Page 63 of The Getaway

Gemma took in a slow, deep breath, listening to the moans and groans of the house as the wind did its best to tear it down. Somehow, though, the noises felt comforting now. Or at least less ominous.

If it was true, if Lily would get everything, then Lily would have controlling stock in Lincoln’s company once all the dust settled. And Gemma didn’t know a ton about business, but she knew that had to mean something. Maybe the situation could be salvaged. Maybe Grant could still win a position at Home Team. If Lily had any say in the decisions, there was still a chance.

After all this, Lily was certainly going to owe her.

When Gemma woke again, it was to the sound of a slam somewhere nearby. Something hitting the house? A door closing? But her eyes were so heavy she refused to let it bother her. She had to cling to this sleep while she could. Tomorrow was a new day.

31

Marley

Marley couldn’t sleep. Neither could Marshall, from the sound of his breathing. They were both just lying there in the dark, not talking to each other. But she was too exhausted to talk, too full of adrenaline and fear to sleep. She knew Marshall was probably thinking about Josh and about the group’s reaction to hearing he was elsewhere—that it now seemed highly unlikely he’d committed either of the murders. For the most part they had been relieved—and maybe disappointed. After the behavior they’d all witnessed at the party, Josh was an easy-ish answer.

And then there was Lily. Marley had tried to call her a few more times, but the phone hadn’t even rung. Certainly the storm was screwing up her cell signal, and her battery was running low anyway. Someone needed to tell Lily what had happened, yes. But now there were also so many questions.

Why had she done what she’d done? What had she thought she would gain from writing those notes? The only thing Marley could imagine was that she’d been hoping to ruin the week for them. That she thought exposing all those secrets would cause fighting and cold shoulders and maybe even coming to blows. But murder? She couldn’t have imagined it would come to that.

Could she?

A sudden blood-curdling scream sliced right down her back.

“What the hell was that?” Marshall sat up so fast he elbowed Marley in the gut.

From the corner of her eye, Marley saw something plummet past their window.

Something had fallen from Juliet and Josh’s balcony.

“No, please, no.”

Marley and Marshall ran down the hall, banging on doors as they went, trying to wake up everyone they could. At the stairs, Marley somehow got ahead of Marshall and skidded into the great room on her bare feet. She ran across the expansive space, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. When she wrenched open the sliding door, the wind hit her hard, but she realized it was no longer raining. The world outside was still pitch black, though. All she could make out besides the potted trees on their sides and the random debris across the patio were the dark clouds moving swiftly across the even darker sky. That and the trees at the back of the property jerking around in the wind.

Marley’s hair whipped across her face and got in her eyes as she ran toward the end of the east wing, where her and Marshall’s room was located. They had the room at the end facing the backyard. The room directly under Juliet and Josh’s room.

Please just leave me alone, Juliet had said. I don’t want to see you or anyone else.

And Marley had listened. Marley had left her there, alone. She had even been somewhat relieved.

Marley hurtled over a broken chair and shoved aside a shrub that had come clear out of the ground and landed on the walkway. How the hell that could have happened she had no idea. But seconds later, all thoughts went right out of her brain as she saw Juliet—the twisted, lifeless, bleeding form of Juliet—splayed and broken across the raised planter border around the north patio.

32

Suzy

In the breakfast room, Suzy dropped the book she’d just picked up. Her breath hitched. Was that Marley? She ran into the great room, the dozen or so candles she’d lit to read by casting odd shadows on the walls. The moment Marley and Marshall walked through the sliders at the back of the house, Suzy stopped in her tracks, fighting for breath. Everyone but the twins and the staff was gathered in the great room. Grant and Gemma near the oak dining table. Hazel pacing with the baby in her arms in front of the fireplace. Sean was bleary eyed, having clearly just been pulled out of a deep sleep. Marley made it through the door, went over to the nearest chair, and sat on its edge. The look on her face said everything. It was as if she’d never smile or laugh or feel anything that wasn’t anguish ever again.

“What happened?” Grant asked, his voice scratchy. He had one arm around Gemma’s back.

“It’s Juliet.” Marshall couldn’t seem to focus on one person or one spot. His brown hair stuck out in every direction, and the blue of his eyes seemed electric. “She’s . . . she fell or she jumped or . . . the wind . . . ? She must have been on the sundeck, and she . . . she’s . . . she’s . . . gone.”

He broke when he said the last word. His whole body shook as he sobbed into his hands.

No. It was the only thing in Suzy’s brain. No. No. No. As if that could make it untrue. As if that could turn back time.

Something shattered inside her. Something deep and pure and necessary to her survival. Something she didn’t think she would ever be able to repair. Juliet, gone. Juliet with her laughter and her energy and her weird manicures. Her love of the sun and her quest to save the world and her horrible singing voice. All of it. Gone.

She went to Marley, sitting on the wide arm of her chair, and wrapped her arms around her friend. At her touch, Marley started to cry as well, but more quietly than her husband. The inside of Suzy’s skull throbbed. She felt as if reality had bent itself inside out, and at some point, it would snap back into place, putting everything right again. How could it not? This couldn’t be their lives. This couldn’t be real. She ran her hand methodically over Marley’s dirty-blond hair and down her back.

“Fucking Josh,” Marshall said, then turned to punch the wall behind him. Gemma made a surprised noise and moved closer to Grant. “If you had been here, she’d still be alive!” he shouted. Another punch.