REBECCA’S POV
The last guest left at 11:04 P.M
I know because I was watching the door in the specific way I had been watching everything all evening, not with visible attention, not with any quality that could be read from outside, but with the low continuous awareness that had been my instrument all night. I watched the door close on Helena Marsh, who was the last to leave as she always was because Helena Marsh found endings difficult and prolonged them with the particular grace of a woman who loved parties and was always slightly sorry to see them conclude.
Then the door was closed.
And the house was quiet.
I stood in the center of the main room and I breathed.
Just that. One long, slow breath in and then out, the specific exhale of a body that has been maintained at a sustained o
