Beyond Midnight (3 page)

The last of the sad thoughts that drifted through Helen
'
s head that night was that
"
Ma
"
didn
'
t sound nearly as winsome as
"
Mommy.
"

****

The Byrnes lived on a street that was not only the jewel in the crown of Old Salem, but arguably one of the finest avenues in America. Less than half a mile long, Chestnut Street was lined with perfectly preserved three-story mansions dating from 1800, many of them built for Salem
'
s early aristocracy: the merchants and sea captains who reaped mind-boggling wealth from whaling and the China Trade.

The entire avenue, east end to west, was now a National Historic Landmark and a mecca for history and architecture
buffs. They could stroll virtually alone along its brick-lined sidewalks and cobblestoned gutters in the imposing shadows of the mansions, and dream about the clipper ships that braved high seas to bring back unimaginable treasures.

It was a great street—but nobody really cared. Not the bread and butter of Salem
'
s tourist economy, anyway; those people were far more interested in Salem
'
s darker, uglier past. The witch trials of 1692, in which nineteen innocent victims were hanged and the twentieth was pressed to death under a crush of rocks—that was the story that busloads came to hear.

Who cared if the Peabody Essex Museum contained a priceless slant-top desk carved entirely of ivory? It was much more fun to stand with a
cluster of tourists in a pitch-
black room around a luridly lit pentagram and hear the tale of
Salem
'
s shameful, sinful past.

Helen
Evett
ought to know. Whenever visitors came to see her—depending on their ages—they wanted to go to the Witch Museum or the Witch Dungeon Museum or the Wax Museum or the Witch House. If they were the pensive type, they sometimes wanted t
o sit and reflect at the witch-
trials memorial.

Rarely did they wish to take a walking tour of Chestnut Street.

Helen drove slowly down the one-way street, searching for the Byrne mansion. She hadn
'
t been on Chestnut Street in a long while, long enough to be impressed all over again by its magnificence. Salem had plenty of historic houses, of course; but there was something about the way Chestnut Street
'
s mansions stood shoulder to shoulder, united against the outside world, that seemed exceptionally exclusive. Chestnut Street did not permit slaggards. No peeling paint, no sprawling privet here, by golly.

Stuffy little street, Helen decided. Automatically she sat up straighter in the seat of her Volvo.

She had dressed in keeping with the neighborhood,
pin
n
i
ng
her hair in a knot at the back of her head and wearing a suit much more tailored than her usual soft, flowing dresses.

The preschoolers had noticed the change the minute they saw her. One of them, whose mother was a lawyer, had looked up at her and said,
"
Do you hafta go to court, Mrs. Evett?
"

Helen didn
'
t, but she felt as nervous as if she were appearing in her own defense. It was an illogical, bewildering response to the telephone plea of the night before.

Just who was this Linda Byrne, anyway? She sounded too disorganized, somehow, for such a formal neighborhood. And what about Byrne? Had he been surprised to realize that he
'
d married a dysfunctional neurotic?

Now, now,
Helen told herself.
Give the poor lady a break. Headaches can be paralyzing.

The problem was, Helen had never had the luxury of dropping everything to nurse one. Like most other working women, she could only pop a couple of pain relievers and keep on moving.

She pulled up in front of one of the grandest of the grand houses, a brick three-story mansion with an Ionic portico framing a door painted the deepest of greens. Like most of the houses on the street, the Byrne mansion was set back only a few feet from the brick sidewalk and was fronted by an elaborate painted fence; this one curved back to two
u
rn
ed
pillars on each side of the portico.

From the copper downspouts to the fittings on the deep green working shutters, everything about the house suggested taste, discretion, and affluence—and a severity that Helen found strangely off-putting. This was no charming ramshackle cottage; no rambling, whimsical Victorian like her own. The painted ivory shutters on the inside of the windows facing the street were all closed, as if the place
were put up for the season. Obviously the owners weren
'
t fond of sunshine.

If Helen had seen a rosebush about to leaf out, or a pot of early pansies on the step, then maybe she would
'
ve felt less wary. But except for the ivy tumbling discreetly through the spokes of the fence, and the thick, gnarled branches of an old tree nodding close to the second-floor windows, she saw nothing that seemed relaxed or welcoming. If houses reflected their owners, then Helen wasn
'
t sure she
'
d like these owners.

She got out of the car and slammed the door. It was a simple, mindless act.

But it changed Helen
'
s life forever.

The noise of the car door spooked an owl that apparently had been roosting in the tree. The bird swooped down in front of Helen, then headed directly for her, locking its gaze on hers. Helen froze. Her heart jumped to her throat. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Just as suddenly, the owl broke away and bounded off erratically.

It had happened so fast, in the blink of an eye. Helen was left shaking and weak-kneed, as if a mugger had jumped out of nowhere and grabbed her purse. She tightened her grip on her shoulder bag, not altogether convinced that the owl wouldn
'
t be back for it, and hurried up the three steps to the door of the mansion.

