“Where’s Astraea now?” I asked. “Do you think she knows I’m here? Why isn’t she taking care of the house and the garden?”
Marie’s face grew tight. “Astraea died a long time ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” I said. I shook my head, frustrated.
“What’s wrong?” Marie asked.
“It’s like everybody who could give me any real answers is gone. That leaves me in a weird place if I’m tryna figure things out.” As I went over this growing list of people who’d passed away and where that left me, something occurred to me. “How did Astraea die?”
Marie glanced at me, hesitating.
“My birth mother died, too. So did Circe and Astraea. Now that I think about it, I’m worried.” What was plaguing the Colchis family line to leave me the last one standing? The question unsettled me.
“Cause of death is tricky when you’re a Colchis,” Marie said.
I raised an eyebrow. “You wanna tell me what that’s supposed to mean?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “It means that if I walked into the records room at the county courthouse and asked for a copy of the coroner’s report for Astraea or even Selene, I promise you there’d be an issue. It’s been moved, lost, caught on fire in a back room somewhere . . .”
“You don’t know how any of them died?” I asked.
Marie shook her head. “No. I asked Circe about Astraea, but even she couldn’t give me any real answers. For a long time, I thought it was another secret, something else she’d sworn to keep private, but I don’t know anymore. Maybe she didn’t know what happened to her—or maybe she did, but didn’t want to tell me.”
“What about the coroner?” I asked. “This is a pretty small town. Maybe you could get the information directly from them?”
“This is a small place. So small that our medical examiner’s office and our funeral home have been run by the same family for years. I actually think that’s illegal, but on top of that, the guy in charge now is an asshole. And like I said, the records always happen to be unavailable or misplaced.”
“I understand what it’s like to have questions and feel like you can’t get a straight answer,” I said. “That’s how it’s been for me ever since I got here.”
Marie bristled. “Astraea was my friend and for somebody like me, real friends are hard to come by. If I knew what happened to her, maybe it’d make me feel less—I don’t know, less lost.”
My fear had ebbed completely, and I gently put my hand on Marie’s arm. She seemed vulnerable, unsure of what to do or say next. “I get it. Maybe I can help. Do you know how I can get ahold of the medical examiner?”
She pulled out her phone and a few seconds later, I had a text from her.
“That’s his information. I won’t get my hopes up, and you shouldn’t either.”
“We’ll see. Can’t hurt to ask,” I said. “Anyway, how’s Alec?”
“Alive,” she said.
I waited for her to elaborate and choked back a nervous laugh when I realized that the little ring in her voice sounded like disappointment.
“He’s upstairs,” she said quickly, noticing my confusion. “He’ll probably be in county lockup soon for trespassing on your property.” She looked disgusted.
“I already talked to my parents about that. Nobody wants him locked up. I’d be worried if my grandpa—”
Marie’s eyes widened for a split second. I stared at her, trying to decide how I was going to say what I was thinking without sounding rude. “You’re not telling me the whole truth about who he is to you. I don’t know why, but after everything you just said about your friend and how you hate being kept in the dark—”
“You’re right,” Marie interjected. “You’re right.” She studied me carefully. “He’s not my grandfather, but he is family, so I look out for him, even when he gets himself into trouble.”
“Okay.” I was happy she was willing to offer me that. “I can work with that.”
“Can we leave the rest of the questions for another time?” Marie asked.
“Actually, I have one more,” I said. “Were you sneaking around outside the house before I moved in?”
The corner of Marie’s mouth twitched like she was holding back a smile.
“Mrs. Redmond—the lawyer who’s handling all the legal stuff for the house—said she saw you in the driveway a few weeks ago. I was wondering why you were there.”
“I was making sure everything was on the up-and-up.