
    Agatha didn’t resist the demand. “All right, dear. You’re probably right.”
    Together, they rose from the sofa, knowing where they would go next. It was always the same. They climbed the wide staircase to the second floor, to Charlotte’s old room.
    The large space was virtually the same as it had been when pretty, young Charlotte left for her new life at Seaview as a married woman twenty years before, but time and neglect had left their marks. The yellow spread on the curlicued wrought-iron bed was the one that Charlotte had snuggled under, but now it was faded and covered with animal hair. The flowered wallpaper was peeling at the seams, and two strips had come down altogether. The stench of cat urine was exacerbated by windows shut tight.
    A red Limoges box sat on the writing desk beneath the window. Madeleine opened the porcelain lid, knowing exactly what she would find. The plain gold band that symbolized her parents’ union lay alone at the bottom as it had for the past fourteen years. She turned her mother’s wedding band over in her hands and then slipped it on. She could still remember watching her mother taking the ring off to put lotion on her hands that last night. Aunt Agatha had insisted on keeping the ring right where Charlotte had left it, and Madeleine’s father hadn’t had the heart to fight her for it.
    Madeleine took the gold band off as she heard the phone ringing in the distance. And then Finola was at the door.
    “The police are on the phone, Miss Agatha.”
    For a moment, each of them was paralyzed, knowing that this could be the definitive news they had waited to hear for so long. The ring slipped out of Madeleine’s hand, and as she bent down to pick it up, she broke the silence.
    “I’ll get that, Aunt Agatha.”

  CHAPTER  
10
    Minutes after the next of kin were notified, the official press release was issued.
    THE OFFICE OF THE STATE MEDICAL EXAMINER, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE RHODE ISLAND STATE POLICE AND THE NEWPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT, IS RELEASING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:
    THE SKELETONIZED REMAINS FOUND AT