Dangerous Women

SNEAKER WAVE by ANNE PERRY

Tonia was driving and Kate was in the front seat beside her, talking about the route, which left Susannah free to gaze at the sublime coastline stretching in brilliant blue to the western horizon. Not that the route needed any discussing. They were simply following the rim of the ocean south from Astoria the twenty miles or so to the beach house where they were going to spend a few days together.

It was spring 1922, and they had seen little of each other in the last few years since the war. Of course, America had been involved in it only toward the end, but it had still brought tremendous changes into their lives. Even as far west as the Oregon coast they had felt the reverberations of the conflict in Europe. Society could never be the same again with the return of peace.

Was “peace” the right word? Susannah looked at the shining width of the Pacific spread out before her as the car eased speed, climbing up the gradient. There were pine trees to the left, forests stretching inland with a wealth of timber that made families like hers rich, and north was the vast Columbia River with its seemingly inexhaustible salmon, supplying canneries that exported to the world. But “peace”? That was an inner quality, and as she watched her elder sisters in front- Tonia polite, proud, all her hurt suppressed under careful control; Kate, her grief exploding now and then into scalding temper-peace did not seem the word to use.

“We can’t expect this perfect weather to last,” Kate said, turning in her seat to stare out to sea. The coastline was dazzling, cliffs and rocky promontories jagged, waves crashing in and white surf shining in the sun.

“Of course not,” Tonia agreed, her voice edged with emotion. “Nothing ever does.”

Kate kept her face turned away. “Then we’d better make the best of it while we can. A little rain won’t hurt-it’s only the endless gray days I really mind. I don’t even care if there’s a storm-they can be magnificent.”

“You wouldn’t,” Tonia replied, taking her hand off the wheel for a moment to push her hair back. She had it aggressively short in the new fashion. It was dark, and beautiful, emphasizing the strength of her features.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Kate said suspiciously.

“That you like storms, of course,” Tonia answered with a tiny smile. “Thunder, lightning and the closeness of danger. Don’t you? The electricity in the air?”

“I like the wind and the sea,” Kate said, as if she were measuring her words, sensing that she needed to be careful.

Tonia smiled, a secret expression, knowing more than she was saying.

“I wonder if we’ll see any whales,” Susannah put in. “They go north about this time of the year.”

“If you are prepared to stand and watch long enough, I daresay you will,” Tonia answered her. “You were always good at watching.” She seemed about to add something, then changed her mind.

It left Susannah feeling uncomfortable without knowing why. She had always regarded Tonia with admiration and some awe. She was beautiful, clever, thirty-three years old to Kate’s twenty-nine and Susannah’s twenty-five. It was Tonia who had married the brilliant, charming Ralph Bessemer. What a wedding that had been! All Astoria that mattered had been there, happy, showing off, touched with envy, but hiding it for the most part. It was money marrying more money. What else did anyone expect? And Antonia Galway was the perfect bride for him, with her looks, her poise, her heritage, she would be all he wished, not only to answer his love, but to help achieve his ambitions.

But that had been years ago. Now Ralph was dead, and neither Kate nor Susannah had married, at least not yet.

They were nearly there. The beach house had belonged to the family for years. Before the war their parents had come here often. It was full of memories, most of them happy. After their deaths the sisters had come less often, but only because other aspects of life had taken up too much time.

Tonia swerved the car off the road onto the track and five minutes later they pulled up in front of the small wooden house, less than a hundred yards from the edge of the shingle, and then the long slope down to the hard sand. There were a few trees close by, single, wind-bent pines, brave enough to stand alone against the winter. Farther up the slope were rhododendrons in scarlet and amethyst profusion right into the shade of the forest canopy. They were wild now, but someone had planted them once.

“Don’t sit there, Susannah!” Tonia said briskly. “We’ve got to unpack!”

Susannah snapped out of her daydream and obeyed. They had one suitcase each for clothes, heavy skirts and jackets against the wind, strong shoes, warm woollens and night clothes. Added to that, of course, there were boxes of food, bed linen, towels, cleaning materials. They would leave the place as they found it! And books to read, a jigsaw puzzle and a little hand work, Kate’s embroidery, Tonia’s crocheting, Susannah’s sewing. They might never touch them; it depended on the weather. Miserable thought, but it could rain for a week, quite easily.

They carried the boxes in, unpacked and put away, made up the beds and lit the fire in the sitting room and the potbellied iron stove in the kitchen, for cooking and hot water. Fuel had never been a problem, there was driftwood enough to last a lifetime. Carrying it in and sawing it to manageable lengths was really a man’s job, but as many people had discovered since the war, women could do most things, if they had to.

“I’d like to go along the beach before we eat,” Kate said, standing at the big window in the sitting room and staring across the rough grass to the shore. She could see the curve of the point to the south, and the long sweep of the bay to the north, and the calm water of an inland lagoon, where a small river emptied out into a natural basin before finding its way to the sea. That was motionless now, and two blue herons made an elegant, sweeping pattern across the pale sky before landing somewhere out of sight.

“Good idea,” Susannah agreed, longing to feel the hard sand under her feet, and stride out before settling for the night. Astoria was on the water, but it was the river, and mighty as the Columbia was, for her it had always lacked the sheer, unfettered power and vitality of the ocean. On this particular shore I he waves broke incessantly, even on a windless day. There was something in the formation of the land that caused the water crest and break in white spume, gather and break again, and again, so that as far as the eye could see along the shore white water was hurled high against the blue sky, and crashed in boiling foam to race up the beach. If ever the ocean were alive, was here.

