Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
A lice’s fingers trailed over the stack of papers spread before her on the dining room table. Each document represented hours of painstaking research, piecing together fragments of a century-old financial puzzle. She’d barely slept the night before, her mind racing with numbers and names, trying to make sense of the Everleighs’ tangled web of investments and debts.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs drew her attention. Eloise appeared, Aaron’s laptop tucked under her arm. Their eyes met, and Alice saw her own mix of excitement and trepidation mirrored in her friend’s face.
“Ready?” El asked, setting the laptop down on the table.
Alice nodded, taking a deep breath. “As I’ll ever be.” She nodded to the laptop. “Why do you have that?”
“Kelli found a letter that had some names in it, and I wasn’t sure when you’d be ready.”
“Almost there.” Alice picked up her coffee mug and took a sip. “I suppose I should text everyone who wants to come.” Her stomach vibrated with nerves, and she wasn’t even sure why.
“I can,” El said. “I can’t wait to hear what you’ve found. These people knew how to keep their secrets.”
“Don’t they always?” Alice murmured, more to herself than to El. She thought of her own past, the carefully cultivated image she’d maintained for years in the Hamptons. How easily it had all come crashing down.
Beeps and chimes filled the room as El’s text went through, and Robin poked her head up from the binder she’d been bent over on the kitchen island. “You’re ready?”
“Yep.” Alice waited while everyone gathered at the table—AJ, Kelli, Laurel, and Kristen coming from the living room; El pulled out a chair and sat; Robin wrote one more thing in her binder, slapped it closed, and took the seat at the end of the table.
Maddy, Julia, and Tessa were not here during the day, though they’d be here for dinner tonight. Clara and Scott and Lena would arrive this afternoon, probably about the same time as Mandie and Charlie. Alice’s pulse sped at the thought of seeing her son that evening.
“Where’s Jean?” she asked, glancing around at the others.
“She had to go get a diaper for Heidi,” Kristen said. “She’ll be right back.”
Sure enough, Jean bustled into the room, her dark-haired daughter on her hip, only a few moments later. “Sorry,” she said as she lowered Heidi into the living room where Daphne, James, and Asher had been contained by baby gates and furniture.
Once everyone had settled, the scraping of chairs and murmur of conversation faded into expectant silence. Alice cleared her throat, suddenly aware of the weight of their collective gaze.
“All right,” she began, her voice steady despite the flutter of nerves in her stomach. “I’ve spent the past few days combing through every scrap of financial information I could find on Edward and Elizabeth Everleigh. It’s…well, it’s a mess, to put it mildly.”
She picked up a yellowed newspaper clipping, holding it up for the group to see. “This is from 1910, two years before the fire. The Everleighs were at the height of their social and financial power. They’d just made a substantial donation to the local hospital, and there was talk of Edward running for mayor.”
“They sound like pillars of the community,” Robin said, leaning forward to get a better look at the clipping.
Alice nodded. “On the surface, absolutely. But underneath…” She spread out a series of bank statements and ledgers. “I found evidence of some very creative accounting. Edward was moving money around, creating what we’d call shell companies today, taking out loans under false pretenses and under different names. It started small, but by 1912, he was in over his head.”
“What about Elizabeth?” AJ asked. “Was she involved?”
Alice hesitated, thinking of the diary entries El had sent her, the growing desperation in Elizabeth’s elegant script. “I don’t think she knew the full extent of it, at least not at first. But some of the accounts were in her name—well, women couldn’t have bank accounts, but they were opened with a version of her name. Ben was the most common one, with some of the writing making that N look like a TH. So Ben or Beth.” Alice shrugged, because she couldn’t say for certain what had happened over a hundred years ago.
“Whether she was aware of that or not, I can’t say for certain.”
“So what happened?” Kelli asked, getting up as baby Daphne began to fuss in the other room. “How did it all fall apart?”
Alice took a deep breath, steeling herself for the next part. “From what I can piece together, it was a perfect storm of bad luck and worse decisions. The economy took a downturn, some of Edward’s investments went south, and then there was this man named Haversham.”
She saw Eloise perk up at the name, and Alice tilted her head at her. El simply shook her head though, and Alice looked down at her notes. “Haversham was some sort of business associate of Edward’s. I couldn’t find much concrete information on him, but it seems he was involved in some shady dealings. Edward borrowed heavily from him, thinking he could turn things around quickly.”
“But he couldn’t,” Kristen said softly, her eyes sad.
Alice shook her head. “No, he couldn’t. By December 1912, just before the fire, the Everleighs were on the brink of bankruptcy. There were whispers of fraud, of misused charitable donations. Edward was desperately trying to keep it all from crumbling, but…” She trailed off, not wanting to be the one to make accusations of people who’d long been gone.
“The fire changed everything,” Alice continued after a moment. “In the aftermath, all of the Everleighs’ financial misdeeds came to light, but there were no records of the shell accounts, the multiple loans, and it seems that most of their debt was went up in smoke too.”
“Wow,” Robin said, her voice tinged with awe.
“That’s one way to wipe out debt,” AJ said.
“The scandal was enormous,” Alice said. “Several investigations, and Elizabeth was forced to leave the house. She left the cove completely, and I lost track of her in Maryland.”
