Chapter 2

The shot went off loud enough that Lillian jumped out of her skin.

I didn't bother looking at her. I kicked the door in and walked through, and when I saw the inside, a cold laugh came out of me.

There were caramels and chocolate on the table, and on the bed a pair of sheer stockings lay across a bright red pillowcase.

When I opened the closet, clothes and bedding in every shape came close to falling out of it.

No wonder they wanted a bigger place. My small house couldn't hold that much.

Lillian worked her fingers together with a plea sitting under her voice.

"Ms. Quinn, this is all a misunderstanding."

She was shaking hard, and my attention had gone to the certificates on the wall.

[Teacher of the Year, Lillian Cross.] [Outstanding Educator, Lillian Cross.]

[Most Improved Student, Sophia Stone.] [Honor Roll, Sophia Stone.]

Noticing my gaze, Lillian tried to block my view, but I pushed her out of the way.

So that was why Lillian had planted herself on that spot from the moment we came in.

The lower part of that wall was covered in photos of their family.

In the pictures, Lillian was snuggled up to Richard's shoulder, with a little girl standing right between them.

So that was the Sophia on the certificates.

Sophia had on the imported princess dress I had sent home, with the little leather boots and the butterfly clip I had tied together myself in my free hours.

The three of them were smiling like a family with nothing missing.

So where was my daughter, Emily?

I went through the bedroom and turned up nothing of Emily's. Not one trace.

Lillian stammered and tried to get in front of me. I kicked her aside.

I went through room after room, and in the woodshed I found a little nest built out of firewood.

Lillian stood in the woodshed doorway looking wounded and shaking too hard to stand straight.

Right then a voice I knew came in from the yard gate.

"They said there's a crisis at my house! Are you okay, honey?"

I narrowed my eyes and watched Richard come through the door soaked in sweat, and he took hold of Lillian and ran his hands over her to check her.

"Lillian, why do you look like that? Where was the fire? Did it frighten you?

"Don't worry, I've got you. As long as I'm here, nothing's going to happen to you!"

Then he pulled her in against him.

Behind Richard, the neighbors cleared their throats.

"Mr. Stone, we didn't mean a literal crisis. We meant you have trouble on the home front!"

Richard's head came up, and his eyes landed on me as I stepped out of the woodshed.

At the gate, the crowd that had come to watch went off all at once.

"That's her. She says she's Mr. Stone's wife."

"I heard a gunshot from his place a minute ago. Does she have a weapon on her?"

"I teach at the same school as Ms. Cross. I saw it myself. The woman said she's Emily's real mother. This is going to be something."

I ignored all of it and looked at Richard, cold.

"You have nothing to say to me?" I said.

Richard's eyes slid off mine, and he was about to step forward when Lillian started crying.

"Richard, she called me shameless, and she hit me. If you weren't here, I wouldn't know what to do."

Richard's leg locked up in the middle of the step toward me.

After a while, he set his jaw, as though he had made up his mind about something.

"Apologize to Lillian in front of everybody first. Say you got confused for a minute," Richard said.

I stared at Richard, jaw dropped, unable to believe what I was hearing.

"Richard, where did you get the nerve to ask me to ruin my own name and help you and your sidechick turn this around?"

That set him off, and he clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Grace, I'm handing you a way out. If you won't take it, that's on you."

Then he raised his voice and turned to the crowd.

"This woman is a lunatic who wants my rank badly enough to hang herself on me. Lillian has been my wife from the first day."

I nearly went down on the spot, and I couldn't work out where the man I had pulled out of nothing found the nerve.

I bit down hard on the hand over my mouth, and while Richard flinched, I put my palm across his face.

"Watch your mouth before you say anything else!" I snapped.

In front of every neighbor there, Richard lost it and backhanded me onto the ground.

The crowd that had packed in to watch broke apart in a rush.

"I told you this woman was starting something and you wouldn't believe me. Mr. Stone treats Ms. Cross like glass. He'd never run around on her."

"She had that coming. Dragging Mr. Stone into it and wrecking a good family. A slap is getting off light."

Half my face had gone numb, and my hand shook as I reached for my weapon.