Tonia gathered her coat in silent agreement, and the three of them set out, walking abreast over the grass then picking their way with care down the drop to the stones, through the washed-up driftwood, and then at last to the sand. The tide was out and there was plenty of room to walk. The wind was soft, and the fall of the waves had a steady, comforting boom and roar.

Kate lifted her face to the wind, her dark auburn hair blowing off her face, showing the lines of her cheek and brow clear, and yet oddly vulnerable, as if she had known too much pain, and still carried it with her.

Tonia was walking a little ahead now, looking toward the sea. Susannah wondered if Tonia saw in Kate any of the same things that she did. Did she sense the guilt, or only the anger? Had she even the remotest idea how much of it was grief? Ralph had been dead for over a year now, but of course the pain was older than that. There had been the two years before, when he had been in prison. How the world could shatter in one short week! At least it had for Kate, and for Tonia.

For Susannah it had broken slowly, like a creeping decay, getting worse a day at a time, until it had become unbearable. But they didn’t know that. They were striding out now ahead of her, hair blowing, skirts molded against their bodies by the wind, no more than a breeze really, but nothing to soften it between here and Japan!

She bent and picked up a sand dollar, a perfect one. How few things were as perfect as they seemed. She had thought Ralph was perfect once. But then so had Tonia, and Kate. Had he laughed at that-all three sisters?

She used to think he had the best, the most robust and individual sense of humor, that his laughter healed all the little scrapes and abrasions of life, made them stop mattering and sink into things worthy only of jokes-and then forgetting. But she used to think a lot of silly things, once.

She put the sand dollar down again, gently, so it would not break. There were other shells also, most of which she did not know the names for. She did know the razor shells, and knew to be careful touching them; the edges could gash deep. In fact you could pretty well cut someone’s throat with the big ones, the sort you found in rock pools at the point, when the tide was low.

They were about twenty feet from where the waves finally stopped, hesitated, and then sucked back and under into the deep water again. The sand was wet, but she was not quite sure whether the tide was going in or out. Kate was nearest the sea, Tonia next to her. The light was lengthening, the air a little cooler, the mountains of white foam more luminous.

Then suddenly one wave didn’t stop, it kept on coming, surging farther up the sand, swift and deep, and Kate was in it up to her calves, her boots and skirt soaked, and Tonia only just escaped because she saw it in time and ran, skirts flying.

The wave sucked back again, almost knocking Kate off balance, drawing the sand from under her, and she gasped with the shock and the cold. Then she started stumbling up, wet skirt slapping around her ankles. Tonia looked at her with wide eyes, her expression unreadable. “Forgot about the sneaker waves, eh?” she observed.

“I’m sodden!” Kate said in fury. “My boots, my skirt, everything! For heaven’s sake, you could have warned me! Or at least got out of my way!”

Tonia’s eyebrows shot up. “Warned you? My dear, you know the Oregon coast as well as I do! If you didn’t see a sneaker wave coming, then you weren’t paying attention, your mind was somewhere else. And I am not in your way. The beach is wide enough for all of us.”

“You saw it in time to run!” Kate accused, her anger still clear in her face. “I would have warned you!”

Something close to a smile touched Tonia’s mouth. “Would you?” she asked. “Would you really, Kate?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Kate shouted at her. “Of course I would!”

“I wonder.” Tonia turned away.

Susannah waited for Kate to retaliate, then saw her standing still, the wet skirt clinging around her legs, ice cold in the wind. She was watching Tonia walk away, and there was embarrassment in her expression and even a touch as if it were the beginning of fear.

Susannah caught her breath, and felt her heart pounding. As clearly as if she had heard words, she knew what was in Kate’s mind, the horror and the shame. And yet she had gone on doing it, as if she couldn’t stop. Ralph had been Tonia’s husband, charming, witty, ambitious, bound for the State Senate, and perhaps the governor’s mansion one day not too far away.

Now she was terrified that Tonia knew, or at least suspected. Did she? Was that the hidden meaning behind her words? Or was it just bereavement in Tonia, loneliness and crushed pride, because Ralph had fallen so far? And in Kate the guilty fleeing where no man pursued, because she had the taste of her own betrayal always in her mouth?

Tonia bent and picked up a shell. It must have been a good one, because she put it in her pocket, then looked back at Kate. She barely seemed to notice Susannah, as if she had been a seagull, or some other natural thing that belonged here, but was of no importance.

Susannah was not offended past the first moment of feeling excluded. After that it was relief. If Tonia did at last suspect something, it was Kate she was thinking of. Kate’s betrayal of her was wrong, in anyone’s eyes. One might understand it- oh, so very easily! Memory of Ralph filled her and surrounded her, like the sweep of the salt air enclosing her in its arms, filling her senses and burning into her mouth, her lungs, even her mind. Except that it was clean and sweet, and it was boundless, enough for every living thing. For one to take it did not rob another. Yes, she could understand Kate, any woman might, however they condemned.

Would they condemn Susannah? Would they see it as the act of a woman scorned, used and cast aside, a petty act of jealousy and revenge?

It hadn’t been. But it would still cut deep, right to the bone, if it were thought to be. It would help little if strangers knew it had been so desperately difficult, an act of terrible decision, fought and struggled over, the choice between betrayal of others, or of self and all she knew to be right. She needed that understanding from those she cared for.

