Page 73 of The Getaway

The camera POV changed again, and Gemma saw the house come into view. She couldn’t quite tell where the girls were, but they were clearly crouched on the ground and aiming up. The camera was trained on a balcony. Hot acid flooded Gemma’s stomach. A balcony. This couldn’t be what she thought it was.

“Girls—”

“Shh! Just watch!” Vienna whispered next to her.

Someone was shouting, but with the wind, Gemma couldn’t make out who.

“Who is that?” said Vienna on the feed. “Is that Juliet?”

“She’s totes wasted.” Florence giggled.

On the bed, Gemma covered her mouth with her hand. Juliet stumbled into view, her arms flailing as she shouted at someone just off screen. Her long hair was down and being ripped in every direction by the wind. Her words were likewise caught up in the swirl, so that only a few were decipherable.

“How could . . .”

“Lies . . .”

“Used me . . .”

“For what . . .”

Her motions were broad and somehow clunky and graceful at once. The girls were right. Juliet was clearly high. Whatever she was on, it was something that made her muscles so relaxed that she could barely express her ire with any sort of conviction.

“Who is she yelling at?” Gemma asked, her whole body tight with dread. She was watching the last moments of this woman’s life. Her children had seen it happen.

“Just wait,” Florence said.

“Just listen to me!” someone shouted through the tiny speakers.

And then, Suzy stepped into the frame.

“Oh my God,” Gemma said.

“Give me back the notes, Juliet,” Suzy’s voice said, clear as day. She was facing the camera, unlike Juliet, and was also naturally loud.

Juliet leaned back against the railing, one hand held way out and up above her head. Gemma saw the little blue notes she clung to, whipping in the wind. The notes she, herself, had delivered. She knew what was going to happen half a second before it did. Juliet went to throw the notes into the wind, and Suzy lunged. The little blue cards swirled up and out and all over as Suzy collided with Juliet. And Juliet, clearly with zero control over her own body, tipped backward over the railing.

Suzy screamed and grabbed for her friend’s arm, but it slipped right through her fingers, and Juliet plummeted to the ground.

“Holy shit!” one of the girls said through the phone.

“Omigod, down!”

Just before the camera hit the dirt, they all saw Suzy lean into the railing with both hands, an expression of utter horror on her face, then she turned to the right and ran, and the feed went black.

Gemma grabbed the phone from her daughter and clicked it off via the side button. She was shaking from head to toe, but she managed to stand up. Her brain was scrambled, and all she could do was pace. Pace and cling to Vienna’s phone, which she was not letting out of her hands any time soon.

Well, at least she didn’t have to tell the twins about Juliet.

“Girls, I don’t even know where to begin,” Gemma said. “That you were out there in the middle of the night in a hurricane. That you didn’t tell your father and I where you were going.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Vienna said quietly.

“Sorry, Mom,” Florence echoed.

“And then, this. You saw . . . oh my God, girls, you saw a woman die. Right in front of you! Are you all right?”

The two of them gazed at each other sorrowfully, and Gemma noticed how wan and tired they both looked. Her beautiful, vibrant, infuriating daughters. These last two days had taken a toll on all of them. But this . . . watching a woman fall to her death. Watching the woman’s friend essentially push her. Accidentally, it seemed, but still. Her kids were definitely going to need therapy after this.