hastened her steps to keep up with the officer’s long stride. After passing through two key-padded doors, they arrived at a door that read ‘Chief of Police’ on the placard.
The officer knocked and stood with her hands clasped behind her back.
Rose straightened her spine, then thought better of it. She loosened her shoulders. There was no reason to be nervous about anything.
The door swung open and Rose – fully expecting to see Patrick – saw a stone-faced Shane in the doorway.
His arms were crossed in front of him. ‘You have more information?’
The female officer abandoned Rose. The rapid clicking of her shoes matched the pace of Rose’s heartbeat. She’d expected Patrick to be alone, but it made sense that Shane would be with him since he was taking over soon.
She craned her neck to peer around him. ‘Is Patrick here?’
‘Through here,’ Patrick said from inside of the room.
Rose squeezed by Shane. He moved to the side, barely letting her through the doorway.
‘Sorry to barge in without an appointment.’
‘No need to apologize,’ Patrick said, waving her over to one of the chairs in front of his desk.
Patrick’s office was simple. Rose wouldn’t think of him any other way. Two tall filing cabinets and a bookcase took up one side of the room. The only window in the room looked out onto the main road. She wondered if they saw her coming and were expecting more from her, when in fact she wanted something from them.
‘You have more information about the case?’ Shane repeated. He moved to stand in front of her, leaning up against the desk. His sunglasses perched on top of his head. She preferred them between her and his piercing gaze.
‘No.’ She sat in the chair, wondering if this was the worst idea she’d ever had. Clearing her throat, she said, ‘I wanted to know if there was any information on the girl.’
Shane and Patrick shared a look.
‘What information do you need?’ Patrick asked.
‘Are you sure it was a suicide?’ Rose asked.
Shane stood all the way up, leaning forward. ‘Do you have any reason to think otherwise?’
‘No. I – I can’t imagine what her family must be feeling.’ Rose knew loss.
Shane’s eyebrows drew together, and he tilted his head to the side as if he were a dog listening to a high-pitched whistle. Was her request that out of the ordinary?
‘That’s understandable,’ Patrick said. ‘But without a body there’s no way we can identify her.’
‘Then, potentially, she could be alive,’ Rose said.
‘She didn’t come out of the water,’ Shane said. ‘At least that was what you reported, correct?’
Rose’s heart sunk in her chest, enough that she thought her ribs were going to cave in.
‘Listen, Rose.’ Patrick got up from his chair. He rounded the desk and sat down next to her. ‘There was nothing you could do. It’s a tragedy, but you shouldn’t worry about it. If we find out anything, I’ll be sure to let you know.’
‘Is that how it works around here?’ Shane asked him.
Patrick glanced at Rose and pressed his lips into a thin line. ‘Rose is upset. We take care of our own around here.’
‘But sharing confidential information like that, to a civilian?’
Rose gritted her teeth, listening to them speak as if she wasn’t in the room.
Patrick rubbed his hands together as if he were trying to start a fire out of thin air. ‘Rose isn’t on trial here,’ Patrick said.
Shane carried on as if he hadn’t heard the chief. ‘If you know something, tell us. Otherwise, all we have to go on is your word. And right now, it looks like a suicide.’
The rush of the ocean filled her ears and the room tilted. A flash of the girl under the water filled her vision. Heat surged under her skin and tears pricked behind her eyes.
Rose stood from her chair. The legs scraped against the tile floor. ‘I’m sorry I came.’ Her fingers brushed over her eyes, wiping away her tears. If she could pick one thing she hated about herself, it would be breaking down with intense emotion.
Once she was in the hallway, she dashed toward the exit. She avoided eye contact with the female officer in the lobby and shoved through the front doors.
By the time she reached her car she was out of breath. Why was this girl affecting her so? Why couldn’t she accept that she’d committed suicide? There was nothing that told her otherwise. Rose was there. She saw the girl jump. But without the body, a shred of hope bloomed in her chest.
Where her life once made sense, now it was a jumble of questions. Was she the only one fighting for this girl? With the push back from Patrick and Shane, Rose knew she had to be careful if she wanted some answers.
And she would get them with or without their help.
The library had closed around seven o’clock that night. If the girl walked from the library to the pier, someone had to have seen her.
Rose’s skin prickled as she pulled into the parking lot for the second time in two days. It wasn’t completely for the memory of nearly mowing the girl down, but for the possibility of finding out who she was and why she thought that ending her life was more important than life itself.
The sun had started its descent in the sky, and she knew Missy would call soon. It had been some time since the two of them met up. Rose missed her friend. Seeing her at work wasn’t the same as being with her outside of The Siren. Most of their conversations revolved around Pearl. Rose’s top priority was building their friendship back up to where it used to be before Pearl had started her steep descent.
A shiver rolled down her spine as she thought of her mother. She hoped that if Mom had any lucid moments she wouldn’t accuse Rose of abandoning her in that place. Would she ever remember how much Rose tried to keep their family together? It started after Dad died. The threads between the three women left behind whittled away until they frayed and were too thin to grasp. First, Mom checked out of her life, followed by Reen’s unexpected departure.
As she entered the library, Rose’s shoulders dropped slightly. There was something about this place that made her feel more at home than her actual house. Several stone columns reached up to the two floors with elegantly curved capitals at the top. A wrought-iron railing was the only segregation between the first and second floors, giving an opportunity for those in the stacks to have access to the patrons below.
The sound of Rose’s footsteps echoed across the open space.
The openness reminded her of The Burrow as a whole, where nothing divided the citizens from each other. Which led to thin boundaries. That was why she was determined to learn all the secrets of the girl who’d jumped. She seemed to be the only one who believed there was something more to it.
There wasn’t much time to get the answers she wanted, so she didn’t waste any time heading over to the circulation desk at the center of the main lobby.
The librarian, Mrs. Henshaw, glanced up at her. A smile pulled at the wrinkles around her mouth. She dropped her pink-rimmed glasses to her chest, and they hung there, held up by a thin-corded rope around her neck.
‘Back so soon?’ Mrs. Henshaw asked.
Since Rose started coming to the library, Mrs. Henshaw hadn’t aged a day.
Rose leaned against the top of the desk, picking at her cuticles. How was she going to start this conversation?
Mrs. Henshaw was a stickler for the library hours, and she’d close shop soon. ‘I