“He killed someone, right? In England. He must have legal fees.”
“No, the money is for me.”
“Fine. It doesn’t matter to me,” she said. “You know that I can’t get you money right away. The estate has to be settled. These things take a lot of time.”
“I know. I just wanted to meet here tonight so I could hear from you directly. After this, things can go through Brad.”
“Can I ask you? Were you sleeping with Ted? How did that happen? How did you two even meet?”
“We were on a flight together. He knew everything about you, you know? He knew you were cheating on him with Brad. You didn’t fool him.” In the fuzzy light I watched Miranda shrug. She was close enough so that I could smell her. Tobacco. Expensive lotion.
“So why didn’t you just turn me in,” Miranda said, “if you’re so sure I’m this awful person?”
“I will turn you in, Faith, if you don’t do everything I say.”
“Is this really about Eric?” she asked. I heard a door rattle somewhere in the house, the wind outside picking up.
“No,” I said. “It isn’t. This is all about you.”
Miranda turned first. Brad had emerged from the darkness to stand between us, a long heavy-looking wrench in his right hand. He must have come in through the patio doors, and had moved so quietly in the house that I wondered briefly if he’d taken his shoes off. His face in the half light was twisted, his jaw working back and forth, as though something was stuck in his throat. He was looking at me. I watched him lift the heavy wrench above his head and start to bring it down.
CHAPTER 25
MIRANDA
It took two hours, and a pot of coffee laced with whiskey, but Brad had told me everything. He told me how he’d spotted the sheriff’s car in front of his place early in the evening. He’d panicked, driving straight by his cottages, then heading out to his dad’s fishing cabin in Lebanon. He’d nearly decided to stay the night there, but then began to think that it would look strange, like something a guilty man would do. He’d driven back to Kennewick, going straight to Cooley’s instead of going home, and that’s where he’d found Lily Kintner waiting for him in Cooley’s parking lot. They’d talked in his truck; she’d told him that she knew all about the murder. She knew that Brad and I were having an affair and that we’d planned on killing Ted together. She knew that Brad had driven down to Boston, had broken into a neighbor’s house first to make the murder look like a burglary gone wrong, then knocked on Brad’s door, asked to be let in, and shot him.
“How’d she know all this?” I asked.
“I didn’t ask, Miranda. She just knew. She knew everything.” Brad’s voice had risen an octave, and his hand was shaky as he drank from his coffee cup.
“Shh. It’s gonna be okay. I’m here now.”
“I know. I was going to call you first thing in the morning, let you know all about it.”
“Baby, I know you were. But it’s good I drove over tonight. It will give us more time to figure out what to do about her. What does she want?”
Brad hesitated. “I’m supposed to tell you she wants money.”
“What the fuck does that mean, you’re supposed to tell me?”
“Just listen. I’m telling you everything. I’m supposed to tell you she wants money from you, a million a year to keep quiet, and that she wants to meet with you tomorrow night at the house on Micmac. She wants to hear from you that you agree.”
“Tomorrow night?”
“Yeah. At ten. I drive you over, and you two meet in the house, one-on-one.”
“Jesus.”
“No, Miranda, you’re not listening to me. This is only what I’m supposed to tell you. She wants to kill you. She’s planning on killing you. That’s what she told me.”
“How?” I asked. It was the first question that popped into my mind.
“She has a stun gun, and then she said she was going to strangle you.” Brad swiped at his nose with the back of his hand.
“I don’t understand why she told all this to you.”
“She hates you. She said she’s known you since college and you’re an evil person.”
“Wow. Jesus,” I said.
“You look happy about this.”
“Do I? No, I’m freaked out.” I was freaked out, but I had another feeling I couldn’t quite define. It was like being in high school and finding out