But in her heart she knew Tonia at least would never understand. She had loved Ralph with a consuming devotion. Perhaps some of it had been ambition, seeing his possibilities, and his hunger to achieve them, and maybe more than a little of it had been the pride of ownership. The most charming, intelligent, polished man in Astoria had been hers. Of all the well-bred and elegant young women who had chased him, she had been the one he chose. But there had been a good deal of plain human passion as well, the laughter, the warmth, the ache to love and be loved, the pounding heart at his step, the happiness when he smiled, the sound of his voice even when he wasn’t there, the perfect memory of his smile. No, Tonia would not understand or forgive anything that Susannah had done. Thank God she did not know.

For that matter, Kate would not forgive it either. That was as certain as nightfall. Her rage would be absolute, in spite of her own betrayal. She would not see it as passion, and therefore wrong, but so very pardonable. She would see it as cold-hearted vengeance-which it was not! In the end it had been her only choice!

But thank God Kate did not know either. This was the first time the three of them had been alone together since Ralph’s death, and they were going to spend five days here, each guarding their secrets. They would smile and talk as if there were nothing to pretend about, no lies, no hidden rage or pain. It would be the ultimate test!

They were making their way back toward the house, the wind behind them now, cooler as the sun was lower on the horizon, spilling a bright path across the water and tipping the great curling heads of the waves with pale fire. The thunder of them breaking never ceased, yet it was an oddly peaceful sound, like the breathing of the earth. This time they did not walk close enough for a sneaker wave to catch them.

Susannah could not get the thought of that out of her mind as she watched Kate struggle against the close, wet fabric. It must be horribly cold against her legs, but she did not speak of it again.

The next morning was warm and fair. At this time of the year it could not be taken for granted that it would last, so when Tonia suggested that they drive south along the coast road, and walk around the next cape under the pine trees, both Kate and Susannah accepted the idea.

After breakfast they set out, Tonia driving as usual. It was half an hour’s journey. They made trivial conversation about mutual friends, the condition of the road, even political subjects such as the situation in Europe in the attempt to rebuild after the devastation of over four years of war that had taken the lives of more than ten million men, and maimed or crippled God knew how many more. It was a grim thing to think of, but it was safe. There was nothing personal in it, nothing to dig up their own still festering wounds.

They parked the car and walked in the sun up the steep footpath out above the sea. They heard the sharp, clear song of a red-winged blackbird, and a moment later saw it sitting on a branch, its brilliant patches of scarlet easily visible. The wild honeysuckle was in bloom, and the scent of pine needles gave the air a pungency that seemed to wash away every sour thought or memory, as the sight of the sea took it from the mind.

They watched in the distance for the sight of whales breaching, the white spout of water against the blue that would give away their position. Below them the white ranks of waves broke endlessly on the sand, dazzling the eye, the offshore wind carrying the spray back like smoke from their crests.

“This is perfect,” Kate said with a smile. “I can’t think of anything more beautiful.”

“It looks it,” Tonia agreed. “Especially from up here. But looks can deceive, can’t they, Kate. You should know that.”

Kate was startled. “What’s that supposed to mean? Just because I got caught by the wave yesterday evening! Whoever was walking closest to the water could have been caught. It just happened to be me.”

“Is that how you see life?” Tonia’s smile was cold. “Nothing is cause and effect, no responsibility? It just happens to be you?”

A flick of temper lit in Kate’s eyes. “Isn’t that rather a stretch? I got my feet wet by a sneaker wave, so my whole life’s philosophy is irresponsible? I could just as easily say that you ran up the shore without warning me, so your whole life is to run away from things and leave other people to suffer!”

“By other people, you mean you?” Tonia asked, a mild humor in her voice. “Are you sure you mean me? Susannah didn’t get wet either. She walked well away from the water all the time.”

“Oh, good for Susannah!” Kate said sarcastically. “How wise! How brave!”

Were they talking about the wave, or something else? Susannah was cold in the sun. Did Tonia know, and this was her way of telling Kate? She intended to make those needle-sharp remarks all week, until Kate’s hot, wild temper broke and there was a real fight between them, which somehow Tonia would win.

Somehow! Tonia had been Ralph’s wife! Kate had been his mistress. There could be no justification for that, no moral or social right. They would both say bitter things, and the freeing of the anger might be momentarily a relief, but there would be no forgetting, no going back to where they had been before. Tonia would call Kate a thief, even a whore, and a betrayer of everything that family meant.

Kate would point out that Ralph had married Tonia, but had grown tired of her, and in the end preferred Kate. It was Kate he had loved. Nothing could change, or heal that now. Tonia would have no charge to counter with. It was the truth.

Susannah was twisted with sorrow for them both. They had both loved him, in their ways, and believed he had loved them.

Of course they were wrong! The difference was that Tonia knew it, however she had learned! Kate still didn’t. She didn’t know that Ralph Bessemer had loved no one. He had been an arrogant, ambitious man who used people to satisfy his own appetites, physical, yes, but mostly for power, admiration, money and to be endlessly admired.

Susannah knew that! She knew beyond doubt it was the truth. Perhaps Tonia still believed somewhere in her heart that the trial had been unjust, there had been no theft, no long, careful corruption so Ralph could gain the political office he hungered for so intensely. Perhaps that was his only real hunger. Women were a pleasant route to its achievement, like a good meal to sustain you on a journey.

