Page 74 of The Getaway

And Suzy. Last night or early this morning or whenever the hell it had been, Suzy had been going off about how she didn’t want to be next. She’d stood there, knowing the whole time what had happened, and let everyone accuse Josh of killing Juliet. No wonder she’d been so hell bent on leaving. The woman was a sociopath.

Good God, they were all going to need therapy after this.

“We’re okay,” said Florence, twisting her lips to one side—a telltale sign that she was not okay. She looked down at her lap and picked at her fingernails.

“We just really want to go home,” Vienna added. And then she broke down in tears.

Gemma’s heart severed down the center. Florence reached over and put both arms around her sister, pulling her close. That was it. She was glad Grant had packed their bags. They really did need to get the hell out of here.

The shower turned off. Gemma looked at her girls. “Go make sure you have everything ready. I need to talk to your father.”

Grant was ashen after watching the video. His wet hair dripped onto the shoulders of his polo shirt as they stood in the center of the room.

“The girls actually saw it happen.” He stated it, like he was trying to process it.

“Yes.”

“Where are they? Are they okay?”

“I told them to go back to their room and make sure they had everything packed,” Gemma said. “I think we should get them out of here as quickly as humanly possible. God knows it’s going to be impossible to get a flight back home, but we can go back to the rental and crash for a few days.”

Grant blew out a breath and ran both hands backward through his hair, then held them together behind his head, his arms forming bat wings. “This is insane.”

“I know. What do we do?” Gemma asked. “Should I confront Suzy? Make her confess? Show Lily? Show everyone?”

Grant dropped his arms again. He walked over to the window and looked out. There wasn’t much light coming through, but she couldn’t help staring at him. Sometimes she forgot how broad his shoulders were. How totally strong and sturdy he was. At that moment, she was glad to have that strength on her side. He turned to face her again.

“We need to tell the group. They deserve to know that Suzy murdered their friend.”

Gemma winced. “I don’t know if murder is the right word. It’s pretty clear it was an accident. I mean, yes, she lied about it, but—”

“Exactly. What else might she be lying about?” Grant asked.

She stared at him, the phone clutched so tightly in her hands it was making ridges in her fingers. “You don’t think . . . she couldn’t have been the one who killed Lincoln. And what motive could she have for hurting Trevor?”

“I don’t know, but three murders in one house in two days?” Grant said. “What are the chances there are multiple killers running around this place?”

“But she was just grabbing for the notes,” Gemma said. “She didn’t mean for Juliet to fall.”

“Or did she just make it look like she didn’t mean her to fall?” Grant asked. “She was clearly worried about something getting out. Whatever was in those notes.”

The notes. Gemma turned and sat down on the bed, the wind knocked out of her. It always came back to the notes.

She looked up at Grant. “Let’s go wake everyone up.”

38

Suzy

It’s all going to be fine, Suzy told herself, staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She pulled her dark hair back into a low ponytail and secured it with a gold band. You’re getting out of here, and you’re going to put all of this behind you.

She looked down at her right hand, braced against the countertop, her stacked bejeweled rings glinting at her. There were three deep scratches up her arm from Juliet’s nails. Who was she kidding? She was never going to put this behind her. For the rest of her life, she was never going to forget how it felt—Juliet’s arm slipping through her fingers as she fell. The helplessness of that moment. But there was nothing she could have done. Juliet had barely had control of her faculties. She’d only found the notes because she’d snuck into Suzy’s room to steal her Xanax. Who knew how many of them she’d taken, and what else she might have swallowed or smoked?

Resolving not to think about it, Suzy grabbed the gun out of the drawer to her right and shoved it into her crossbody. The very weight of it made her feel more secure.

“You ready?” she said to Sean.

He gave her a nod as he shoved his foot into his shoe. “Let’s get out of here.”