A tear ran down her face, and Quinn felt moved to comfort her but refrained. She didn’t look like the type to want anyone’s pity.

“I never really got over it, even when my parents gave me another horse. I loved him, but we didn’t have the bond that Wiley and I did. When I got older, I heard the rumors that the fire was no accident. My brother told me he thought it was probably set by one of the Rochas, the family who’d lost their barn and part of their house in a fire years before and blamed our family.”

Helen looked pained before adjusting her expression again.

“I was shocked at the story my brother told me. I hadn’t even known about this vendetta until then. I understood then that Wiley’s death was some sort of eye-for-an-eye act of retribution. But what the Rochas didn’t understand is that we didn’t set their fire, and their act of revenge took away my best friend and made them an enemy for life. I’m ashamed to admit it, but a seed of hatred for the Rochas sprouted in me and grew fast and hard. It was an uncontrollable kind of hate, and I longed to find a way to make them pay for what they did to Wiley. One day when I was out walking by the sea, the universe delivered an answer to my prayers.”

“What was it?” Quinn asked.

“I was looking out across the water, searching for marine life and hoping to see a whale or at least a dolphin, but some movement in the high grass on the dunes caught my eye. I went over, thinking maybe it was a stray dog, but it was a child. A pale, shivering little girl. She’d dug herself a hole and lay with her legs pulled up to her chest.”

“You found Nama?” Quinn asked, putting the two stories together.

Carmen nodded. “Yes, I did.”

“How did you know it was her?” Maggie asked.

“It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out,” Carmen said. “I’d seen the news and read the papers. The headlines were everywhere: ‘Young Heiress to Rocha Estate Lost at Sea.’ And I’ll admit, every time I saw the words or listened to a new report, I felt a stir of triumph. I didn’t want a child to die, but I’m ashamed to say that I was enjoying the fact that the family was suffering.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s just sick,” Quinn said, unable to stop herself.

She looked at Helen, who sat rocking with her eyes closed.