“I’ll come pick you up. Where are you?”
“Thank you.” Relief rushes through me. The detectives will take Cecily seriously. “I’m at the Surly Goat Tavern. I’ll send you my location.”
—
“Do you reallythink it’s too late to call Detective Simmons? Go to the station?” I ask Cecily once we’re on the road. It must be almost onea.m.now, but I have to tell them about Sara. I’m still stunned by this new revelation and my head feels like it’s filled with a hundred tiny bees crawling around in cotton.
“Yes,” she says, then looks at me and frowns. “We’ll tell them, but not with you like this. You’ve obviously been drinking, and leaving after the detectives said to stay put didn’t look good. I think we need to get you showered and a good night’s sleep. We’ll call your lawyer first thing tomorrow morning. We want you to look as credible as possible so they stop focusing on you.”
She’s right. I can’t go in like this. They’re probably home for the night. And it’s true I’d been ignoring Detective Gary’s calls. If I came in, who knows how they’d respond.
I sink back in the seat. “You’re right.”
Closing my eyes, I take a long, deep breath, suddenly exhausted. The vibration of the road calms my nerves, and I’m reminded of the way Dani always falls asleep on long road trips. So tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll deal with it. Tonight, I can rest. All I want is to see Dani, kiss her good night, and fall asleep in my own bed…though I know that’s impossible right now.
I think of Nate, how angry he’d been with me. The fight we’d had. The bar. The whiskey. I look at my reflection in the mirror, wipe at the smeared mascara under my eye. “Oh god.”
She looks over at me, concerned. “What is it?”
“Nate and Dani are staying at his friend’s place. They’ll be back tomorrow morning. But I can’t let him see me like this. I need to go back and get his car.”
“You can stay in my guest room. Theo’s still in London. I’ll tell Nate you needed some space. I’ll drive you to pick up your car tomorrow.”
I think of Cecily’s condo on the Upper East Side: the guest bedroom with the down bedding like a luxury hotel, the smell of her expensive detergent, and the pillows,so many pillows! And imagine my head sinking into them as if they were clouds.
Cecily is still talking, and her voice, her rational thinking, easesmy nerves. She always gets what she wants. Everything is going to be fine.
It all makes sense now: Sara thought Naomi was sleeping with Matthew. She’d hurt my sister, and after the wedding, she’d gone after Matthew too. Maybe she’d simply snapped, gotten tired of his lies.
I feel my neck flush with shame. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it…”
I remember running after Sara into the subway. Thinking she’d help. How she’d ignored me. Accusedmeof assault. What was I thinking? Was I really thatstupid? Sara Vail is an actress. It’s literally her job to lie.
“I knew there was something off about her,” Cecily says. “Water?” She hands me a Perrier, which I eagerly accept.
The lemon-flavored sparkling water is cool on my tongue, sliding down my throat, and I drink it down in long gulps. But it’s not enough to get rid of the bitter alcohol taste in my mouth. I take another sip to try to chase it away, but it’s still there, along with the pounding headache. This is why I don’t drink whiskey.
“I feel like an idiot,” I say, reaching up to massage my temples.
“Don’t say that.” Cecily places a reassuring hand over mine. “There was no way you could have known.”
Outside, it’s started to rain. My eyes drift to the road, glassy wet pavement winding like a black river. Soon the drizzling rain and the rhythm of the yellow lines lulls me into a trance.
Tick tick tick.
I must have fallen asleep, because when I wake up, I don’t recognize where we are. All around us is gray nothingness, fog swallowing the car, the faint outline of evergreen trees. And it’s quiet, so we can’t be in the city. What time is it?
I squint at the clock. It’s out of focus, the numbers sliding and breaking. I must be exhausted. Or more drunk than I thought. When I pull my phone from my pocket, the numbers are clearer: 1:26a.m.
A message from Daisy lights the screen, and when I open it, I stop.
Stay away from Cecily.
My heart falters. I text her back:?
Daisy responds right away:Cecily and Matthew. It all makes sense now. It was her!
Time seems to slow as all the blood leaves my face and slides down into my stomach. My hands grow cold, sweaty. I glance over at Cecily, but her eyes are focused on the road.