A heavy silence fell over the room. Alice looked around at her friends, seeing the weight of the Everleighs’ tragedy reflected in their faces. She thought of her own past, the careful facade she’d maintained in the Hamptons, how close she’d come to losing everything that truly mattered.
“What happened to the house after that?” Laurel asked, breaking the silence.
“I want to know if Edward died in the fire,” El said.
“Sadly, he did,” Alice said. She then looked at Laurel. “The house stood empty for decades. A reminder of tragedy and scandal that no one wanted to touch. Then, during World War Two, a wealthy family from Connecticut bought it.”
“Really?” Robin’s eyebrows shot up. “Who were they?”
“The Astors,” Alice replied, shuffling through her notes. “Richard and Margaret Astor. They were…well, frankly, they were a bit eccentric. They became fascinated with the history of the house, especially after finding some of Elizabeth’s old journals detailing her love of astronomy and astrology.”
“No wonder the manor is themed as such,” Kelli said.
“The Astors decided to take her love of the stars and space when they renovated. They’re the ones responsible for most of the celestial decor and naming conventions we see now.”
“So the house we’re staying in isn’t really the same one the Everleighs lived in,” AJ said.
“Not entirely, no,” Alice agreed. “But some of the inner bones are the same. And who knows? Maybe some of the Everleighs’ secrets are still hidden within these walls.”
As if on cue, a sudden gust of winter wind rattled the windows, making them all jump. A chill ran across Alice’s shoulders, and she caught Kristen’s eye and saw her own unease mirrored there.
No one else said anything, and Alice’s phone rang, the shriek breaking the silence.
“Hello, hello, hello!” Asher called from the living room, and Alice smiled in his direction.
“It’s Charlie,” she said, lifting her device. “I’m done here anyway. I’ll be right back.” She turned away from the group and stepped out onto the deck, leaving the others to talk without her. “Hey, you,” she said.
“Mom,” he said, and he sounded a bit out of breath. “My card isn’t going through at the ticket kiosk.”
And he wanted her to do what about it? “Okay,” she said. “Have you got your emergency card?”
“Can I use it?”
“Is it an emergency?”
“Yes,” Mandie practically yelled. “If we miss this ferry, Charlie, we’ll be getting there at almost midnight.”
“RideShare doesn’t run past ten on Rocky Ridge,” Alice said.
“We have to get on this ferry,” Charlie said. “So yes, it’s an emergency.” Scuffling came through the line, and he said, “Use that, Mandie. Hurry up.”
Alice blinked at the briskness in his tone, but Mandie didn’t argue with him.
“Okay, Mom, I think we’ll get on.”
“See you in a few hours then.”
“Yep, see you then.” He hung up as he started to say something else to Mandie, and Alice lowered her phone. She stood outside in the windy weather, the clouds shifting and moving across the horizon. She thought of Edward and Elizabeth, their desperate attempts to maintain the illusion of perfection even as everything crumbled around them.
How different was she, really? Hadn’t she done the same thing in the Hamptons, presenting a flawless facade to the world while her marriage disintegrated behind closed doors? While her life fell apart one piece at a time until they’d avalanched, she’d sold the house, and moved her and the children to the cove.
“Alice,” Robin said, and she turned back to her friend. “I just wanted to check and see if you needed help with the pool party tomorrow.”
“Uh, I think I’m good,” she said. “Mocktails, floaties, Christmas lights.” She gestured to the pool. “The pool.” She smiled as Robin joined her outside. “How hard can it be?”
“Not that hard,” Robin said. “I just want El to see that everything she’s done is worth it.”
Alice laced her arm through Robin’s and leaned her head against her shoulder. “I want that too.”
“Mandie just texted that they got tickets on the twelve-fifteen ferry.”
“Charlie called and had to use his emergency card.”
Robin turned to look at her, and Alice lifted her head. “He did?”
“He must have a problem with his.”
They fell into silence again, and then Robin said, “You’re not them, you know.”
She nodded, but the knot in her stomach didn’t ease. “I know, but I can’t help but see the parallels. The desperate need to maintain an image, to keep up appearances no matter the cost.”
“But you chose a different path,” Robin reminded her gently. “You walked away from all that. You built a new life here, with people who love you for who you are, not for some carefully crafted persona.”
Alice smiled and leaned into Robin again as some of the tension left her body. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. It’s just… sometimes I wonder if I’ve really changed as much as I think I have.”
“You want to know what I think?”
Alice thought about it for a moment. “Yes, of course.” If anyone would tell her the truth, it was Robin. She’d never pulled punches in the past, and they hadn’t always agreed either. But Alice loved her unconditionally, because she knew Robin loved her the same way.
“The very fact that you’re questioning it, that you’re so determined not to repeat past mistakes—that shows how much you’ve grown. You’re not perfect, none of us are. But you’re trying, every day, to be better. That’s what matters.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Robin took a big breath and then blew it out noisily. “El’s going to lunch with Aaron,” she said. “She told us we’re not invited, but Laurel wants to try that new fried chicken place near the ferry dock. Do you want to go?”
Lunch here, possibly alone, or fried chicken with her friends? This choice wasn’t even hard, and she said, “Yes, I’d love to go to lunch.”
They turned back to the house, and Alice half-expected some sort of flare-up in the overhead heater. Or for the lights to flash, or for something to happen.
Nothing did, but in the back of her mind, a small voice whispered: What other secrets are hiding within these walls? And how far are we willing to go to uncover them?