Page 79 of The Getaway

He brought the kit over to Hazel and then went to the kitchen to throw out the bottle. When he came back, Marshall tilted his head back to look at him, then flinched and lay flat again.

“Where’s Marley?”

“Oh, she was getting some more towels, just in case,” Grant said and lifted a thumb in the direction of the storage room. “She’ll be right back.”

Marshall looked like he was going to say something else, but then Hazel touched some gauze covered in antiseptic to his leg, and he cried out in pain instead. Grant went over to Gemma and leaned toward her ear.

“Get the girls. We’re getting out of here.”

“Now?” Gemma said at full voice.

Grant looked furtively toward the others. Her exclamation had caught their attention. But she didn’t understand why he was whispering at all. They were all in this dung heap together. She wasn’t sure why he would want to sneak out, and she was even less sure they’d be able to if they tried.

“The girls are down at the guesthouse,” she told Grant. “They wanted to get away from the drama, if you can believe it.”

“Good. And the car is packed.” He clapped his hands together in an incongruously casual and jolly gesture. “Well, everyone, it’s been real, but we’re going to hit the road.”

“You can’t leave,” Hazel said, standing. Her hands were covered in blood. “The police are on their way. Daisy called, and they said they were sending someone right out.”

“Great. Then Marshall will be taken care of. Not that you haven’t done a great job already,” Grant said to Hazel. “I don’t really see why you need us here.”

Hazel looked at him like he was cracked, for which Gemma didn’t blame her.

“They’re going to want to talk to all of us. About Lincoln. And Trevor and Juliet, even though we can show them what happened to her.” Hazel’s eyes trailed over to Suzy, who was now sitting on one of the couches with Sean, both of them looking shell shocked. “You can’t go.”

“You know what, Hazel?” Grant said. “I’m kind of sick of you thinking that you can tell any of us what we can and can’t do.”

Gemma’s pulse thrummed with embarrassment as her husband raised his voice. Before now they’d all taken on the hushed reverence of people in a hospital waiting room expecting news of a loved one. His behavior was so out of place it was off putting.

“Grant, don’t—”

“No, this is BS,” he continued. “We barely know you people. I don’t owe you anything. So I’m going to take my family and go.” He reached for Gemma’s hand and held it so tightly she winced. “Tell the cops they can call me.”

42

Suzy

Something was off. She could feel it.

Grant and Gemma walked out through the sliders and headed across the patio toward the pool house, and Hazel started to rant. Lily, of all people, tried to calm her down. Magdelena had gone to the kitchen. Daisy and Cole were huddled near the wall, whispering. Moments ticked past.

Suzy looked at the doorway that led down the east side of the house along the patio and pool. Where was Marley? Her heart did a little stutter step.

“I’ll be back in a sec,” she said to Sean.

He nodded absently. Suzy wasn’t even sure if he’d heard her.

While everyone else was occupied, Suzy slowly rose to her feet. She still felt shaky, but the debilitating trembling had stopped. She found that she could put one foot in front of the other. Only once did one of her knees give out as she crossed the room, and she was able to steady herself on the back of a chair.

No one noticed her leaving.

Slowly, Suzy walked down the hall. She couldn’t stop playing the moment Sean had shot Marshall over and over again in her head. The sight of his arm flying upward of its own volition after the shot. Marshall dropping like a stone. The blood everywhere. So much blood. Sean had said his arm hurt from the force of the gun going off, and he kept reaching up to rub it while they were sitting on the couch. She hoped he was okay. She was still kind of stunned he’d done it.

Was it because of what she’d said last night? That he should man up and protect her? If so, she was kind of touched.

The hallway was ridiculously hot. So much hotter than the great room. Sweat beaded on her upper lip.

Why hadn’t Marley met her in the hall on her way back? Grant had said she was just gathering towels. That took all of ten seconds. Unless something had happened.