Ana
I stand, stunned. I can’t believe the things that Iggy has said, and yet I know them to be true. My friend, she’s stronger
than I ever imagined.
I glance around at the people in my life—my sister, her children, my best friend, now Timothy. What must he be thinking? What
will he do with what he’s learned? He made me some promises. But will he keep them?
Agnes must be turning in her grave.
After that awful Wolf Moon meeting so long ago now, Agnes was bereft. She wept in the kitchen while I brewed her a pot of
peppermint tea, generous with the honey since sweetness is needed after a shock.
Vera had raged at Agnes, rejected The Cove, lambasted our aunt for being responsible for Sadie’s death, for not stepping in
before Sadie had no choice but to kill her husband to save herself. You let your sister down, then you let her die.
Vera never, even that night, admitted that she was the one who killed our father.
And not just her. Vera and I foraged together for those mushrooms, finding them deep in the woods outside of town, nestled in the fragrant shade of a big live oak.
She always took responsibility for it in her heart, claimed I didn’t know what we were doing, that I was too young. But I did.
We replaced Sadie’s duxelles, the finely chopped mushrooms, shallots, and herbs sauteed in butter included in beef Wellington,
with our own. Sadie knew, I’m sure of it. Fatigued as she was by Mac and by our hardscrabble life, ground down to nothing
by his violence, by his hateful darkness. She made a show of telling us not to eat it, not eating it herself.
This is special, she said, just for your father.
“I took your sister in,” Agnes said to me. “I taught her everything.”
“She doesn’t want it, Aunt Agnes,” I told her. “But I do.”
Agnes put a gentle hand to my cheek. “You’re not ready, Ana. I’m not sure you will be. You lack discipline and self-control.”
I was angry that night, at both of them, at everyone, at the world. I think we all cried ourselves to sleep, bitterly disappointed
in each other. Family. It’s brutal. Am I right?
Now, the bonfire rages. Timothy looks shell-shocked, the firelight licking at half his face, casting the rest of him in darkness.
Who is he?
I told him at the gate: “If I bring you here, you have to stop being a cop for a while. You have to forget everything you
see and everything you learn here.”
“I don’t know if I can do that,” he said.
It was a desperate move. But I was desperate for my sister, my niece. For Iggy. I didn’t even know that the other kids had found their way there. I was afraid
for Noah, too, who I had abandoned to The Cove. I thought he might be here, as well.
The video Timothy showed me on his phone was of Iggy, Amanda, and Jessie driving Paul’s car from Amanda’s garage the night
of the murder. They all looked stricken, Amanda crying.
“Then leave me to it,” I said. “Go where you were going, do what you must, and forget you brought me here.”
“I don’t know if I can do that either.”
I stood waiting, edging away from him.
“Make your choice right now, Timothy. It’s that—” I nod to the world outside the gate. “Or it’s us, it’s here. Our world, our rules.”
I had no reason to think that this man who was a stranger, a lover, and then an enemy was someone I could trust with all my
secrets, our secrets.
But I swear I saw him shift off something he was carrying. And I remember watching him our first night, thinking I’d seen
him before, that I knew him. And I had that feeling again as he took my hand, and we walked through the gate.
Now I stand with my sister. I look over at her. Our eyes lock and I see that she’s made her decision, so many years later.
Better late than never. She nods, steps forward.
Lisander has tears in her eyes, is sagging with defeat. April has the good sense to look afraid when I pin her with my gaze.
I know she’s the one who poisoned Iggy. No one else could have or would have done it.
But the poison wasn’t meant for my friend; it was meant for me.
I gave my serving to Iggy never realizing.
When Vera speaks, her voice is bright and strong. I think Agnes would be proud. “Tonight, under the Wolf Moon, I take the
seat that Agnes left for me as the head of The Cove.”
Vera looks nothing like Agnes. She’s delicate like Sadie, but she has all Agnes’s strength, her power. Her voice carries into
the night, at one with the nature all around her.
This is her home, our home.
I see Coraline looking at her mother, the way I always have, with grudging awe. Why is Vera so strong? Because she’s had to
be. Her heart, torn jagged in its broken places, is stitched back together by wrath and love in equal measure. She has all
the power of the sister and the mother; she is justice, she is The Cove.
“And I’ll take this seat with my sister and my daughter by my side.”
“Mom!” says Coraline, running to Vera. Vera takes her in her arms and holds on tight, Grant coming to wrap them both up. Vera kisses her daughter on the crown of her head and reaches for my hand. We stand there together.
