“I have nothing to offer you, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to give you even a single word of content for another book.” Sam moved to close the door. I weighed my options and decided it was time to time rip off the Band-Aid.
“Okay, fine, I’m here to talk about Alex fucking Isaac a week before she died.” Sam stopped in the doorway. “But I can write aboutthatin the next book, if you’d prefer.”
I watched Sam’s expression change, her features pulling together. She looked angry, infuriated even, but not surprised. So, shehadknown.
After a tense moment that felt more like a few minutes, Sam grimaced, opening the door wider, beckoning me in and turning on her heel. “Fuck you for this, Rose. Seriously.”
I had hoped we might be able to step out to a café or some other neutral territory, but I wasn’t going to risk this opportunity. I slipped into her apartment and shut the door behind me.
Sam’s place was sparsely decorated. The furniture looked like it was foraged from yard sales, and the only spot that had any personality to it was a table near some sliding doors that was covered in craft supplies and plastic storage bins.
“Sit,” Sam ordered, nodding at a brown suede chair. I sat down tentatively while she threw herself on the pilly gray sofa.
“Just so you know,” Sam said, “I thought long and hard about what I would say to you if I ever saw you again. I came up with some really good stuff, but actually looking at you is enraging me too much to remember most of it.” She paused. “You’re a foul human being. Everything you’ve done since that summer is disgusting.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I know. I got your DMs.”
Sam’s face didn’t relax. “Be happy that’s all you got.”
“Look,” I pressed, “I know a lot has happened between us, but no one can find my sister. It’s been days now, and I can’t leave any stone unturned.”
“I guess it’s not Hazel’s fault that her siblings are psychos,” Sam said, “but what does this have to do with my sister? Or Isaac? If that’s really what you came here to talk about.”
I took a deep breath. “I think the same person who killed Alex has something to do with Hazel’s disappearance.”
Sam’s head lolled to the side. “Why won’t you let this go?” she demanded. “I’m sorry that Hazel is missing, okay? As despicable as I think you are, she doesn’t deserve that. No one does. ButWillkilled my sister. You’ve spent eleven years denying that fact, and it’s clearly making you crazy.”
I was getting really sick of people calling me crazy.
“Will didn’t kill her,” I said evenly, trying to stay calm.
“You know what,” she continued, “I wouldn’t be surprised if this was some kind of publicity stunt from you. Hide your sister away for a few days to cause reasonable doubt? Convince everyone the real killer wasn’t caught to get Will out of prison? It’s really depraved, even for you.”
She’d gone too far. It was one thing to insult me. Or Will. But to accuse me of orchestrating this whole thing with Hazel for publicity? I couldn’t let that one go.
I knew I needed to recalculate this. “Look, I think Hazel thought there was more to this story too. She was looking into Alex’s murder right before she disappeared. You might know from my book that I saw Alex fucking some guy the night of Matty Mueller’s party. Hazel figured out that it was Isaac. And clearly you already knew that.”
“Of course I knew,” Sam said. “Even before your sister came down here a week ago to ask me the same question.” My breath hitched in my throat. “I saw the way Isaac looked at Alex that whole week he was staying with us. It drove me insane. And I caught him coming out of the woods after the two of you that night. I wasn’t stupid, Rose. I knew what they were doing there.”
I was right, Hazel had followed the steps to Sam too. And Sam had always known what happened. Which gave her motive. I realized the position I was in and side-eyed the closed door.
“Did you confront Alex?” I asked.
“Yeah. Alex and I had it out that night and I broke up with Isaac. I made him leave and then had to lie to my parents about it.” Sam, for the first time, paused, looking a little confused. “I am surprised Hazel didn’t tell you this already. I didn’t believe her when she said she wasn’t here on your behalf.”
So Hazel had confirmation that Isaac and Alex were together that night, the information coming straight from Sam’s lips, which meant either Sam or Isaac or both were likely to be implicated here. I was feeling out of my depth. I had to get the fuck out of here and call Pullman. I would finally tell the police everything I knew.
I went to stand up, but the pained look in Sam’s face kept me rooted in the spot. Despite what had happened to the Hopelys, I’d somehow imagined that they had persevered. That it was my family who had truly suffered, whose lives were irrevocably ruined. But looking at Sam felt like looking in the mirror. Both of our lives had been destroyed by what had happened to our siblings. And as much as I wanted to suspect her, to have someone else to blame, I had to admit that hers didn’t look like the face of a killer.
Sam spoke up again, looking at me directly. “I can tell what you’re thinking, and the answer is no. Isaac didn’t kill Alex or hurt Hazel. The night of Alex’s murder, he was at his summer house on Cape Cod. His entire family was there, and so was the new girl he was banging. I saw the photos all over Facebook. I still remember how shitty I felt.”
“Did you tell Hazel that too?” I asked, and Sam nodded. Fuck. There went my next lead.
“Yeah, I did. And then she asked me if I knew about anyone else Alex was sleeping with,” Sam said.
“And?” I pressed.
“I never knew what was true or not with her. Alex would say anything to raise her own image.” Sam sounded conflicted, her issues with Alex as unresolved in death as in life. “And it definitely came off badly, but she struggled with her own demons. Everyone was always watching her, expecting her to be perfect, to be cool. That’s complicated in its own way.”
