“What would your stripper name be?” Amanda said. “It’s always the name of your first pet and the street you grew up on. Everybody knows that. They do those stupid things on social media all the time, and people share it. But you were laughing that night. You said, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if your stripper name was the names of your two grandmothers?’ And you said yours would have been Lily Rose and how that sounded like an old-fashioned stripper from the Wild West.” Amanda looked over at me. “It was the stupidest thing to laugh at. But everyone was drinking, everyone but me because I was pregnant, and so I remembered. It was a pretty name. That’s what I thought. Lily Rose.” She looked back at Sam. “Mine was Margaret Lynn. We decided it was the worst stripper name ever.”

“This is all very charming, but I have to go get married. . . .”

“You threatened Jennifer using that name. I saw it on her social media accounts. You went over there. You knew something had gone on between her and Blake, so you went over there that day . . . and I don’t know what you intended to do, but it must have gone horribly wrong, because that’s the day she ended up dead. And Blake must not have known yet, because he sent Ryan in that night to get the letters back. Right? You killed her, Sam. You must have killed her because you didn’t like the way she and Blake were carrying on. Then the two of you could get married. You must have just been driven by jealousy.”

Sam remained frozen in place, her hand still clutching the material of the wedding dress. She stared hard at us, her eyes narrowed, the irises shining like dark marbles. She breathed a little heavier, a little quicker.

“You think I was jealous of her?” Sam asked. “You think jealousy would drive me to do anything so rash?” She looked at both of us again, her face sneering in contempt. “The two of you don’t understand anything about us, do you? You never have. You’re both just kind of simple and so perfect. Simply perfect. You’d think something as basic as jealousy would be a reason to do anything. It’s not. Not for us.”

“Then why did you do it, Sam?” Amanda asked.

I still wasn’t sure Amanda was right. I wasn’t sure about anything. If the Barn had exploded and the landscape around us had gone up in flames, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

Before Sam said anything else, the door to the Barn opened again.

Blake stepped through and saw the two of us talking to his bride.

CHAPTER NINETY-TWO