Excerpt of Included!

JOHN HARTtruck was gone. He was still out, I thought, still after the dogs. I looked forJamie’s truck, but it was gone, too. I opened the door to a cathedral silence,and followed the hall to my father’s study. I wanted something to put contextaround what Robin had said. A deed, a title policy, anything. I pulled on thetop drawer of the file cabinet, but it was locked. All of the drawers were locked.I paused, considering, and was distracted by a flash of color through thewindow. I walked to the glass and saw Miriam in the garden. She wore a solidblack dress with long sleeves and a high collar, and was clipping flowers withher mother’s shears. She knelt in the wet grass, and I saw that her dress wasdamp from having done so many times. The shears closed around a stem, anda rose the color of sunrise fell to the grass. She picked it up, added it to the bouquet;and when she stood I saw a small but satisfied smile.She’d piled her hair upon her head; it floated above a dress that might havecome from another age. Her movements were so fluid that in the silence,through the glass, I felt as if I were watching a ghost.She crossed to a different bush, knelt again, and clipped a rose as pale andtranslucent as falling snow.As I turned from the window, I heard a noise from upstairs, a sound likesomething being dropped. It would be Janice. Had to be.For no reason that I could articulate, I still wanted to speak with her. I guesswe had unfinished business. I climbed the stairs, and my feet were quiet on thethick runner. The upstairs hall was bathed in cold light through tall windows.I saw the farm below, the brown drive that cut through it. Oil paintings hungon the walls; a wine-dark carpet ran away from me; and the door to Miriam’sroom stood ajar. I stood at the crack and saw Janice within. Drawers werepulled open and she stood with hands on her hips, studying the room. Whenshe moved, it was for the bed. She lifted the mattress and apparently foundwhat she was looking for. A small sound escaped her lips as she held the mattresswith one hand and scooped something out from underneath. Shedropped the mattress and studied what lay in her palm; it glittered like a shardof mirror.I spoke as I stepped through the door. “Hello, Janice.”She spun to face me, and her hand closed in a spasm; she whipped it behindher back, even as she bit down in obvious pain.188