It takes me a moment to make sense of her words.Matthew is dead?I glance at Nate, who shakes his head and looks away. I can’t comprehend it. Is this a good thing? Just yesterday, I’d wanted this so badly, in fact, imagined myself doing it. So I should feel happy, or at least relieved…this should mean it’s all over now.
And yet.
“Did the police—did something happen?”
Daisy shakes her head. “He was still here when I left to check on the girls.” Her voice cracks. “They found his body this morning—he was stabbed.”
—
Everything after thatis a blur. My head feels full, a noise buzzing like static, as questions spiral. Who killed Matthew? And whynow? Why right before the police would have arrested him? Just a little bit longer, and he wouldn’t have been a problem anymore.
I couldn’t eat after Daisy told us what had happened, but it’s now past noon and I’m starving, so I make my way to the main house in search of food. With all the commotion, we decided that it would be better to keep Dani away with the au pair a while longer. I don’t want her overhearing any of this.
My hand is shaking so badly I can hardly pour myself a glass of water in the kitchen. I tip the cold water to my lips, gulping it down. The touch of a hand on my shoulder makes me jump, and the glass slips from my hand and lands with a crash on the floor. I bend to pick up the pieces. “Oh god, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry.” Margaret helps me, a strange expression on her face. “I take it you heard about Matthew?”
I nod.
“Well,” she says, “I can’t say I’m sorry about it. He deserved it.” She moves over to the sink and begins washing the dishes. She dries a plate and puts it back in the cupboard.
My throat is suddenly dry, so I pour myself another glass of water, while Margaret flits around the kitchen. She wipes down the counter with a rag and tidies a stack ofArchitectural Digestnext to a vase of hydrangeas.
“The detectives will be here soon,” Margaret says. “You all right?” She dries off a knife and sets it back in the knife block.
Allthe knives are there.
I blink hard. “I’m not sure what they expect to get from us,” she continues, fixing her gaze on me. Her sharp green eyes are intense against her pale skin. “After all, we don’t know anything, do we?”
—
When I returnto the pool house, I find Nate gone, a note in his handwriting on the nightstand:Went to pick up Dani.Why would he want to bring our daughter here, where a man’s been murdered?
Uncomfortable in the silence, I turn on the TV to find an anchor reporting the local news. “A forty-five-year-old man’s body has been found in Greenwich, Connecticut, at the edge of Bedford Road on Monday by a local resident.” The hairs on the back of my neck rise.“The office of the chief medical examiner has stated that the cause of death was multiple stab wounds. The case remains under investigation.”
Multiple stab wounds?The edge of Bedford Road—that’s just around the corner from the St. Clairs’. A metallic taste fills my mouth, and I’m suddenly so dizzy I have to grab the dresser to steady myself.
I shut it back off. Sink onto the bed.
What had happened last night? Where was Nate when I woke up? My husband may be reactive, but he would neverkillsomeone.If he gets anywhere near her again, I’ll kill him.No. He didn’t mean it. People say things they don’t mean all the time when they’re angry.They also do things they don’t mean to do…
I inhale sharply and start packing up our clothes. I’m folding Nate’s sweater when I stop cold. Nate’s reaction when Daisy told us Matthew had been killed—it wasn’t the look of someone hearing the news for the first time. It was the look of someone who already knew.
Outside the window, coming from the main house, two figures are approaching, headed my way—Detective Gary and Detective Simmons.
Chapter Sixty
Naomi
Wednesday, May 24, 2023, two days before her death
It’s pouring rain as Irun across campus. Marta has something. The leaked emails, DuPont’s strange reaction, the payments to her afterward…It’s all connected. And everyone involved could go to prison.
At the same time, I have so many questions. What, exactly, does she have? And if DuPont knew it existed, he would have made her destroy it, right? If she’s loyal to him, why has she kept it for all these years?
Marta had always worked quietly in the corners of Sterling, frowning as she swept and dusted. It was impossible to tell whose side she was on.
—