Had he ever loved Tonia? Or was she simply an advantageous marriage? Had he loved Kate, or was she just entertaining, and fun to take, so he could deceive the bossy, possessing Tonia, and laugh behind her back?

Susannah knew perfectly well why he had come after her! At least she knew now! At first she had imagined he had loved her. Standing here in the bright air above the roar of the waves, smelling the pine and the honeysuckle, she could remember how sweet had been the few, intoxicating weeks when his smile had lit her daydreams, his voice wakened her imagination, the touch of his hand sent her heart pounding, blood racing in her veins.

But he had been too sure of himself! He had asked for her help too soon. Two sisters won, he had taken the third for granted. She was to be of use, no more. She was in the perfect position, trusted by bank officials, to pass him the information he wanted. But she had used it to trap him instead.

No one else knew that, of course. Tonia had no idea it was Susannah who had told the police where to look, and had in effect put the pieces together for them. She thought it was that clever detective, Innes. She had blamed him, and he had been happy enough to be credited with the downfall of a figure as prominent as Ralph Bessemer, and as corrupt! The State Senate had been saved from profound damage, and he had been promoted.

Naturally Kate had believed the same. Kate was passionate, funny, hot-tempered, softhearted at times, often thoughtless. But above all she was uncomplicated. She would not look behind the obvious.

They were walking slowly back into the shade of the pines. There were wild brambles at the side of the track.

“There’ll be fruit to pick in the fall,” Tonia observed. “You’ll like that, Kate! Just be careful you don’t get caught on the thorns. You can get nasty scratches, very deep. And they can get infected, if you’re really unlucky.”

“I’ll be careful,” Kate replied a little tersely.

“Oh-so you’ve learned, have you?” Tonia turned for a moment to glance behind her, her face cold, delicate arched eyebrows high.

“I’ve always been careful picking berries,” Kate retorted.

“So you have,” Tonia agreed. “Or any other fruit. You’ve managed to get in and out without a scratch at all, and take the prize with you.” She turned back to look where she was going again.

Kate hesitated in her stride. By now she had to be as sure as Susannah was that Tonia knew. She was playing a game, saying, and not saying, pricking the skin with wounds until Kate lost her temper and provoked an open quarrel!

What then? Shouting, accusation, misery, guilt? Was that what Tonia wanted, that Kate should feel that bitter, corroding shame of the betrayer exposed? It would do no good. Nothing Ralph had said or done would be changed, and above all he would not be brought back to love or cheat either of them!

But she could not tell Tonia that without giving away that she knew!

They reached the car in silence and got in. The drive back in the dappled sunlight should have been wonderful, but the outward beauty of the day was already clouded over for all of them. All the way back, and through lunch in the house, Tonia made double-edged remarks, and Kate got angrier and angrier. Twice she hit back, but the sharpness of it was tempered by the knowledge of her own guilt. Susannah could see it in her face, the flare of temper, the perfect answer in her eyes, then the tight control because she remembered all the reasons why Tonia was riddled with hurt, why at least in one respect she had every right to retaliate.

But shame would not bridle her tongue forever. Susannah knew that without a second’s hesitation. Surely Tonia did as well?

After lunch there were chores to do, dishes, preparation for the evening meal, wood to collect and a little to cut. In the middle of the afternoon Kate announced that she would go for a walk around the inland water, preferably alone, and look for the blue herons.

Susannah turned to Tonia. “I’d like to go along the beach again. Will you come with me?” Perhaps she could persuade her out of the quarrel.

“Of course,” Tonia agreed. “That’s an excellent idea.”

Susannah was pleased, and surprised. Maybe it was not going to be so difficult after all.

It was a little cooler than yesterday, but still pleasant, and the tide was even farther out, leaving them plenty of room to walk along the sand below the stones.

Tonia was smiling. Her shoulders were tense and she walked with purpose rather than ease, but still it was a great improvement on the morning. Perhaps she had gone as far as she meant to?

Susannah was undecided whether to say anything or not. Now might be her only chance. Three more days of this bitter innuendo would be unbearable. How could she do it without betraying herself?

“Tonia?”

“Yes?” They had stopped walking and were staring at the tumbling water.

“Do you have to go on making such a point of Kate getting caught in the wave? Does it really matter?”

Tonia bit her lip thoughtfully, then she looked sideways back at Susannah. “Do you mean that I should forget all the past, and think only of the moment now, and the future?” she asked. Her eyes were narrowed a little, intent on the answer, her expression completely unreadable.

“I didn’t mean anything so sweeping,” Susannah replied, and then knew instantly that it was a lie, and not a good one. Tonia did not believe it. That was exactly what she had meant. She stumbled to retrieve it. “Just not the wave, the… the brambles. It sounds as if…”

She did not know how to finish.

Tonia was smiling, not with warmth but with amusement, an inner anticipation as if she foresaw exactly where they were going, and intended it. “Yes?”

“As if you’re deliberately trying to provoke her,” Susannah finished lamely.

“Oh? Why on earth do you imagine I would want to do that?” Tonia asked. She looked absolutely innocent, but in that instant Susannah knew with an ice-cold certainty that Tonia was perfectly aware of the love affair between Ralph and Kate, and that she intended to exact her revenge for it, slowly, drop by drop if necessary. It was in her eyes, like a hard, bright edge, and in her smile.

