“Yes, please,” Emma said as they all walked out into the kitchen. “You have to find someone who can fix it. She’s trying to delete evidence that proves she’s the one who killed Bev.”

Chapter 32

Paula

Four days after

Detective Puhl let us go and told both of us to come to the station in the morning.

“Be there at eight o’clock on the dot.”

She said it sternly, her gaze trained on me, and there was almost a challenge there.

I dare you not to show up.

“I’ll be there,” I muttered.

I walked into the house and stopped abruptly when I saw Keith sitting on the couch. He looked up sharply as I stepped inside. He was holding his phone in his hands, and his face was covered in a mix of concern and anger.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked with more anger than anything. “I’ve been trying to call you all day.”

I blinked rapidly, knowing I should answer his question, but the only thing that came to mind was another question. “What are you doing back?”

He stared at me for a moment with his mouth open, and then he shook his head and leaned back against the couch.

“What am I doing back?” he asked incredulously. “One of the coaches who drove separately came back early to bring me home because there was a break-in at my house and my wife was attacked! You’d know that if you’d picked up your phone. I was seconds away from calling the police! And all you have to say is ‘What are you doing back’?”

“I…” I started, reviewing my list of excuses, but then I stopped and just stood there.

I’d been lying so much, so easily. I’d lied to Keith, to the cops, to Emma, to Vanessa. Whether by omission or outright, it had become second nature. And I needed it to stop.

No more lies.

“Paula?” I heard Keith say, and I blinked. “Are you okay?”

I was trying so hard to think of the right thing to say, and it hit me that I just needed to get started, to tell him something that would prevent me from lying again, to force myself to tell him the truth.

“I have to go to the police station tomorrow to give a statement,” I blurted out. “I did something really, really bad.”

He blinked but didn’t say anything for a few moments. I finally walked over to the couch and sat down beside him.

And then, I began to talk.