did. If people came out of the episode thinking Anna is innocent, that’s the conclusion they’re drawing. She didn’t lead them one way or the other.
“Doesn’t seem that way,” Aster spits.
Martina doesn’t know what to say. She thought Aster would get it. The release of the autopsy report, Anna’s admission that she doesn’t remember what happened that night, they’re both steps in the right direction. The direction that leads toward uncovering the truth, whatever that truth might be.
“I’m sorry,” she says finally. “I just want justice for your family.”
“And how’s that going to happen now?” Aster spits. “Anna’s going to get off.”
“What if she didn’t do it, Aster?” Martina’s voice is one notch above a whisper and one notch below a hiss. “Don’t you want to know who did?”
Aster gives Martina an exasperated glare. “Because the police are following so many other leads. There are so many killers lurking in the shadows of Herron Mills.” Her fingers grip the edge of the table between them. “If Anna gets off, that’s it. Don’t you get it? She’s using the autopsy to generate doubt. She probably lied about how Zoe died from the beginning, on purpose. Because she knew the results would come back and disprove what she said. She’s playing you, Martina. She’s manipulating all of us.”
Martina is shocked into silence. She doesn’t believe what her best friend is saying, that Anna is running some kind of long con. That this is all part of a master plan. But what is abundantly clear is that Aster believes it. Her whole family must believe it. Because Aster is right about one thing—there are no other suspects, no other leads. Not yet anyway. If Anna is released, it doesn’t guarantee justice will be served. But now, maybe the police will broaden the investigation. Maybe they’ll look closer at Anna—and beyond her too. The prospect of a wrongful conviction seems like the worst possible outcome, and it’s more likely now that won’t happen.
For the first time, she realizes her friend doesn’t see it that way. Anna has become the Spanos family’s only hope. For answers, truth, justice. It doesn’t make sense; they’re not thinking clearly. But that’s what’s happening. She’s read Aster’s behavior all wrong in the week since the autopsy results came back. The withdrawn looks at school, the texts she hasn’t responded to, the claims she’s too busy to hang out. Aster hasn’t been mulling over what the report might mean in the same way that Martina has. She’s been fuming. Because she’s sure Anna’s lying. And now she thinks Martina has turned the public’s sympathy toward Anna, snatched justice away from them.
Martina is silent for a long time. Her appetite is gone. She chews absently on the tip of her long ponytail, a nervous childhood habit she hasn’t indulged in years. Before she can come up with something, anything to say, she looks across the table and realizes that Aster is gone.
14 THEN
July
Herron Mills, NY
THE SUN WAKES ME early Friday morning. I’m still out by the pool, where I must have fallen asleep, and my thigh is red and sore where a long splinter from the lounge chair jabbed through my skin in the night. I’m barely out of the shower and dressed when Emilia knocks on the door of the pool house to remind me that Paisley’s leaving in an hour and we need to finish getting her ready for her trip.
My mind spins. Paisley’s trip?
I play along until I get to the main house. When Emilia ducks into her office, I casually ask Paisley where she’s going. It turns out she’s spending the Fourth in the Catskills with the Paulson-Gosses, and I’m going to have a few days off over the holiday weekend. I try to act unsurprised, but Paisley is clearly onto me.
“We talked about it at MoMA,” she whispers. “And Mom went through the summer schedule last week, remember?”
“Sure.” I grin, a flimsy disguise. “I just forgot which weekend, that’s all.”
Forty minutes later, I’m standing out front with Emilia, getting Paisley settled in the van with Raychel, Kyle, and their moms and wondering what I’m going to do with myself for almost four whole days. Paisley doesn’t return until Monday night. It’s more time than I know what to do with. When Emilia has checked Paisley’s luggage for sunscreen and vitamins for the third time, Elizabeth clears her throat and assures her that Paisley will be fine, that they’ll call when they get there. Emilia relents and