Susannah drew in her breath. Dare she say it, openly? There was something in Tonia that made her hesitate, a power, and memory of the days when she had been the eldest sister, to be admired, obeyed, whose praise mattered most.

“Because you’re grieving for Ralph, and you want to hurt her,” she said aloud. It was a compromise, half of the truth.

“My grieving for Ralph makes me want to hurt Kate?” Tonia asked. “Or are you suggesting his death has unhinged my mind?”

“No! Of course not!” Susannah protested.

“It might have,” Tonia replied, her eyes narrowed against the sharp, afternoon sun reflected off the white water. “After all, to have your husband sent to prison for five years, subjected to the vile life inside such a place, forced to mix with the worst people in our state, and then finally driven into a corner by them, and murdered like an animal-don’t you think that could be enough to drive some women out of their senses?”

She knew! It was a sick certainty twisting like a knife in the pit of Susannah’s stomach. Tonia knew that it was she who had told the police about Ralph. Did she also know that Ralph had tried to make love to her, not because he cared for her, or even was attracted to her, but in order to use her in his corruption? No, probably not. She opened her mouth to defend herself, and realized there was no defense. Tonia did not care why; the fact was all that mattered. She did not want reason; she wanted pain in payment for her own.

Susannah gulped, her mouth dry, her legs suddenly weak. She was afraid, and furious with herself for it. Had it been anyone except Tonia she might have been able to face them. She was not wrong! What else could she have done? Sleep with Ralph, betray the bank so he could use the money to win a Senate seat? Was that what Tonia would have wanted?

Yes, probably. Ralph didn’t love her! He was arrogant enough to think a smile from him, a little passion that would pass for love, and she would do whatever he wanted. He would throw her away afterward, and she would be too mortified, too ashamed to tell anyone.

“Yes,” she said aloud, looking back at Tonia. “I suppose it might be enough to drive some people mad-but you’re not ‘some people.’ You won’t lose sight of reality. It was a tragedy Ralph was murdered. It wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t Kate’s fault either. They got the man who did it, and he’s been executed.”

“Oh, yes,” Tonia agreed. “He’s dead.” There was a look of momentary, intense satisfaction in her face, almost joy. “Did I suggest it was Kate’s fault? I didn’t mean to. No, Kate would never have hurt Ralph, I know that. And she wouldn’t have wanted him in prison either.” Her voice was laden with meaning, her face hard, the wind whipping her dark hair across it.

They were twenty yards from where the breaking water reached, and as they stood there another sneaker wave came racing up the sand and stopped only a couple of feet short of Tonia’s shoes. She ignored it, as if she knew she were impervious to such things. There was something frightening in her calm, the sense of complete control in her eyes, her face, even the way her body braced against the wind.

Susannah was as certain as she was of nightfall that Tonia intended to take her revenge, her own concept of justice, for Kate’s betrayal of her, and for Susannah’s. She could do it here, away from Astoria, where no one else would see her, and she would do it slowly, carefully and completely. What she did not know was how.

Tonia was smiling at her, a cruel, half-excited smile that finally hid nothing. All her hurt and fury were in it, her knowledge of Kate and Ralph, and the way they had laughed and loved behind her back, and that Ralph had made the fatal mistake of trying the same trick, but without the heart, on Susannah as well-not for lust but for profit. But she could not be wooed or flattered into corruption. She had turned him in, which had ultimately cost him his life, and so finally stolen him from both Tonia and Kate.

How would Tonia do it? Poison in the food, or the water? A pillow over her face when she slept, and blame Kate for it? An accident of some sort, a slip in the bath, perhaps, and drown in the hot, soapy water? A fall somewhere, even over the cliff. One would not have to go more than ten or twelve feet onto the rocks; that would be enough.

Or the sea? Something to do with those magnificent, pounding waves with their terrifying, exhilarating beauty, and the power of a thousand miles of ocean behind them, sucking back under, dragging in with the undertow, those hungry, unpredictable sneaker waves that reached out farther than the rest, and pulled the unwary, even off dry land.

“You look as if you have been caught with your hand in the cookie jar, Susannah!” Tonia said with only the slightest sneer in her voice. “Are you afraid of being sent to bed without any supper?”

Susannah spread her hands wide. “I haven’t taken any cookies!”

“Oh you did, my dear! You just couldn’t hold on to them!” Tonia answered. “No cookies for anyone now. But let’s go back and have supper. I promise you can have a share of everything!” She started to walk back along the sand, striding out easily, her arms loose at her sides and her steps graceful.

Susannah stumbled behind, her feet sinking in the sand, fear making her awkward, anger at the injustice of it tripping her, and helplessness robbing her of breath, of strength, even the ability to see clearly and choose her path up through the stones.

Dinner was a nightmare for Susannah. Tonia was charming. She smiled at both her sisters, told entertaining stories from events in Astoria society to which she had been, and they had not. The food, which she had insisted on cooking alone, was delicious, fresh fish in a delicate sauce, and vegetables chopped and steamed to exactly the right consistency. She also served it herself, and passed the plates.

“Aren’t you hungry?” she inquired solicitously as Susannah poked one thing with her fork, and then another without eating. “I’d have thought the walk along the beach would have given you an appetite. It has me.” And she proceeded to eat with relish.

Kate had no idea. Susannah knew that as she saw her begin to eat hungrily as well. She might be aware of Tonia’s knowledge of her love affair with Ralph, even how far it had gone, but she was not afraid. Was she blind? Did she really not understand Tonia at all, for all the years they had known each other, growing up, and after?

