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Margery went back and forth several times, thinking about calling her insurance company about her car, but she didn’t know whether it was still where she had totaled it or if Ethan had moved it. No doubt he somehow disposed of Max’s body. He didn’t flinch when he killed him, which made her think this wasn’t his first rodeo.
What had he turned into? What had he been doing all the years she thought he was dead?
Those were some of the questions she had, but more importantly, she wanted to know how he faked his own death. Why did he do it? Did he not want her back then and thought it was the only way to get out of it?
Nothing was making any sense. Margery had tried to stop herself from thinking about this, but it was hard. Her mind was constantly on something related to Ethan and what he’d done.
“You look like shit,” Adalisa announced, walking in from the back room. “What happened? You look worse than before you left to go to the cabin.”
Margery rolled her eyes. Leave it to Adalisa to tell her the truth. But she shouldn’t expect much. Adalisa always gave her an honest opinion, and Margery liked that about her. Or, well, most of the time, she liked it. This was one of the few times she really didn’t appreciate it.
She knew she looked like shit. It wasn’t hard to tell. Margery had bags under her eyes, her skin was pale, and she looked lifeless. Something she hadn’t really looked like since Ethan had supposedly died eighteen years ago.
The past couple of days, she’d gone back and forth on calling Bonnie—-Ethan’s sister. She didn’t want to bring him possibly being alive up if Bonnie didn’t know. But what if she did? What if Bonnie knew and could tell Margery whether she was hallucinating or not?
It wasn’t something she could bring herself to ask. Margery hadn’t talked to Bonnie since the funeral all those years ago. It didn’t feel right calling her.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me. You know I tell the truth,” Adalisa scoffed. “Don’t get offended. You knew what you were signing up for when we became friends.”
“I know, but today really isn’t the day. I am exhausted, can’t you tell?” She joked.
“Oh, I can tell. What happened? You still haven’t told me much.”
Margery felt guilty. When she got back, she had told Adalisa the very basic stuff about leaving her wallet and everything else at the cabin. But she hadn’t given much else, and Adalisa didn’t ask any questions.
Kind of weird if you asked Margery, but she wasn’t going to question it. So much had gone on, and it wasn’t her priority to tell Adalisa everything that had happened.
“Well, I’m waiting. I have been patient since you came in the first day asking for a little money. I know you’re going to pay me back; I’m not worried about that. What I am worried about is you and what happened. It’s not like you to leave things behind.”
Marjory let out a breath of air. “I thought I saw somebody I knew from a long time ago, and it freaked me out a little. I left in a rush and ended up getting into a minor accident. Nothing too bad. Somebody found me and brought me to the hospital, where I spent at least twelve hours. It’s just been a rough couple of days.”
That was an understatement of the century. It’s been a rough couple of years, but especially months. Ever since she got that first stuffed zebra.
What could she have done differently? Probably nothing since she had called the authorities, but they didn’t do anything. And especially not the nurses who were supposed to report any abuse. The nurse thought she was in love with Ethan.
Okay, that was true. She did love the old Ethan, butmaybe not this new Ethan. He was a lot different from the person she had known eighteen years before. So different.
“Sweetie.” Adalisa gently rested a hand on her shoulder. Margery knew this wasn’t going to be good. She called her sweetie, which was a telltale sign. “This isn’t healthy. You need to get checked out. It’s not good for you to be hallucinating about a guy you loved who died years ago. It’s been eighteen years, you’re hallucinating about him.”
“I don’t think I am, though.” It sounded so bad, but Margery needed to be honest. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she wasn’t.
“And why do you think that? Has anybody else seen him?”
Quickly, she nodded. “Yes! Somebody did, and they ended up dying. I’m telling you, I’m not seeing things. At first, I thought it was because of the stuffed zebras, but I’m not.”
“How do you know?” Adalisa looked at her quizzically.
“He grabbed me around the waist, leaving a bruise. I dashed out of the house in a panic because and ended up in a car accident where another guy saved me. Max, your aunt’s neighbor a mile away from the cabin. I’m not lying. Max took care of me. A couple of days later, Ethan found me and killed him.”
She did sound crazy as she recounted the events. But she had a little hope that maybe Adalisa would believe her.
“Were you watching a crime TV show while you were in the hospital?”
“What?” She furrowed her eyebrows.
“You heard me. Were you watching a crime TV showwhile you were at the hospital? Were you so out of it that you possibly could think what you watched was what happened to you?”
Margery took a step back, and hurt filled her. She suspected Adalisa wasn’t going to believe her, but she didn’t think she was going to be rude about it.
