I thought about it for a moment. "The problem is, I'm not resigning."
He raised an eyebrow.
"If you want me to leave, you will have to fire me," I said.
He leaned forward in his chair, moving his head closer to mine, as if we were friends discussing a problem. "I am counting on you to understand. This isn't my choice. You have done a wonderful job with Patrick. Unfortunately, on some issues, I need to defer to Patrick's mother, and this is one of them. I have stood up for you against Robyn, Trent, and Mrs. Hopewell, as I'm sure you know. But too many things have happened now-things that are not your fault, of course. Still, for the sake of family cooperation and my wife's peace of mind, I need to let you go."
"Who is going to look out for Patrick?"
"I will. I promise you I will take a more active role. I should have done so long ago."
I don't trust any of them," I said. "Robyn, Brook, Trent, Mrs. Hopewell-l don't trust anyone with him but Emily."
"I understand what you are saying," Adrian replied, "and I will heed your warning." Then he offered me a preposterously large amount of money for only a week's worth of work, calling it severance pay.
I rejected the offer. "I'm not resigning."
So he fired me, handing me the large check anyway, and promising to write a stellar recommendation for whatever job I wanted in the future. Roger would drive me where I needed to go; I was to let him know when I was packed.
"What are you going to tell Patrick?" I asked.
"I'm not sure yet."
"May I stay till he comes home from school?" I saw in Adrian's eyes that the answer was no. I felt tears in my own. "Can't I say good-bye to him?"
"His mother is going to pick him up from school today and take him to Easton. They will have dinner there, which will give me some time to talk to the rest of the family. I am afraid that Emily doesn't want you to have further contact with him. I'm sorry, Kate. I can see that this is painful for you."
I stood up shakily, grasping the check, feeling it crinkle in my hand. I would keep it until I had transferred bank funds from England to insure that I could get by for several weeks more. Then I'd return the check to Adrian, just as I had returned the ring my father took.
Roger dropped me at Tea Leaves Cafe, as I requested. After two cheese pastries, I decided to call Amelia Sutter, who was kind enough to pick up me and my luggage, though returning to the Strawberry Bed and Breakfast may not have been the wisest of moves.
Amelia was bursting with curiosity about the Westbrooks. Fortunately the weather that day was mild, only a tattered blanket of snow remaining on the small lawns of the town, its sidewalks clear and dry. I escaped her questions and spent the afternoon wandering the back streets of Wisteria, avoiding Joseph's shop, feeling too raw to talk.
I left a message on Sam's home phone telling him that I had been fired and asking him to keep an eye on Patrick. I didn't mention where I was staying, for I was even less ready to talk to him. I knew he might go to Mason's Choice that evening to ask where I had gone, but I decided that was a good thing because he would check on Patrick while he was there. And perhaps Joseph, curious to know if I had learned anything at the pond and unable to reach me by cell phone, would call the estate. All the better. Attention from outsiders might persuade those at Mason's Choice that it would be risky to harm Patrick.
I wanted to think that Patrick was safe and that Sam was right: The real goal of the recent events was to get rid of me. I, with my interest in Ashley's death, was the true threat, and all that had happened to Patrick was staged to make me seem irresponsible, to frame me so that I would be fired. But each time I reached that logical conclusion, my gut told me that much more was going on.
I awoke Saturday morning ready to deal with what had occurred. I waited till ten o'clock, when the week-end guests at the Strawberry had left on their excursions, then called Joseph from the tiny room equipped with the B&B's guest phone. I found him at his mother's house.
"Katie!" He breathed into the phone. "Thank God! Where are you? I've been worried. Why didn't you tell me you resigned from Mason's Choice?"
"I'm calling to tell you now. And I didn't resign, I was fired."
"Yes, yes, but where are you? Adrian has been trying to reach you. And Sam Koscinski, both last night and this morning…." Joseph blew hard into the phone. "I know you like him, Katie, but he's a lunatic."
"I won't argue that. Why is Adrian looking for me?"
"Patrick's missing."
"What! When did this happen?"
Amelia, who was passing by the small phone room, paused outside the door.
"Sometime between last night and this morning." Joseph made his voice calm, perhaps to counter the panic rising in me. "According to Trent, Patrick was gone from his bed when Emily went to awaken him."
"He got outside the house unnoticed? Adrian didn't set the alarm?"
"If he did, someone turned it off. Trent said there was no forced entry."
I turned my back on Amelia, whose mouth moved as if she were silently repeating my words, trying to milk their full meaning.
"Did they-did they check the pond? Did they look for signs of-" I couldn't complete the thought. "Did they look for some sign of him there?"
"Yes. Trent said they have looked everywhere on the estate."
"The empty houses and the hayloft? The pool, the orangerie-" "Everywhere on Mason's Choice."
"The old barn, the beach, the cemetery, the docks-" I couldn't stop thinking of places that were full of danger for a child like Patrick.
"Everywhere, Katie."
"Trent told you this?"
"He left here about twenty minutes ago. Adrian sent him as his envoy. He thought you might be staying with me.
I glanced over my shoulder at Amelia. There was a door to the room, but it was propped open by an iron doorstop. "Excuse me a moment," I said to Joseph. "Amelia, would it be all right if I moved that doorstop and closed the door?"
"No need," she said cheerfully. "There's only me here."
"I understand, but this is a private conversation."
"Oh. I wasn't really listening." She moved on, walking rather slowly.
"What do the police think?" I asked Joseph, keeping my voice low. "Adrian did call the police."
"No, not yet."
"What is he waiting for!" I exclaimed. But, of course, I knew why he hadn't contacted the authorities and why he would put if off as long as possible. "He suspects someone in his family removed Patrick."
"Katie, I don't like telling you this, but Trent came here because Adrian suspected you."
"Me! Why would I do such a stupid thing?"
"Revenge," Joseph suggested. "Anger at being fired."
"But it makes no sense," I argued. "It would confuse and upset Patrick and, in the end, where would it get me?"
"You keep believing that Adrian is as rational and compassionate as you," Joseph replied.
"Perhaps. I need some time to think. Are you going to the shop?"
"I was just about to depart."
"I'll meet you there in a half hour," I told him.
As soon as I hung up, I punehed in the numbers for Adrian's cell phone. I reached his voice mail and left a message saying I knew nothing about Patrick's disappearance and could be reached for a limited time at the antique shop, leaving that number as well as Amelia's. I saw no point in speaking to anyone else in the household. I didn't trust Emily to keep a clear head and relate accurate information; as for the others, I didn't trust them at all.
Finally, I called Sam's home. I thought I was calm and collected, but as soon as I heard Mrs. Koscinski's voice, I felt the moisture in the corners of my eyes. She said Sam had gone on an errand. "He received your message last night and has been trying to find you, Kate. Is everything all right?"