Page 79 of The Summer Guests

And now it was raining.

She reached the boat ramp, deserted except for one parked car. There she stood, her head bowed as raindrops splattered the hood of her jacket. Wind whipped across the lake, pelting her face with rain. Her shoes and socks were soaked, but the thought of returning to the house, to that family, seemed a far more miserable prospect.

Through the clatter of falling rain, she heard the growl of an engine, and she turned to see Arthur’s blue Mercedes approaching. It rolled closer and closer, then braked to a stop right beside her.

“We need to talk,” he said. “Why don’t you get in the car?”

“I don’t want to talk.”

“For heaven’s sake, Susan. You’re getting drenched, and you can’t stand out here forever or you’ll catch a cold. There’s something I need to tell you. Just get in the car. I’ll drive you wherever you want to go.”

She hesitated, rain streaming off her jacket and seeping into her jeans. Already her feet were numb from the chill, and she was shivering. There was no one else in sight, no nearby shelter from the rain. Her only alternative was to return to Moonview and face the family again.

“The hospital,” she said. “I want to be with my daughter.”

“Of course. Climb in.”

She opened the passenger door and slid in beside him. Her jeans were wet, and as they drove away from the pond, she shifted uncomfortably, worried that she’d leave stains on these buttery leather seats. Just a glance at the Mercedes’s immaculate interior told her Arthur Fox was a man who did not tolerate disorder, even if it was only water stains on his upholstery.

“I’ve known Elizabeth a very long time,” he said. “I met her and George when they first came to Purity, more than half a century ago. That was the same year the Greenes came here too. We were all justrenting then, giving Maine a try, seeing if we liked it enough to stay. Oh, we were a jolly bunch! Cocktails every evening. Cruises on my sailboat when the weather was good. Except for Mrs. Greene, who got seasick just standing on the dock. But Dr. Greene, he’d grown up on the water, and he was an excellent sailor. So was George.”

She didn’t know where he was going with this, and she didn’t much care. She just wanted to get to the hospital. To dry out her wet socks and get warm again.

“The thing is, Susan, there are things you don’t know about the Conover family. Things Elizabeth wouldn’t want you to know. But I think it’s time someone told you, so you understand why Elizabeth reacted the way she did.”

Does it really matter now?she thought. It was over between her and the Conovers, because she’d broken their rule: loyalty to family, above everything else.

“Even the boys don’t know about this,” he added.

She looked at him. “The boys?”

He gave a wry chuckle. “Sorry, I can’t stop thinking of Colin and Ethan as ‘the boys,’ because I watched them grow up. I’ve known them since they were babies. Watched Elizabeth set them loose on the lawn to crawl around naked. Back then, we didn’t worry about ticks or sunscreen or skin cancer. But then, we didn’t imagine we’d ever get old either.”

She looked at him, reallylookedat him. Arthur had the rough, weathered skin of a yachtsman who’d enjoyed too many summers under the sun, and even though he still had his sharp-eyed intellect, his eighty-two years were clearly etched in his face. He would have been handsome when he was young, tall and strapping and confident. That young man was still there, but gazing out of an older face.

“I just want you to understand,” he said, “that there’s a reason why any mention of Vivian Stillwater is so upsetting to Elizabeth.”

“What reason would that be?”

“It’s a sensitive subject.”

“It doesn’t justify what she said to me. Or to Ethan.”

“No, it doesn’t. But if you put yourself in her place, you’ll see why she overreacted. You just have to promise me you won’t tell Ethan or Colin what I’m about to say.”

“This is something they don’t know?”

“Elizabeth and I are the only people still alive who do know. Maybe Hannah had an inkling, but she was just a kid, and her parents were discreet enough not to talk about it around her. If this ever gets back to the boys, it will change the way they think about their parents. About their father. You’re new to the family, so there’s a great deal you don’t know about the Conovers. But the thing they value above all is discretion. I hope you’ll keep that in mind.”

She waited for him to continue, but he paused, as if reconsidering his impulse to tell her. For a moment the only sound was the rain beating down on the car and the windshield wipers slashing back and forth. Through the veil of rain sheeting the windows, she could barely see the passing landscape. It was true, she didn’t really know the Conover family. It was also true she didn’t know Arthur Fox, either, and here she was in his car, her location unknown to anyone else.

He looked at her with a gaze so penetrating she felt it sear straight to her brain.

She swallowed. “I understand. Discretion.”

“Good.” He looked at the road again, and she exhaled, relieved his gaze was no longer on her. “Now, about Vivian. The woman who disappeared.”

“Hannah said she was her father’s secretary.”

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