Chapters (59)
- COVER
- About the Author
- DEDICATION
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- Acknowledgments
- THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
Vera situated herself on the sofa, spine rigid. She looked like a figurine on display: Grieving Woman, Mid-Investigation. ‘I really don’t know why they’re bothering with me when Sam Alby is probably gloating about what he did to John all over town. But he has an alibi. They think the time of death was sometime between eleven p.m. and one a.m., and Sam was supposedly at Platform all damn night.’
My eyebrows scrunched up. ‘Platform? The bar?’
She nodded. ‘Sam’s always there, like every night – that’s why we had to stop going. And because his bar buddies are vouching for him, that’s it, apparently – McKnight just believes him. No need to look into it further. Go for the wife instead. Or you,’ she said, letting the words pierce the air.
For a moment, I wondered again if she believed it, that I could have done this to John. If she could really think it of me, maybe the one person in this whole town besides her who believed that John was good.
Cautiously, I approached the sofa. I wanted to sit next to her, feel her warm skin, pull her close to me and never, ever let go. I wanted to beg her to keep me safe, like she’d promised she would, only I knew she couldn’t; not now. I sat, leaving a foot or so of space between us, almost afraid to break her. ‘Vera,’ I said, my voice wavering. ‘You know I would never hurt John. No matter what the police think. I swear to you, Vera. I swear to god.’
She scooted over, closing the space between us. ‘I know that,’ she said. ‘I really do.’
Relief, like stepping into a warm bath, like getting a goodnight kiss from my mother. She still believed me. No matter what the police had told her, she still believed me.
She won’t, though. Not after she sees that photo.
My eyes darted to the window, then back to her. ‘I need to tell you something, though, so you understand what’s going on.’
‘What is it?’ she asked, her voice wavering.
I cleared my throat, as if to force the words out. ‘Part of me worries that it was Davis.’
‘Davis?’ Vera asked. ‘Your ex? That’s crazy.’
I nodded. ‘I know it sounds that way, but Ellie told Davis where I was, and in town …’ I hesitated. ‘I saw Claire in town, and she told me that he’d been around the shops in Woodstock, asking for me, saying I was missing.’
‘Oh my god,’ Vera said.