“Aren’t you feeling well?” Tonia asked with concern, looking at Susannah still probing at the food rather than eating it. “Shall I get you something else?”

The moment froze. Incredibly, Kate was not looking at her, but Tonia was, mockery in her eyes. She knew Susannah was afraid, and she was enjoying it.

“No… no thank you.” Susannah made the decision from reflex, not judgment. “This is fine. I was just thinking.” She took a deliberate mouthful.

“Something interesting?” Tonia inquired.

Susannah made up a quick lie. She wished she could have thought of something useful, something defensive, or at the very least, warning. “Only about what we might do tomorrow, if the weather is fine, of course.”

“Ah, the future!” Tonia rolled the words around her tongue. “I was quite wrong. You see I imagined you were thinking of the past. It’s wonderful to be here, free as the wind, with tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, in which to do whatever we please-isn’t it, Susannah!”

“To choose among options, anyway,” Susannah replied.

Tonia looked surprised. “You feel limited? What is there you would like to do, and can’t? Is there something you want? Something you can’t have?” She turned slightly. “And what about you, Kate? Is there anything you want, and can’t have?”

Kate looked up, puzzled. “Not more than anyone else. Why?” She glanced at Susannah. “What do you want to do?”

Leave, but she could not say that, and she could not do it without Tonia. She had the car, and the keys to it. And anyway, if she did run, it would seem like the confession of a guilty conscience. She had nothing to be guilty about. Ralph was a thief, planning to buy his way to state office with corruption. The fact that he was her brother-in-law excused nothing.

“I really don’t care,” she replied awkwardly.

“We could climb round the point,” Tonia suggested. “When the tide’s out, the rock pools are full of all sorts of things-sea anemones, urchins, razor shells, starfish.” She smiled. “It’s beautiful.”

And dangerous, Susannah thought with an inward clenching of her stomach. One slip and you could break a leg, cut your arm open on one of the razor shells, even, at the right tide, fall off an edge high enough, deep enough, and drown. Out on the farthest edge, even get taken off by a wave.

“I’d rather walk along the beach,” she replied. “Or up in the woods for a change.”

Tonia smiled. “Whatever,” she said with quiet satisfaction. “Would you like coffee? Or tea, perhaps? That would be better in the evening. Or how about hot chocolate? Shall I make hot chocolate for all of us?” She half-rose as if it had already been accepted.

Kate said “yes,” and Susannah “no” at the same moment. Tonia chose to hear the “yes.” Susannah said “no” again, and Tonia ignored her. “It’ll be good for you,” she said over her shoulder. “Help you sleep.”

“What’s the matter with you?” Kate asked. “Anyone would think she was going to poison you!”

The evening passed so slowly it assumed the proportions of a nightmare. They sat around the fire facing each other, sipping chocolate after the dishes were washed. The air had chilled considerably, and the wind had risen.

“I think there could be a storm,” Kate remarked, a smile on her lips.

“Oh yes,” Tonia agreed. “I’m quite sure there will be.”

There were several moments of silence except for a low moan outside and the rattling in the eaves where a tile was loose.

“Ralph used to like storms,” Tonia went on.

“No he didn’t!” Kate said instantly, then almost bit her tongue. “Did he?” she added, too late.

Tonia looked wide-eyed. “My dear, are you asking me?”

Kate flushed pink. “Perhaps I misunderstood,” she said lamely.

“Who? Me, or Ralph?” Tonia inquired.

“I really don’t remember. It hardly matters!” Kate snapped.

But Tonia would not let it go. “Did you have a particular storm in mind?”

“I told you!” Kate was angry now, and guilty. Susannah could see the shame in her eyes, and she was absolutely certain Tonia could. “I don’t remember! It was a misunderstanding.”

“About likes and dislikes?” Tonia went on. “Or love and hate? How can you mistake one for the other… do you suppose?” She looked as if she were intensely interested, without emotion, until one saw the clenched fist by her side, and the rigid line of her back.

“Maybe the difference between fear and excitement,” Kate responded, staring at her, meeting the challenge at last.

“Oh yes!” Tonia agreed with satisfaction. “Excitement, the fear of danger, the roar of thunder and the chance of being struck by lightning. You mistook the fear for love?”

Kate’s face was scarlet.

Susannah sat, her muscles locked as if any moment the explosion would come. She dreaded it, but she knew now that it was inevitable. It would happen some time, tonight, tomorrow, the day after, but before they went home, that was certain.

“Or the love for fear?” Kate met the challenge squarely.

Tonia shook her head. “Oh no,” she said with a tight little smile. “One knows love, believe me, dear. If you ever meet it, you’ll understand.” And she stood up, smiled at each of them in turn, and wished them goodnight. She went to the door and added, “Sleep soundly,” and went out.

Kate turned to Susannah. She seemed about to ask her something, then realized she could not afford to raise the subject with her. She had no idea how much she knew, or where her loyalties would lie. She let out her breath again with a sigh, and they spent another miserable half-hour, then went to bed also.

Susannah took a long time to go to sleep, in spite of the comfortable sounds of wind and rain outside. She woke with a violent start, crying out in fear.

Tonia was sitting on the end of her bed, one of the pillows in her hands. For a freezing instant pure tension gripped Susannah and she scrambled to sit upright, throwing the entangling bedclothes off her legs so she could fight freely.

