Falling Stars (Shooting Stars 5)

"You'd think her husband would have something to say about that," Ice muttered.

"Well, they had a strange relationship. They were apart for long periods of time every year. If you look at her schedule and his, you'd think they were lucky to have been together a week or more sometimes."

"Get to what they have to know. Evan," Rose gently urged. "We don't want to keep you long and we've got to get back to the school before we're missed. too. We weren't supposed to be out late."

"Right. She gave birth both times in

Switzerland. There was contradictory information about this, almost as if someone was tying to erase the past. but I finally discovered that she gave birth to a boy first. The boy, as you all know, was named Edmond Coma Senetsky. Coma being Madame Senetsky's maiden name. Two years afterward, she gave birth again, this time to a girl. The girl's name was Gerta Louise Senetsky. Louise was Madame Senetsky's mother's name. Gerta was Marshall Senetsky's mother's name."

"We know about her daughter," I said. -"She told me herself. remember? She said I reminded her of her daughter, but she had died.'

"She told you that?" Evan asked.

"Yes, but she didn't tell me her name or anything else about her. Why are you surprised?'"

"There is little history of Gerta. It's like Madame Senetsky would rather forget she ever existed. All the articles I could find that quote her mention only Edmond. They were both brought up in Switzerland, where they attended English schools. Madame Senetsky was traveling often, to make films or to perform in a play. As I said, sometimes she was away from her husband for months and months, but she was also away from her children that long. too."

He paused and looked up at us.

"From what I can tell so far, at the age of fourteen. Gerta disappears, but that's not when she died."

"Disappears?" Ice asked quickly.

"No school records, medical records. nothing. It took a while, but I finally traced her to a clinic in Switzerland."

"What sort of clinic?" Cinnamon questioned, her eyes electric with what I imagined were her memories of her mother's problems.

"A special clinic for disturbed children, mentally disturbed."

"So that's who we saw," Ice muttered. "It had to be. That was surely one disturbed person."

"The resemblance to Edmond would strongly suggest it," Evan said.

"But Madame Senetsky told me she was dead." I reminded them. "Why would she lie about that and why is she being kept hidden?" I asked.

Evan shook his head.

"That's why I said this might not help you understand what's happening in the house. That's all I could find about her so far. It's a very strange story, and after what Rose told me. I thought I should bring it all here to show you."

He handed out some of the articles and pictures he had downloaded from search engines on the Internet. We passed them to each other and read in silence.

"You said she was placed in psychiatric care when she was about fourteen?" Cinnamon asked, looking up from one article in particular.

"It would seem that way from what I could piece together," Evan replied.

Cinnamon thought a moment.

"If I'm correct about the time line, it's not too long after that when Madame Senetslw's husband committed suicide for mysterious reasons. Right?" she asked Evan. "You sent those pages to Rose."

"Yes, that's correct," he said. "They already were living in New York part of the year."

He checked his notes and nodded.

"According to what this says. Marshall Senetsky died a little more than a year after Gerta was committed."

"Wow," I said. "It sounds like there is more drama in Madame Senetsky's real life than there was in any play or movie she acted in."

"Somehow," Cinnamon said. nodding. "I don't think the curtain has come dawn on it all either."