“Heavens no! I’m not allowed to break patient confidentiality. Why are you asking me this now? I didn’t even tell Joel. Remember, you swore me to silence? I would never break your trust. And certainly that of the girls. What’s happened? I know you wouldn’t ask me this if you didn’t have a good reason. We have always trusted one another, right?”
“Yes, we have. That’s why I called.” She removed the rolled-up paper from beneath her shirt. “Tell me your first impression of this.” She handed Jill the sketch, doing her best to keep a neutral expression on her face. She didn’t want to influence Jill’s first reaction.
Tessa watched while Jill examined the drawing very carefully. Though she was sure that she was making too much of this, she still couldn’t help herself. She had to know if there was a hidden meaning that her untrained eye had not seen.
“Where did this come from?” Jill asked in the voice reserved for her patients.
“I found it in Poppy’s room under the mattress,” Tessa told her. “I don’t know if it’s . . . I’m not sure what to make of it. It certainly appears to be Poppy’s style.”
“Today? You’re telling me you found this just now?” Jill asked, surprise sending her voice up a notch. “This wasn’t something packed away?”
Tessa shook her head. “No. I haven’t been in the girls’ rooms since . . . that awful day. I would swear they have not been touched. Piper’s bed is still unmade; it’s exactly as it was the day I left. It’s like going back in time.”
“Before I say anything, can I look in their rooms?”
“Of course. Let’s go,” Tessa said.
“No, you wait here. Do you mind if I take the picture with me?” Jill asked.
“Sure. Why can’t I come with you?”
“It’s a professional thing. I want to see their rooms with no outside influence, and you have already told me more than I need to know. I’ll just be a few minutes. Why don’t you make us another cup of coffee? I run on caffeine.”
“Sounds like you’re dismissing me, but I get it. Go on, but don’t let Sam or any of those”—Tessa nodded toward the front door—“nosy-ass reporters get a glimpse of you. The window coverings are gone, and those long-range lenses they have now can see the hair in your nose.”
Jill nodded, then carefully tucked the piece of paper inside her bag. “No one would dare look inside this,” she said, holding up one of the largest tote bags Tessa had ever seen. “It’s practically a weapon in itself.”
“Hurry,” Tessa said. “You know the way.”
“Why don’t you sit down in the living room? I’ll just be a few minutes,” Jill said as she headed toward the staircase.
Tessa made another cup of coffee for herself, then went into the living room and sat down on one of the leather chairs. Her thoughts returned to the past. Joel adored their daughters though he didn’t spend as much time with them as she had due to his hectic work schedule, but their time spent together was happy and fun. Tessa was the disciplinarian when discipline was needed, which wasn’t too often because the girls were well behaved. Not perfect, but they understood what their role in the family was. They weren’t spoiled rotten as some of the children attending Saint Cecelia’s had been; they had chores and obligations to the family.
Yes, Rosa had taken care of their home, but both girls were required to make their beds daily, keep their bedrooms tidy, and at dinnertime, they helped with the dishes. They were smart and funny, and Tessa had never experienced anything even close to the love that she felt for them. Even Joel. She had loved him, but her feelings toward him were simply not as pure and intense as her love for her girls. Joel rarely, if ever, had reprimanded them. His time with them was mostly without incident.
“Tessa,” Jill said, “we need to talk.”
Those were the words she had dreaded since calling Jill.
She nodded. “I suppose I can’t get out of this?”
“No, you can’t,” Jill replied, her tone serious.
Chapter 14
“So?” Tessa said, when Jill sat down at the bar.
“I didn’t find anything unusual. The rooms are the same, but their personal items are gone. Someone had to pack them away. Do you know who, and if so, where they are?” “I’m not sure,” she replied. Had Sam packed their things himself?
“I’d like to find out,” Jill said. “Basically, except for the linens, the rooms are empty. I didn’t see anything unusual there.”
Tessa breathed a sigh of relief. “What about the sketch?”
“It’s been ripped from a sketchbook, no doubts there. I’d like to see if we can locate it. One drawing, while it might indicate Poppy was angry at Joel, or a man—and that’s a far overreaching educated guess—I wouldn’t want to make a judgment without thoroughly searching through Poppy’s sketchbooks.”
Why didn’t I think of that?
“I’m not sure, but I can ask,” Tessa said. Jill was right. The rooms were empty other than bedclothes, and that wasn’t so unusual. She had remembered the rooms as they’d been when the girls were still alive. Gone were all the knickknacks, posters, all the paraphernalia that made up a ten-year-old’s bedroom. Why didn’t I see that?
“I thought they were exactly as they looked the day I left,” she explained.
“A trick of the mind, Tessa. It’s what you wanted to see. The mind is a miraculous machine.”
Did this explain the strawberry scent? The indentation on the pillow? Had her mind been playing tricks on her? Her refusal to accept the obvious, even though it had been a decade ago?
“I’ll find Sam and ask him,” she said. “I know that he packed up what was in Joel’s office, but I’m not sure who packed up the stuff from the house.” She had just assumed Sam had. Now, in reality, it seemed rather juvenile for her to have thought so. As CEO
