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ensure I never reached these shores, so I must keep my survival quiet for now.”
    The color had leached from Addie’s cheeks. She smoothed her silk skirt. “My lips are sealed,” she said. “This is horrible.”
    “I gave Katie permission to tell Will. I would not want to come between you and your husband, so you may tell him. I need some allies.”
    “You can trust my Will and Addie’s John,” Katie said. She handed Jennie her dolly.
    “Do you have any idea who might have done this?” Addie asked. “Did your sister have any enemies?”
    Olivia exhaled. “I suspect Mr. Bennett.”
    Katie’s worn boots hit the ground and she stood. “I must disagree most vehemently, Olivia. We have often had Harrison in our home. I don’t believe he has one evil bone in his body. Will thinks most highly of him, and Jennie quite adores him.”
    “Don’t you find it most peculiar that someone threw me overboard, and Harrison was on the ship with ample motive and opportunity?”
    “But he saved you!”
    “It might have been a ruse. Some men are good at hiding their true character. Something happened to my sister, and I mean to find out the truth.”
    Addie’s hand went to her throat. “You fear foul play?”
    “She was terrified of water.”
    Addie’s eyes widened. “Ah. So she wouldn’t have been out swimming. The attack on your own person bolsters your belief as well,” Addie said. “But I agree with Katie. Harrison is an honorable man. He would never have hurt Eleanor. Nor you.”
    “Harrison was in Africa when she arrived,” Katie said. “She came to tea with us a few times at Addie’s house. I liked her very much.”
    “What about . . . suicide?” Addie asked.
    Olivia swallowed hard. “She was full of laughter. Marrying Mr. Bennett was all she talked about before she left. I’ve never seen Eleanor despondent. Never once in her twenty-three years.”
    Katie took a bite of her cookie. “Perhaps she heard lies about him. I believe you’re quite wrong about Harrison. We’ll help you get to the bottom of it though. Harrison is one of the most eligible bachelors in town. The unmarried girls were downcast when Eleanor showed up.”
    Olivia could well believe it. His dark good looks drew attention. “Did Eleanor say anything to either of you about him?” she asked.
    Addie paused. “We last saw her two days before she died. She was more quiet than usual. She said something about a letter she’d received from her father.”
    Olivia’s jaw dropped. “From our father ? He died six months ago.”
    “That’s what she said, from her father.”
    The blood rushed from Olivia’s head and she felt faint. “I don’t understand. That was all my sister said?”
    Katie bit her lip and glanced at Addie. “Didn’t she say something about asking Harrison to explain?” She rubbed her head. “I can’t quite remember.”
    “That’s right!” Addie said. “I’d forgotten too. She said Harrison would be able to explain it all, and that she couldn’t wait for him to get home.”
    “I must find that letter,” Olivia said slowly.

    The lighthouse accommodations were more rustic than Olivia was used to. A handmade quilt covered the mattress on the iron bedstead in her room. Matching curtains hung in the windows. There was no closet, only a chifforobe against one wall. A bowl and pitcher of water rested atop the dresser.
    But the room held a warmth she’d never experienced in the elegant mansion on Fifth Avenue. These people were different too. Accepting of who she was. They didn’t know she knew the Astors or that she hailed from one of New York’s most prominent families. Olivia suspected they wouldn’t care if they did know.
    She jotted down in her journal her impressions of Mercy Falls, then put down her pen when a knock came at the door. “Come in,” she called, knowing it had to be Katie.
    But it was little Jennie who popped through the door. “I came for a good-night kiss,” she said. She ran to