The Follower by Kate Doughty (ebook reader with built in dictionary TXT) 📕

foyer; appreciative murmurs fill the house. Amber and Rudy take a breath and walk downstairs together.

The open house is huge. They have never had this big of a turnout before. The usual realtors are here, of course, but this time they’re accompanied by hordes of . . . normal people. Sure, Cole family open houses always get some gawkers, but it seems like half of Norton is here. The locals and the drama chasers are easy to spot. They stare, wide-eyed, at every corner of the house as if they’ve never been in a multimillion-dollar mansion before. And, above all, they gawk at Amber and Rudy.

Amber tries to summon some of Cecily’s old confidence. She works the crowd and she is “on.” She smiles, preens, takes selfies, and fields questions about the renovation, the town, their life as Instagram celebrities. She actually gets a few questions about her body-positivity hashtags, which she is more than happy to answer, even when they’re really digs about her weight and her health in disguise.

But Amber never forgets her biggest job: steering people away from paying too-close attention to the damage. So in between answering questions, she lies about the countertops and tries to stop people from attempting to lift up the carpets to see the hateful message scrawled beneath them. The follower’s post had gone viral; Amber knows that they are playing a losing game. There are too many guests here, and only four of the Coles—five if you count Joseph, who made the last-minute decision to help the family with crowd control.

They need it.

Amber allows herself a moment of rest and tucks herself away in a quiet corner of the hallway. She has a perfect vantage point to observe much of the first floor. She looks around and takes it all in, from Mr. O’Donnell glaring at the new open-concept kitchen to the crowd of high school kids. The historical society stands in a corner, shooting judgmental looks at the new kitchen and the updated flooring that definitely was not installed with historical preservation in mind. The group of high-school-age kids collapse on the living room sectional—its slashes covered with one of Mom’s least-favorite throw blankets—and Amber winces at the way they put their feet up.

But her few moments of respite are over quickly because soon she sees Bella arriving with some of the bonfire crowd. While Miles and Trent greet her, Alicia scans the open house.

“Is Cecily here?”

Amber shakes her head. “No. She’s still resting.”

Alicia gives her a strained smile. “Well, let her know that we’re thinking about her. Say hi for us, okay?”

“Absolutely.”

The kids eventually peel off to look at other rooms of the house while Amber leads additional tours, steering them all away from the ruined kitchen as much as she can. Amber catches snippets of Rudy’s conversation with the boys—promises to start learning lacrosse sometime, an invitation to jam with Trent’s garage band—and finds herself wondering if Norton could have actually been good if everything hadn’t gone so, so wrong.

And then she spots Bella, cornered by Steve. He’s leaning against the kitchen wall, arm propped out and effectively blocking Bella’s exit. He’s wrapping his arm around her shoulder, just as he had attempted to do with Cecily at the bonfire. Bella is clearly uncomfortable. And all of a sudden, Amber just feels herself get so angry. Amber catches the words “I don’t understand why you don’t—” as she approaches them.

She walks up to Bella. “Is he bothering you?”

Steve answers for her. “No, I just—”

“He thinks I know what room Cecily’s in,” Bella says.

“I just want to visit. Say hi. See her.”

“She’s not ready to see anyone.”

“I’m not just anyone—”

“No.” Amber snaps, her voice final. Whoa. She didn’t know she could channel her mother like that.

Steve glares at her. “You don’t have to be a bitch about it,” he huffs, but he stalks off into the crowd.

“Steve—” Bella groans, then turns to Amber. “I’m sorry. Thanks. He can be a bit . . . much.”

“I’ve been called worse,” Amber says. As she watches him stalk off, she can’t help but think of her sister, locked in that upstairs room. “Hey—want to see Cecily? I’m sure she’d love the company.”

Amber escorts Bella up to Cecily’s room and is thrilled to hear their chatter start up the moment she closes the door behind her. She pops into the bathroom to check her makeup and then, as she’s about to make her way downstairs, she notices a woman trying the locked doors farther down the hallway. Near Cecily’s room.

Is she trying to find Cecily? Did Cecily remember to lock her door after she let Bella in?

“What do you think you’re doing?” Amber shouts, running as fast as her heels will take her down the hallway.

“What? This is an open house, isn’t it?” the woman snaps.

Amber can’t tell if this person looks startled or guilty. She decides to try another tack.

“I’m sorry, I just meant to say that the show bedroom is a few doors down. The room with the open door? Here, let me show you . . .”

The woman’s huffiness disappears as soon as Amber turns on the charm, but she makes an excuse to head downstairs the first chance she gets.

Is she the follower? Amber wonders as she walks away from the woman. It could be anyone. Anyone on any of the scores of tour groups moving through the house today. She shudders.

Without fail, every tour group Amber leads asks two things: if they can see the turret room and what’s wrong with the flooring—what had the follower done? Even when she manages to steer them off that topic, they bombard her with questions about Cecily and the house’s other notorious rooms. Amber and Rudy only smile and rehearse their line: that more expansive tours are available to clients with serious interest in purchasing the property.

They’re barely an hour into the party when Amber gets a frantic call from Cecily. She doesn’t even have time to say hello before she hears her sister’s voice: ”Someone’s at