“I guess being friends with Ricky has more than one advantage, but why don’t you google it. See what comes up.” He smirked even harder as he reached for his beer, winking at me before taking a long swig and giving me a wouldn’t you like to know grin, which made me want to stab him with his screwdriver. I ignored him and got back in my car, hands trembling as I shifted into Reverse. Before I got home, I pulled over and grabbed my phone, and as I plugged Lily Hetherington into the search engine, the anticipation of what I might find became almost unbearable.

It took a lot of digging, scrolling and patience, but after a few minutes, there it was—a mug shot from the night she’d been arrested, her mascara smudged in teary rivers down her translucent cheeks. I read article after article, my heart pounding with elation. Lily wasn’t the innocent little Snow White she liked to portray. She had a sleazy past, a rotten history—one I could, and would, use. Getting rid of her was going to be so easy now, it almost wasn’t fun.

Suppressing the urge to laugh out loud, I dialed the Cliff’s Head and asked for Patrick.

28

LILY

It was almost surreal how quickly things had changed over the past few days. As soon as the renovation supplies arrived the morning after we’d been to the beach, Ash and I got started on the garage. As we worked, he’d told me about his altercation with Keenan outside the Cliff’s Head, and showed me the cut on his shoulder, but reassured me he felt fine, I shouldn’t worry. I did at first, until I realized there were more pressing issues at hand than Keenan’s misplaced anger.

While Ash had initially felt the recovery of his memory was gaining traction since I’d arrived in Newdale, it led to him throwing himself into the garage project with vehemence. On the first evening, he’d fallen asleep on the sofa shortly after dinner, and according to Maya he’d stayed there until the next morning. The second night hadn’t been much better and every day he seemed increasingly tired. Both Maya and I joined forces in an effort to get him to slow down, congratulating one another on day three when he agreed to ease off.