I step under the hot water and close my eyes, suddenly exhausted like I hadn’t slept at all. Leaning against the tile, I will the throbbing in my skull to ease.
By the time I emerge from the shower, the darkness has sifted away, replaced by a soft lemony light. The air outside is still cool and crisp, but I can sense the imposing clouds overhead. I step out onto the patio in my robe, and as I’m having coffee on the chaise longue, I see Nate approaching in the distance. I scan his body for any signs of distress, but he looks fine. Perfectly fine, in running clothes and a gray sweatshirt. I exhale.
“You’re up,” he says.
I nod, not sure how to react. Is this all in my head? Am I so paranoid about Matthew that I’m seriously losing it?
He gives me a peck on the cheek and looks me over with a puzzled expression. His eyes stop. “What happened to your neck?”
Reaching up, I wince at the frayed skin where I must have scratched myself. I pull my hand back, blood on my fingertips, and cringe. “I had a nightmare again. I woke up in the middle of the night, you weren’t in bed.” I pause, studying him. “Where were you?”
He frowns, shakes his head. “I woke up early. Went for a run. Imust have been getting ready when you woke up the first time.” His face is blank.
I swallow the knot that’s formed in my throat. Nate’s expression sends a chill through me…because I’ve been with my husband for over ten years. I know when he’s lying.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Maya
August 2023
An hour later, I’m sittingon the edge of the bed, trying to piece together what exactly happened last night.
A noise makes me startle, and when I look up, Nate is standing at the door, holding a paper bag and coffee. My arms prickle at his sudden appearance. Why hadn’t I heard him open the door?
“Nate,” I inhale. “We need to talk.”
“Huh?” Nate’s voice is loud, distracted. He taps his phone, silencing the music. Removes an earbud.
“Last night…I thought it might have been a nightmare, but I definitely heard someone scream. Kai heard it too.”
“What happened?” Nate is putting his headphones away into the case and fiddling with his phone. My jaw clenches in frustration.
“Nate.” I grab his arm. “I think someone could’ve been hurt.”
He takes a seat on the bed next to me and softens his tone. “What do you want me to do? Call the police?”
“Where were you last night?” I ask, unable to keep the suspicion out of my voice. The next words rattle out of me before I can stop them. “Nate, you were gone and—the scream. It sounded bad, like someone was hurt. And I was scared it could’ve been you. I went to look for you in the woods. But you weren’t there. And I thought I saw someone…Matthew…Lila.” My lungs hurt, and my head is throbbing with a massive headache.
“Woah, slow down. What do you mean, you saw Lila?” Nate studies my face.He’s taking me seriously now,I think for a brief moment,before I realize that it’s not concern for what I saw, but rather, for my sanity.
I blink back at him. Before I’d said it, it seemed to make sense in my head, but now I realize how impossible it sounds. “I don’t know, I just…last night is such a strange blur, it’s like I can’t grab hold of it.”
“Did you take anything?” he asks.
Oh—the pill Kai gave me,to help you get back to sleep,the Ambien, of course. And mixed with all of the alcohol I’d had at the reception, no wonder it had made me hallucinate. Shame floods my cheeks.
“I’m not making it up,” I say softly. Am I losing it? Am I actually losing my mind?
A loud banging on the door startles me.
—
Daisy bursts intothe room muttering something aboutMatthewandlast night,but she’s talking so fast and so frantically she doesn’t make any sense.
“What happened? Are you okay? Are the girls okay?” I say, my chest tightening.
Daisy turns to me with the look of someone who has seen something horrible. She’s breathing hard. “It’s Matthew,” she says, between heaving breaths. “He’s dead.”
