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Back Careful What You Wish For
Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. Acknowledgments
  45. P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
  46. About the Author
  47. About the Book
  48. Reading Group Guide
  49. Read On
  50. Praise for Careful What You Wish For
  51. Also by Hallie Ephron
  52. About the Publisher

The kayaking couple had dragged their boat to their SUV. It took both of them to wrestle it up onto the roof. It occurred to Emily how much easier it was to maneuver that kayak in the water than it was on dry land. Which made her wonder if it wouldn’t have been a whole lot easier to tow Walter Newell’s body across the water to the storage facility. The distance—it couldn’t be more than two hundred feet from shore to shore—and the current would make the trip a quick one. Then, assuming there was access to the water from the storage facility and an opening in the chain-link fencing that surrounded it, all you’d have to do was dock the boat and drag the body to the storage unit. It would have taken two people to pull it off, but in the dark of night, it was a route that afforded plenty of privacy.

35

EMILY GOT BACK in her car to find another text from Becca. She and Lila and Mrs. Murphy were at a rest stop and would meet her at the storage unit in a half hour. That gave Emily time to poke around the riverbank behind the storage facility. When she got there, unit 217 was secured by the new combination lock. She could smell the river as she walked around the row of storage units numbered in the one hundreds and down a grassy embankment. Beyond a perimeter of chain-link fencing was a sheer ten-foot drop to the water. Across the water and upstream was the town wharf where she’d just been. Somehow it seemed farther away from this side.

Emily walked the fence from end to end, wading through knee-high grass and slogging through the occasional muddy patch. More than once, one of her Crocs was nearly sucked off her foot.

So much for her conjecture that Walter Newell’s body could have been towed across the water from the wharf to the storage unit. There was no obvious place for a boat or even a kayak to dock at the water’s edge, the chain link was unbroken, and lugging a body up the steep embankment would have been arduous, even for two people working together. Anyone who’d attempted it would have left a significant trail, and she’d found none.

Emily returned to the Murphys’ storage unit. It took a moment to once again spot the CCTV camera mounted at the roof of the adjacent unit. It would be easy to back up a car to the door, dump a body even in broad daylight, without giving the security camera a clear view.

The toot of a car horn announced Becca’s arrival. Lila pulled in behind her with Mrs. Murphy.

“Hey, how’d it go?” Emily asked as Becca got out of her car.