Page 37 of The Forgotten Boy

“Yes, I helped search. As did Michael Murray, who found your boy today. But back then we got the worst result of all: nothing.”

“That’s worse than death?”

“Oh yes. And don’t tell me you don’t agree. It’s not those families you wrote to from France telling them about their son’s or father’s last hours that suffer the most—it’s the ones who will never know for sure where those they love lie. I suppose Clarissa believes these ghost stories coming from the boys?”

“I think so. I think … she seems to hope that it’s Thomas.”

“A ghostly boy who wants other boys to follow him—she probably hopes one of them will lead her to Thomas’s body. Maybe this house isn’t as locked up at night as you think.”

She didn’t like the implications of that at all. Would Clarissa deliberately leave doors unlocked in order to allow schoolboys to wander at night?

“You should speak to her,” Diana told the doctor.

“She won’t listen to me. She never has. If she did, she’d have left Havencross long ago and got on with her own life. Keep an eye on her for me, will you?”

After promising to return in two days to check on Jasper, Dr. Bennett departed, and Joshua almost immediately took his place in her office.

“Clarissa has asked to speak with you,” he reported. “Are you all right? You’ve looked rather shaken since the search. Did Weston say anything to upset you?”

“What? No.” It was hardly the time to get into the unsettling whatever-it-was that had accosted her in the attic. “We’re all shaken and sleep-deprived and hungry and worried. How did Clarissa seem to you during the interviews with Jasper’s friends?”

“Definitely more traumatized sister than capable headmistress,” he said.

A succinct assessment, and worrying. Diana sighed and Joshua touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “You can’t fix everything,” he told her. “Surely you learned that lesson in France.”

“The very first day,” she said wryly. “But I never learned to stop trying.”

“And I, for one, am grateful. Be careful with Clarissa Somersby. That kind of distilled grief can pull you down with it.”

An apt metaphor—for entering Clarissa’s office was a little like stepping to the edge of a whirlpool. Diana could feel the pull of the woman’s emotions even before she saw them swirling across her face. She had never seen Clarissa look so alive, or so on edge. She didn’t even try to sit down after urging Diana to do so but paced in large circles around the Persian rug.

At least Clarissa asked her the appropriate question first: “Are you and Dr. Bennett both convinced Jasper Willis will recover completely?”

“Yes. It was a simple, clean break. As long as he stays still and exercises it appropriately when the time comes, there should be no problems.”

“Has Jasper said anything more about … his experience?”

“No. And before you ask, I don’t want him questioned any more today.”

Clarissa shot her a look keen with intelligence. Whatever her current emotional state, there was nothing wrong with her brain. “You mean you don’t want me questioning him.”

In for a penny, in for a pound. “No, I don’t. Certainly not in your current state.”

“You think I would frighten a child for my own ends?”

“Not deliberately. But I think you would do almost anything to get the answers you want.”

Astonishingly, Clarissa laughed. Far from being offended, Diana’s blunt words seemed to have calmed the outward signs of her agitation. She perched on a leather footstool and wrapped her hands around her knees in a surprisingly young gesture. “The answers I want,” she repeated. “Nicely phrased. Meaning you think I’m more interested in confirming my own suspicions than in actually knowing what happened to my brother.”

“Meaning that I’m worried about you. Of course you can’t be completely objective when a boy goes missing for any period of time—no one expects you to be.”

Clarissa ignored that opening and stared intently at Diana. “I am more interested in questioning you.”

“About what? You don’t think I had anything—”

“No, no. I wanted to know if you had any … unexpected experiences while searching the medieval part of the house.”

“Why would I? I’ve been sleeping and working there for weeks now.”

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