Tonia looked amazed. “That must have been some nightmare!” she said with a shadow of amusement in her face.

“N… nightmare?” Susannah stammered.

“Yes. You were crying out in your sleep. That’s why I came.”

Susannah realized it was still dark, the bedroom light was on, but beyond the curtains it was black. She could not take her eyes off Tonia to look at the clock on the bedside table. She had not been dreaming, she was absolutely certain of that. She always remembered her dreams. “What’s the pillow for?” she demanded, her voice dry and a little wobbly. Had she only just avoided being suffocated in her sleep?

“You knocked it onto the floor,” Tonia replied.

She hadn’t. It was extra. She already had two on the bed. Her heart was beating wildly, pounding in her chest, her pulse racing. Should she challenge Tonia now, tear it out into the open and face it? Dare she? That would make it irrevocable. Then what? What was left of their relationship after that?

“No, I didn’t,” she said breathlessly. “I’ve still got two!”

Tonia smiled, as if that were exactly what she had wanted her to say. “You had three, dear. One to prop you up if you wished to read.” She gave a very slight laugh, dry and brittle. “Did you think I brought it in here to suffocate you with? Why on earth would I do that? Have you done something dreadful that I don’t know about? Is that why you don’t eat well, and wake up screaming in the night?” She stood up, still holding the extra pillow in her arms.

“No, of course it isn’t!” Susannah snapped. Then she looked straight at Tonia. “You already know all there is to be known!”

“Yes,” Tonia agreed softly. “Yes… I do!” And still carrying the pillow, she went out and closed the door silently, as totally silently as she had come.

Breakfast was miserable. Susannah had a nagging headache, Kate looked tense and also seemed unable to eat. Only Tonia was relentlessly cheerful and apparently full of energy. She cooked and served, asking both the others solicitously if they had slept, if they were well, if she could do anything more for them.

“You look hungover,” she said briskly to Susannah. “A good walk around the point would make you feel far better. And you too, Kate. We should go now. The weather’s cleared and the tide’s just right. And I’d enjoy it as well. Get your coats and come.” She did not wait for them but grasped her own coat off the peg by the door and, putting one arm through the sleeve, went outside into the windy sunshine.

Kate was undecided.

“Come on!” Tonia called. “It’s a wonderful morning! Crisp and sweet, and I can hear a blackbird singing. The wind’s coming in off the sea, and it smells like heaven.”

Susannah suddenly made up her mind. She would face it, even provoke it if necessary, but she was not going to spend the rest of the week, let alone the rest of her life, being afraid of Tonia and letting her manipulate her into guilt and wild idiotic imaginings every time she felt like it. It was not her fault Ralph had had an affair with Kate, or that he’d tried to use her. It was not her fault he was corrupt, or that the court had found him guilty and sent him to jail. He was guilty! And it was not her fault one of the other prisoners had killed him. That last might not have been deserved, it might have been as tragic and unjust as Tonia believed, but Susannah was not going to take the blame for it.

But she would rather not face it alone. “Come on, Kate!” she added with decision. “A big clean wind blowing through everything will do us a lot of good!”

Kate obeyed, reluctantly, and the three of them walked abreast up to the rise at the edge of the grass, over the heavy stones and at last onto the thin rim of hard sand at the edge of the tide. All of them were watching for the odd big waves, and ran very smartly up the stones when they came, always just avoiding getting wet.

They went toward the rocky point where the tidal pools were full of treasures. They reached the beginning of the outcrop and started to climb carefully, watching every foothold, Tonia first, then Kate, Susannah last. They went as far out as there was a decent place to stand, Susannah the lowest and closest to where the deep water rushed past, white spume hurling in over the teeth of the rocks, and sucking back, dragging the sand and stones and shells. Farther out, beyond the very edge of the point, five ranks of waves, one beyond the other, roared in, heads bent, foam and spray flying, boiling over to cover the whole face of the sea with white.

It was a time when no words were necessary, but Tonia spoke.

“Magnificent, isn’t it? Elemental, like the great passions of life.”

Kate looked away. “I suppose so.” She was staring along the shore at the curve of the beach and the miles of coast with rocks and spurs and jagged standing outcrops as far as the eye could see.

“Oh, yes,” Tonia went on. “I can understand passion, even the lust that’s so strong it overtakes all morality, and you want something so badly you just take it, even if it belongs to someone else. Can’t you, Kate?”

Kate swung around, the wind blowing her hair across her face. She pushed it back impatiently. She was close to Tonia, but about three feet lower. “For God’s sake shut up about it!” she shouted. “You knew Ralph and I were in love! I’m sorry! He was your husband, and he loved me. I loved him too! We couldn’t both have him. You lost.”

“Both?” Tonia laughed, and control of it escaped her, her voice rising high and wild. “He’s dead, Kate! He died in a toilet in the state prison! He was stabbed in the belly, and bled to death there on the floor! Nobody near him! Not you, not me, not even dear Susannah!”

Kate swayed as if she would lose her balance. “What do you mean, Susannah? He wasn’t in love with her! He didn’t even like her!”

“Of course he didn’t like her!” Tonia shouted back, her eyes narrowed, her lips drawn tight over her teeth. “But he knew she was clever! He tried to use her, at the bank. But our dear little Susannah didn’t want to be used. She wanted to have him, and if she couldn’t, she’d rather destroy him. She doesn’t take rejection well, our little sister! When he asked for her help, and she wished him to become her lover as the price, and he brushed her off, she took her revenge. And perfect it was! She betrayed him to the police-got together all the evidence, created any that was lacking, and set him up! There was no way he could escape it. Poor Ralph! He had no idea what jealousy and rejection would do to her. She might just as well have stuck the knife into him herself!”

