would use one as an office.” Janya put her finger on the tip of her nose, as if she were thinking. “And she talked about her parents fighting.”
They sat in silence a moment. “Four bedrooms?” Tracy asked. “One for Karen and Lee, one for Olivia, one for an office. And who would the other one be for?”
“A guest room?” Wanda guessed. “Pretty common.”
Janya shook her head. “No, she said that there would be a room for everyone, and the last room would be her mother’s office.”
“Alice,” Tracy said. “She was planning to bring Alice. That’s why Karen didn’t care if the lease here at the beach was short-term. In fact, if that’s right, short-term was a plus. Maybe they sold Alice’s house, then settled her here until Karen could find a place they could all share.”
“Of course the interesting question is whether Karen was planning to bring her husband along,” Wanda said. “Let’s face it, who rents a house without telling his majesty unless she’s planning to leave him?”
“Olivia said she had to be careful not to say anything to her father. And after her mother died, Olivia didn’t tell him because she thought it would make him sad.”
Wanda sniffed. “That child is too good with secrets. That’s not natural. None of this makes one whit of sense.”
“What exactly did Olivia say about the fighting?” Tracy asked Janya.
“She said when they fought, she wished they would stop. And after her mother died, she thought maybe she was to blame for wishing.”
“Poor kid.”
“I’m getting a bad feeling here,” Wanda said. “Like maybe we’re not getting the straight scoop about Lee being a conscientious son-in-law who devotes himself to Alice out of love for his dead wife. He must have found out about the house after she died, at the latest. The new landlord would have tracked him down. If she was leaving him, he knew.”
Tracy set her coffee cup on the table. “I can’t stand the thought that something might be going on over there that could hurt Alice or Olivia. I check in with Olivia at camp, of course, but her attendance was spotty this week. I think Lee is keeping her home to watch Alice or to keep her away from me.”
“She hasn’t been to my house,” Janya said. “She used to come often, but not since last Saturday.”
“I’m trying to stay friendly with Lee. I want him to know we have our eye on things, but that’s not enough. We don’t have any evidence—not really, anyway—that things are amiss over there. All we have are a few vague suspicions, maybe nothing more than a difference of opinion about what Alice needs. I was telling a college friend about this earlier, and she suggested I install a nanny cam.”
Wanda whistled softly. Janya looked perplexed, so Tracy explained. “It’s a hidden camera. And it records people without them knowing.”
“Is such a thing legal?”
“I can ask Kenny.” Wanda dusted the crumbs from her hands and reached for her coffee cup. “He’ll know what, if anything, we can do.”
“Then I guess we have to decide if we should go ahead with it. It’s such a huge invasion of privacy.”
“Let’s just wait and see what he says. For all we know, it’s done all the time.”
“That’s not a pretty thought.”
Wanda turned to Janya. “Now for the fun gossip. Who was that good-looking man waiting at your house after you dropped me off on Monday night? The one you were talking to outside on your lawn.”
Tracy thought lawn was a misnomer, but she noted Janya’s startled expression.
“You saw?”
“Chase had been cooped up all afternoon while you and I were gone. He needed a walk. I just caught a glimpse. Of course, it’s none of my business….” From Wanda’s tone, that last was more a formality than anything else.
“A man I knew in India.” Janya looked as if she were debating. “Darshan.”
“What?” Tracy slapped the sofa. “Are you kidding me? The man you were going to marry? He came here? All the way to Florida? To see you? What for?” She added Wanda’s line, with the same lack of sincerity. “Of course it’s none of my business….”
“Do you always say that? Here in America, when you want to know everything?”
“Only when we’re struggling to be polite.”
“I am not sure what he wants. He says he still loves me.”
“Get out!”
Janya looked startled for the second time. “Really? This offends you?”
“No, no! That’s just an expression. It means, like, you’re kidding me, okay? I don’t really want