people who’d been alive a mere day ago. People she must have met, spoken to, even laughed with. She wasn’t here to steal anyone’s admirer, or intended, if that was what Derek was to that woman. She had no interest in him. The only person she was interested in right now was herself. She was like a porcelain doll, pretty on the outside but completely hollow on the inside, devoid of thoughts or feelings outside of fear and confusion. She wasn’t a threat to anyone, only to herself.
Derek drove up to the church and stopped in the wide rectangle reserved for the carts and wagons of the parishioners who lived too far to walk, then helped Alice down and offered her his arm, in case her steps should falter. The reverend was standing outside. He was a tall, thin man with a balding pate and soulful dark eyes. He appeared to be waiting for them.
“I’m very sorry,” he said softly, his sympathy nearly bringing Alice to tears. “Go on in. I will make sure you are not disturbed.”
“Thank you,” Alice muttered.
Now that the moment was upon her, all she wanted was to leave. Her heart was pounding with terror, her hands were ice-cold, and she felt faint, but she forced herself to walk into the church and headed up the nave toward the row of bodies laid out before the pulpit. The bodies were tightly wrapped in coarse shrouds, making them look like giant maggots. Alice supposed a town the size of Milford had only one carpenter, who couldn’t possibly make seventeen coffins on such short notice. Linen was easier to come by, and the dead would take up less room in the graves they were to share. These people might not have known each other well in life, but they would lie together for eternity in a place no one would ever think to look for them.
Alice cautiously drew closer. The fabric was parted just enough to reveal the features and hair color of the victims. She felt ill, and a tightness in her chest made it difficult to draw breath. Derek wrapped his arm about her waist, offering silent support, and she leaned against him, afraid her knees might buckle.
“Do you wish to leave?” he asked softly.
“No.”
“Then how about you sit down for a moment?” he offered.
“No.”
“All right, then.” He led her slowly along the row of corpses, allowing her to stand silently in front of each body for a number of seconds before moving on. It took no more than five minutes to reach the end of the line, but it felt like five hours, each face burning into Alice’s brain, their features familiar yet completely foreign at the same time.
“Do you recognize anyone?” Derek asked as he escorted her to a pew and sat down next to her.
She was breathing raggedly, trying to keep the nausea at bay, but it seemed to roll over her, like the crushing waves that had sunk the ship. She shook her head. These people were strangers to her. She’d stood longest before the women, trying desperately to remember their faces. The women on the ship likely would have spoken, banded together in the company of men, but they were as unknown to her as the rest. There had to have been others who hadn’t washed ashore. Or maybe they’d washed up somewhere further down the coast. Maybe someone had survived and was out there even now, telling their story, naming the ship, sending a message to someone who’d spread the news.
Would someone come for her if they knew where she was? Did she have parents? Siblings? A family of her own? She didn’t even know how old she was. She’d seen her reflection in the hand mirror Hannah had lent her. She was pretty, she supposed, except for that haunted look in her eyes. And young. Twenty? Twenty-two? She was old enough to be someone’s wife, even someone’s mother. Did she have children out there somewhere? A husband who’d be grieving for her? Alice stole a peek at her left hand. She wore no wedding ring, but that didn’t mean anything. She might have lost it, or someone could have slid it off her finger. Perhaps they’d found her first and helped themselves to the one thing of value.
Two women hurried into the church and approached the row of bodies, carefully covering their faces before the mourners came inside. They must have prepared the dead, Alice thought, watching the no-nonsense