Chapter 4 - The Guest in the Gold Swimsuit
Tammy came back the next afternoon.
She was the woman in the gold swimsuit.
Her full name was Tammy Rourke, forty-one, divorced, part-time real estate agent, full-time social climber by the look of her clothes. But guilt had a way of stripping people down to something more honest.
She sat across from me in the hospital cafeteria with both hands wrapped around a coffee she wasn’t drinking.
“I should have stopped it,” she said.
“Yes,” I replied.
She flinched, but nodded.
“I know.”
I respected that more than tears.
“Tell me what happened.”
She took a breath.
“Your husband brought Ethan in around noon. Caroline was already irritated because some investors were there and she wanted everything perfect. Ethan started crying almost right away because Mark told the nanny to leave and didn’t bring him near the pool toys.”
I frowned. “There was a nanny there?”
“Yes. For Mindy’s twins.”
“Why didn’t Ethan stay with her?”
Tammy looked down. “Caroline said she wasn’t paid to watch ‘extra children.’”
Extra children.
I let that settle.
Tammy continued. “Mark tried to hold him for a few minutes, but Ethan kept asking for you. Caroline got angry and said the noise was ruining the atmosphere. Someone joked about giving him a timeout.”
“Who locked the greenhouse?”
“Caroline had the key on her bracelet. She opened the door, told Mark to put him in there for a few minutes, and said the glass would muffle the crying.”
I felt the cafeteria noises blur around me.
“And Mark?”
“He hesitated.”
“Then what?”
“He asked if it would be too hot.”
That landed harder than if Tammy had slapped me.
Because it meant he knew exactly what the danger was.
“What did Caroline say?”
Tammy’s mouth twisted. “She said, ‘It’ll make him sleepier.’”
I closed my eyes once.
When I opened them, Tammy was crying now—not beautifully, not theatrically, just messily.
“I recorded because I felt sick about it. But I stopped because Caroline saw me looking.”
“Why didn’t you call 911 then?”
She swallowed. “Because everyone else acted like it wasn’t a big deal. And because people do stupid cowardly things in rich crowds.”
That, at least, was true.
Before she left, Tammy said one more thing.
“Mark wasn’t as surprised as he acted when you arrived.”
I looked up.
“What do you mean?”
“He kept checking the front gate camera on Caroline’s phone. Like he was waiting for something.”
That was clue number two.
May you like
Not only had Mark known Ethan was in danger.
He had been watching for my arrival.
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