“No, it’s okay,” Alice said softly.
“Are you sure?” he asked quietly. “Because I can’t stay in here with you during it. I guess they don’t want to take the chance of me influencing your story.”
Alice strained to hide her disappointment at that.
“Of course. I’ll be fine,” she assured. She saw his hesitation. “Besides, you need to go home and shower and get some rest anyway,” she told him. Her gaze lowered significantly. “My blood isn’t the ideal accessory on you, you know.” He hadn’t left the hospital, even when she was being tested, so he still wore the bloodstained shirt.
“An accessory I’ll gladly never wear again.” Alice strained to hear his quieted voice. He straightened, glancing at the agents darkly. “She tires very easily,” he told Clayton. “Don’t push her.”
Clayton nodded. “Just tell us if you grow tired, Alice, and we can finish up in the morning.”
Dylan seemed partially mollified. He surprised her a little by turning back and kissing her mouth, ignoring the agents. Her heart jumped at the sensation of his warm, firm lips against her own. She joined his slow, delicious rhythm, kissing him back for a fleeting moment.
“Are you sure you’re okay to do this now?” he asked, his mouth brushing against hers.
She nodded. “I want to get it over with.”
“I’ll be back later tonight, then,” he assured her gruffly.
“Don’t you think you should get some rest at the castle and come back tomorrow?” she whispered.
“I’ll be back later tonight,” he repeated.
A feeling of uncertainty went through her. She’d read his lips to understand him. Was he talking that quietly? He straightened, giving the agents what Alice could only call a warning glance, and left the room.
Alice wasn’t sure what to make of that kiss in front of the agents. Were they now declaring their relationship to the world? She suspected maybe he was telling her not to be self-conscious about revealing their involvement. There hadn’t been much opportunity for them to discuss her statement to the agents. That kiss heartened her more than anything had since awakening and seeing him sitting next to her bed. It seemed to say, Just tell the truth. The time for secrets is done, and you have nothing to be ashamed of.
*
SHE was pretty tired by the time the agents packed up their equipment and left. It’d been difficult talking about Sissy and the Reeds, knowing that the agents were viewing them strictly in terms of potential collaborators to Addie’s kidnapping. While to Alice, they had been much more. They were a family she was horribly ashamed of, and despised at times . . . but they were family, nevertheless. Or at least she’d thought they’d been. She sent up a silent prayer that Uncle Al had left the trailer, like she’d asked him to. As for the others, it felt grimly inevitable and completely out of her control to do anything to stop the hand of fate or justice. It all seemed so much bigger than her.
It was even harder, at first, to talk about every detail of her encounter with Kehoe, but it got easier once she got a momentum going. When she got to the part about Kehoe planning to throw her over the bluff, the agent paused her. He asked her to recall exactly what Kehoe had said, as best as she could, toward the end. Wincing, Alice repeated what he’d said about Lynn, her suicide, and his threats against her—Alice.
Special Agent Clayton nodded when she’d finished. “That matches up well with what Schaefer overheard as he neared the bluff. Did you realize that Schaefer had been following you regularly, under Kehoe’s orders?”
“No. I mean, I knew Thad was following me sometimes, but I didn’t know it was under Kehoe’s directions. Are you saying that Thad followed me up to the castle last night because Kehoe told him to?” she asked, confused.
“No. Last night, he claims he did it because he was concerned about you. It seems he was no longer entirely convinced that Kehoe had good intentions toward you.”
“He uh . . . said he had a thing for me,” she admitted uncomfortably. “That’s why I thought he was following me, at first.”
“Did you ever reciprocate the interest?” Clayton asked.
“No. I made it clear from the beginning I just wanted to be friends.”
“It seems Kehoe had given Schaefer orders to keep an eye on you as much as possible, get close to you, report back to him about anything noteworthy. According to Schaefer, his father and Kehoe are old friends, so he had an implicit trust in him from the first. Plus, Kehoe was his top boss there at camp . . . the man he needed to impress to get hired as a Durand manager. He felt obligated when Kehoe asked him to get close to you, although he didn’t start to put together until more recently why Kehoe was so focused on you.”
“Do you think Thad just acted like he liked me so that he could follow me easier . . . give Kehoe more information about me?”