Lisander bows her head.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I thought it was you and Ana. That you killed Paul together. I believed that.”
“Who poisoned Iggy?” Vera asks.
“It was an accident,” says April, rising. “I knew no one but Ana would eat that horrible cassoulet. But she never touched
it. And Iggy ate so much of it.”
“Why?” asks Vera.
April sticks her chin out, wobbly from her stab wound but self-righteous as fuck.
“Because we knew she’d never let us bring you to justice. She’s wild and violent and needed to be contained. And we believed
you acted together. Ana has violated the rules of The Cove too many times. She deserved to be punished.”
“We were wrong,” says Lisander.
I’m calling bullshit. April just hated me. She always has. It was just the excuse she needed to get me out of her life.
“You didn’t even know Paul was dead before the brunch,” I say.
“Word came to us right away,” says Lisander. “A little bird from the medical examiner’s office let us know that poison was
suspected. And we believed you did it.”
“You tried to kill my sister,” says Vera, her voice cold. “And you nearly killed Iggy.”
April hangs her head in shame, and I’d almost feel sorry for her if she wasn’t a murderous bitch who tried to kill me.
“Lisander and April, you have violated the rules of The Cove. And you will have to face punishment. Step down and we will
reconvene tomorrow to discuss the future.”
April’s crying, too, now as they cede their seats.
She looks back and forth, between Vera and me, Iggy, Brock, and Noah in their tight little group.
And I feel an unwelcome twinge of pity for her.
Her mismatched eyes are filled with sadness.
We’re all just trying to find our place in this world, aren’t we?
Somewhere we belong, are safe, and known?
Vera’s not worried that they will run, that they won’t return to hear what punishment she decides to deliver. They don’t have
any place else to go. The Cove is their whole world.
My sister turns to Timothy. They lock eyes, square off.
“Detective Bandeau,” she says. “What did you see here tonight?”
There’s a battle on his face. Finally, he shakes his head, eyebrows raised, turns out his palms. “I honestly have no idea.”
Vera sighs, tense shoulders relaxing. “That was the right answer.”
The bonfire rages. The moon shines down upon us. The members of The Cove disappear into the darkness between the trees. Soon,
it’s just us in the winter night.
“You came for me,” says Vera, as if she’s surprised.
“Did you doubt it?” Then, “Don’t answer that.”
“Did you mean it?” says Coraline. “That I’ll run The Cove with you?”
“In time,” Vera says. “After college, if it’s still what you want.”
“I’m really confused,” says Autumn. “What is happening? I still have to turn in my essay.”
Coraline pulls her into a hug. “Don’t worry,” she says. “We’ll get it done together. There’s still time.”
Then Iggy is beside me and I take her into my arms.
“You didn’t have to save me,” I say, wondering if that’s true. “I didn’t deserve it. I’ve been such a terrible friend to you.”
“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” she says. “I couldn’t watch him hurt you.”
We look over to Amanda and Jessie, who embrace by the tree, holding each other. Obviously, a couple in love.
“And it wasn’t just for you. We did it for Jessie, too. She’s never been right since Paul hurt her.”
I pieced it together after I saw the video. Jessie was the blog author. She was Jezebel making threats on Paul’s ConnectIn
page.
“Sometimes justice is a dish best served cold.”
I hand Iggy her phone. “Was it Amanda who’s been texting you?”
“Yeah, she really took some big risks for this—for Jessie. For you. She was afraid.”
“She was brave.” I look over at her and Jessie. I dismissed them as normies; far from it.
Noah coos at me from Iggy’s arms. “I hear you’re his favorite auntie.”
“I’d better be.” I boop his nose, and he gives me that gooey smile.
Then Brock is leading Iggy off, back to get some much-needed rest. And the kids are gone, heading back to Agnes’s house.
“Can we trust him?” Vera is looking at Timothy, who is watching the fire. “Iggy just confessed to murder. Amanda and Jessie,
too.”
“I can’t explain it,” I say. “But I think we can trust him.”
Vera keeps her eyes on him.
“I think I might be able to help him with something he needs,” says Vera.
“I don’t doubt it.”
We both look over to the graveyard where Sadie and Agnes rest. I wish I could tell you that I saw them there, shimmering in
the moonlight, watching over us, guiding us toward right action. But I don’t.
The past is gone. It’s just us. Vera. Me. Coraline. The present. The future.