Before Helen could lift the heavy brass knocker cast in the shape of a square-rigged ship, the door was swung open for her. An attractive, thirtyish woman stood in the doorway, oblivious to the raw March wind.

"
Ah! You made it!
"
she said to Helen with a warm, vivacious smile.

Helen was caught off guard at
the sight of the slender, auburn
-haired beauty.
"
Mrs. Byrne?
"

I knew it,
she thought.
There
'
s nothing wrong with her.

The woman laughed and shook her head as she stepped aside.
"
No, no, I
'
m just the nanny. Peaches Bartholemew. Come in. Mrs. Byrne is dressing to come down. In the meantime, come and meet Katherine. She
'
s been so excited all day.
"

So. Wrong on two counts. Well, one of them was an honest mistake. Peaches Bartholemew looked and acted like the mistress of a mansion. She was beautifully dressed in a calf-length skirt of fine-spun wool and a sweater that had a lot more cashmere in it than poor Becky
'
s. The apricot color highlighted the delicate flush of her Meryl Streep cheekbones; it was easy to see how she
'
d got the name Peaches.

A poor and distant relation
was Helen
'
s first, old- fashioned thought as the two women made their way down the soaring hall, lit by a wonderful chandelier, to one of the reception rooms. Helen stole a glance at the nanny in profile and realized how striking her beauty was: straight nose, high cheekbones, delicate brows and lashes, makeup artfully applied. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a French braid, more elegant, somehow, than the cleverest cut.

Helen responded to the woman
'
s pleasantry about spring being just around the corner, but she was thinking,
I wonder if I would
'
ve had the confidence to hire a nanny this pretty.

They entered a room of lofty proportions which clearly served as a music room. A grand piano was strategically placed beside full-length windows that opened to a view of the garden; a deep, well-thumbed assortment of sheet music was scattered across the top of an obviously valuable Federal sideboard with a serpentine table-edge.

"
Katie, come see who
'
s here,
"
Peaches called gaily. She had a beautiful voice, rich and musical. No doubt she accompanied the pianist in the family, whoever that was.

"
Katherine?
"
Peaches said again in apparent confusion.
It was obvious that a game was being played.
"
For goodness
'
sakes
...
I thought she was in here.
"

Suddenly a brown-haired moppet in Oshkosh overalls popped out from behind a Queen Anne armchair and shouted,
"
Boo!
"

The child broke into a fit of giggles as Peaches reached down and wrapped her arms around he
r, half-tickling, half-
turning her to face Helen.
"
Do you know who this is?
"
said Peaches to the child.

Without looking up, Katie giggled again and said,
"
Yes. Mrs. Evett. She teaches preschool,
"
the child added, in case there was any doubt.

Helen crouched to the little girl
'
s level and said,
"
Hi, Katie. I
'
m glad to meet you. Your mommy said that you
'
re a very smart little girl.
"

Katie fixed her bright blue eyes on Helen
'
s gray ones.
"
I know my ABCs, and I can count to twenty,
"
she said. This she proceeded to do on the spot, except for seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen.

When she was done, Peaches tucked one of her curls back and said,
"
We
'
ve been practicing a lot, haven
'
t we, honey?
"

"
Uh-huh. And I know how to draw. Want me to show you?
"

Helen said yes and Katie ran to the other end of the room where she
'
d been coloring at a low table, then fell to her knees and began sorting through her pile in search of her best pieces.

"
She
'
s determined to make a good impression on you,
"
Peaches whispered to Helen.
"
I
'
m not sure what Linda told her, but Katie seems to think she may not get into the class.
"

"
Oh ...
no, I wouldn
'
t say that,
"
Helen said vaguely. It was awkward to be put on the spot that way, which is why Helen preferred to do the interviews at school.

The reference to
"
Linda
"
rather than to
"
Mrs. Byrne
"
did not escape Helen. Over the years she
'
d met hundreds of nannies picking up their charges at the end of the day. Very few of them referred to their employers by their first names. Maybe Peaches was a relation after all.

To fill the void while they waited for the child to make up her mind, Helen said softly,
"
Does Katie have many friends to play with?
"

Peaches pursed her lips thoughtfully, cocked her head in the little girl
'
s direction, and sighed.
"
I wish I could say yes. But all the children in the neighborhood are in preschools, getting ready for Harvard and Yale. Linda was determined to hold out, but the pressure got to be too much.

"
Oh, good, Katie,
"
said Peaches to the girl as she came skipping back with a crayon-drawing in her hand,
"
that was
my
favorite, too.
"

Without a word the child handed the sheet to Helen, apparently preferring to let her work speak for itself.

Helen didn
'
t have a clue what the brown and red scribbles were supposed to be. Nonetheless, she was impressed with the little girl
'
s command of shapes.
"
Oh my,
"
she said enthusiastically.
"
You must come sit next to me and tell me everything that
'
s in it.
"