They blinked at her, and then the woman said, “So, you just thought you’d let yourself into Nan’s place? And settle in like it was home?”
“The sound of a key turning in a lock is one of the most beautiful sounds,” she said randomly. “And it’s the opposite when a key doesn’t turn. You feel so lost! My life was like a key that wouldn’t turn. Silent. No potential.”
The woman’s gaze softened, and Ammalie could have sworn she heard her murmur, “Maybe she’s mentally unstable.”
“I’m not,” she piped up. “I’m okay in the head. I knew what I was doing. But seriously, my life was all locked up.”
The woman tilted her head and mumbled, “I suppose I know something about that.”
Ammalie shrugged. “I’m so sorry. But it’s true. I did sneak into Nan’s place. Knowingly. And no key was needed at all.” She took a big breath in and winced at her thumping heart. “Vincent had described it to me. He’d done work here and on a nearby farm, gardening and taking care of the artist at the residency, who had been a painter from South Africa. It’s just that…” and here she paused. “It’s just that he talked about it so much, and sent so many postcards, and showed me so many photos upon his return, that I felt like I knew the place. I guess I just showed up…I just showed up and…the door was not locked and…”
“And you decided to pretend to be an artist.”
“Well, not exactly. But Aroha down at the café thought I was, so, well, I just went with it.”
“Aroha thought you were an artist?”
“Yes. A jeweler.”
“But you’re not a jeweler at all?”
“No. I’m a waitress. Mother. Wife. Or, I was. By the way, who…How’d you know?”
The officer pursed her lips. “We’re not at liberty to say. But those necklaces we brought in? Those are yours?”
Ammalie bowed her head again. “Yes. I was just learning. I just wanted to try.”
“Well, we are arresting you for breaking and entering,” the man said.
“They’re quite beautiful,” the woman officer said casually, as if she’d already made peace with the whole situation, or as if she dealt with fake artists all the time. “Sea glass.”
Ammalie smiled at her. “Thank you! That really means a lot. Please feel free to take one. Or all of them. Or, but, wait. Can you give one to Aroha? And Richard? And one to Nan, if she’d take a gift from a thief? It’s her sea glass, by the way. I found the pieces in old jars with her name on them. I stole them. Tell her I’m sorry. Also, she can unwrap all the silver and have her sea glass back, just the way it was when I found it.”
And then suddenly she was struck with regret. Deceiving three good people. And with the sharp, piercing guilt of that came a cramp. She winced and grabbed at her side. “I need to go to the bathroom. My period started this morning. Although we’d all rather believe otherwise, bodily life continues to go on despite other stuff! Ha! Hollywood and books always make it seem as if we are not living in actual bodies. Do you have any supplies here?”
When she got back, the man had left, ostensibly to fill out some paperwork, and the woman, who now introduced herself as Lara, leaned back and put her hands behind her head and dug her fingers into her ponytailed blond-gray hair and sighed. “Would you like some painkillers?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“It’s a dumb setup, these bodies.”
“Yes! Exactly.” Ammalie took the offered pill. “I’d like to have been done with this years ago. But it just keeps going and going. No one told me quite how bad it would be.”
“It’s crazy-making,” Lara agreed.
“Absolutely,” Ammalie said with an inflection that meant: See, maybe that’s why I did it.
Lara nodded. “Are you the one who left the beach artwork? Did you not think someone would notice you living in a house? That we don’t know our neighbors?”
Ammalie winced and grabbed her side. “No, I kinda thought they wouldn’t. It’s so hidden, after all! I swear, I’m not a bad person. Not really. I mean, this was wrong. I admit it. But overall, I’m not a bad person.”
Lara bit her lip. “It went pear-shaped.”
“Sorry?”
“Your plan went pear-shaped.”
Ammalie touched her necklace. “Okay. I’m sorry, but I don’t know what that means.”
“Pear-shaped. It means, things didn’t go as anticipated. Turned out a little wrong.”
“Like, not a round apple,” Ammalie said, understanding.
“Right.”
“Pear-shaped. That’s my life.”
Lara quirked her eyebrows together. “That’s most of our lives. Nothing special about you. So, Nan will be here tomorrow. She’s just flown into Auckland for the summer. She was in England, visiting family. She doesn’t drive anymore—she’s getting older—so she’s waiting for a friend to drive her here. As the owner of the property, and a quirky one, and a generous one, and a curious one, she wants to see who this person is who just decided it would be okay to move into her home.”
“And take her sea glass.”
“Yes, that too. I’ll tell her that.” Lara seemed unfazed by it all, and Ammalie had the notion that this woman could carry on through most anything.
“It’s so beautiful, what the ocean spits up at us. Shells. Driftwood. Sea glass.”
Lara smiled. “My mother told me they used to pick it up by the bucketful. In fact, one of my most treasured items is a red perfect smooth circle. My father said it was from an old Ford. Never broken.”
Ammalie heard herself making an oooh sound. “Amazing. I’d love to see it.” At the same time, though, the pain in her left side was increasing, and she felt herself buckle over. Her eyes sought out the nearest trash can, in case she had to vomit. Years of bursting ovarian cysts had made her an expert in seeking out available receptacles for pain-induced sudden vomiting.
