“I guess it’ll be a while then before anyone interviews Bonnie and me.”
“It turns out weallhave to give statements, and not from the comfort of the living room. At the state police station, wherever that is.”
My stomach roils. I have no reason to feel guilty and yet I sense land mines ahead.
“Did your dad find a lawyer yet?”
“Yep, they’ve been on the phone. And Amanda’s coming. I called and asked her to pick up Henry today instead of tomorrow. I can’t have him around when there are police all over the place and people in hazmat suits.”
I nod, aware it’s the right thing to do. And yet it seems like a warning that the things we care about most in life are in danger of being wrenched away from us.
“I’m going to take Hen over to the cottage now,” Gabe adds. “All I’ve told him is that Dad’s assistant has been badly injured, and he needs to go back to the city. I’ll pack his bag and hang with him there for a while.”
“But aren’t we supposed to stay put?” I ask.
“We’re not leaving theproperty, Summer.”
“Okay, okay.”
After he departs, I stand there, uncertain of what to do next, my eyes on the oiled, wide-plank pine floor. Will I ever feel at ease in this house again? Will I ever be able to sit by the stream again, savoring the memory of Gabe’s proposal?
“Summer?”
I look up to see Keira a few feet from me, tucking a hair behind her ear.
“Hi.”
“Can I talk to you for a second?” she asks.
“Uh, sure.”
“Did you hear we all have to give statements... at the police station?”
“Yeah, Gabe just told me.”
She glances to the left, lips pressed.
“I know, it’s scary,” I say when she doesn’t go on. “But we’ll get through it.”
“What do you plan to do—you know, in regard to Jillian?” I guess Marcus filled her in.
“You mean, am I going to tell the police about seeing Ash embrace her? No.”
“Not about that. About Jillian’s thing with Marcus and Gabe this morning. You aren’t going to say anything to the police aboutthat, are you?”
22
For the next two hours all of us except for Gabe mill around the first floor of the house. At one point, Blake, Nick, and Marcus press me to share more details about the crime scene, and I do, hating myself for the way I study Nick’s and Marcus’s reactions. But nothing about their demeanor seems suspicious. When the chance arises, I sidle up to Wendy, who’s sitting quietly at the end of a sofa, still dressed from her trip to the medical center and hugging her leather tote to her chest.
“Was the sonogram okay?” I whisper.
“Yes, thank god, everything’s fine,” she says, smiling wanly. “I’m just shell-shocked from all this.”
Ash spends much of that time sequestered in the study, talking on the phone, except when one of the detectives asks him to step outside to identify the body before it’s loaded into the ambulance. When he returns, he looks shaken.
For our trip to the state police station, we’ve been put into two groups, and I’m in the first, along with Blake, Marcus, Keira, and Bonnie. We say good-bye to Wendy—because ofher condition, the police took her statement in the den—and Marcus quickly ushers Keira into their car. I jump into Blake’s black Mercedes, along with Bonnie, who insists I take the front seat.
“Would you mind cranking up the AC?” I ask Blake.