Kate wheeled around, almost overbalancing, her face white, eyes blazing with a passion of rage. She started down toward Susannah, covering the few yards between them, jumping, scrambling, incredibly not slipping.

“I didn’t!” Susannah yelled, stepping backward, toward the edge of the rocks and the racing sea. “I didn’t make up anything! Everything I gave the police was exactly what he was doing!”

“You gave him up!” Kate said with incredulous fury. “It was you who betrayed Ralph!” But it was not a question. She had heard the knowledge in Tonia’s voice, and the guilt in Susannah’s. She launched herself at Susannah and flung both of them backward onto the rocks. The next wave roared past them, knocking the breath out of their bodies, ice cold, and leaving them struggling on the shelf of the rock to the edge where it fell straight down.

“I didn’t betray him!” Susannah gasped, trying to throw Kate off her and scramble back up again. “He was going to steal money to finance his run for the Senate! I stopped him. Damn it, get off me! Ralph was playing you both for fools! He was corrupt as hell!”

Kate hit her, hard, across the side of the face, hurling her off balance backward to the rock shelf again.

“You killed him!” she cried in a howl of anguish. “He loved me! I could have prevented him from doing that! If you’d come to me, I’d have saved him!” She was sobbing as memory, broken dreams and unbearable loneliness swept over her. “I loved him! I could have…”

“I know you loved him!” Susannah put her hand up to her burning face and crawled sideways to where the shelf was wider. “But he didn’t love anyone, not you, not Tonia, not anyone at all! Kate! The man you loved never existed!”

“Yes he did! He could have…”

“He could have… but he didn’t! He chose not to!”

“No he didn’t!” Tonia shouted, coming down toward them. “It’s not true, Kate. She took the chance from him! She killed him! Go on!”

Kate hesitated. She could push Susannah back off the edge, hard down into the water.

“Go on!” Tonia screamed. “She killed Ralph! She betrayed him, sent him to that filthy place to be murdered! On the toilet floor! Ralph… beautiful, happy, magical Ralph! Susannah destroyed him!” She was just behind Kate now, only feet away.

Susannah could hear the waves crash in behind her, then crunch on the stones, draw in and suck back. How many had there been while she was crouched here? Three, four, five?

Kate turned from Tonia to Susannah, and back.

“Do it!” Tonia cried again. “If you loved Ralph, do it! She took him from you! He didn’t want her, so she smashed everything.”

“He didn’t want any of us!” Susannah shouted desperately. “He only wanted the Senate-the power and the money!”

Kate swiveled back to Susannah and took another step toward her, her skin whipped by the wind, eyes wide.

Susannah saw Tonia just beyond her, the hatred naked in her face. “Haven’t you the guts to do it yourself?” she shouted. “No wonder Ralph wanted Kate! At least she has her own passions, not someone else’s! You coward!” She was crouching now, balanced.

Tonia’s lips pulled back in a snarl of anger and she lunged forward, knocking aside Kate, who slipped and fell, grasping onto the weed to save herself.

Susannah moved sideways, twisting her leg and falling as Tonia landed. Now they were side by side, only feet apart. Susannah started to crawl back up the slope again, her leg stabbing with pain.

“That’s right!” Tonia called with searing derision. “Crawl away! D’you think I can’t catch you?” She started forward, slowly, spinning it out.

Susannah heard the wave before she saw it, taller, heavier than the others, the sneaker wave with all the hungry power of the ocean within.

“The wave!” she called out. She did not want to warn Tonia, but the words were out before she thought. “Look out!”

Tonia was laughing. She did not believe her.

“Look out!” Susannah screamed.

The wave broke, high and white, pouring over rocks with an obliterating roar. It was only up to Tonia’s knees, but the strength of it tore away her feet from the ground and pulled her into its cauldron.

Kate was soaked, but she clung onto the weed and was left gasping.

Susannah was blinded for a moment, her clothes drenched with the spray, but she pushed the wet hair out of her eyes to see Tonia struggle, arms and legs flailing for a moment, then swallowed up, no more than a dark mass in the heart of the wave as it sucked back into the ocean and folded into itself back again into deep water.

Kate was sobbing, trying to stand up, her face ashen.

“You can’t do anything,” Susannah said quietly. “We’d better climb higher, there’ll be another one, there always is.”

“Did you… did you tell the police about Ralph?” Kate stammered.

“Yes.” She turned and met her eyes directly. “He was a thief, and he was going to be a corrupt senator. You think I should have helped him to do that?”

“But he… and you?” Kate said with disbelief.

“A cheat,” Susannah said for her. “Has it not occurred to you that if he would cheat on Tonia with you, then he would cheat on you with me-or anyone who would serve his cause?”

Kate looked crushed.

Susannah held out her hand. “Come on. We need to go higher, above all the waves, not just most of them.”

Kate clung onto her. “But… what about Tonia?”

“An accident,” Susannah replied. “Sneaker waves get people every year. I guess it’s not enough to get it right most of the time, it’s the weakness you didn’t think of that’ll destroy you.”

Kate put her hands up to her face. “She wanted me to kill you!’

“I know.” Susannah put her arm around her. “Come on.”