foot of this house, and it was an advantage I planned on using.
“Were you sleeping with Ted?” I asked her. Brad would be arriving any moment, and I genuinely wanted to know. “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.”
“So why didn’t you just turn me in?” I 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.”
It was strange to hear my old name, and it brought me back to college, to the smoky rooms and boozy parties. Suddenly I could picture Lily’s face, her cold green eyes.
“Is this about Eric?” I asked as I saw a dark figure moving toward us. Brad, coming to kill Lily. I almost wanted to make him wait a moment. I wanted to know if Lily had killed Eric in London all those years ago. I needed that.
“No,” Lily said, amusement in her voice. “It isn’t. This is all about you.”
And then Brad was there, his face ghostly, lifting his large wrench. I watched, fascinated, then realized that both faces, Brad’s and Lily’s, had turned toward me. The wrench came down, a sharp pain exploding in my head. My knees buckled, and I was suddenly on the cold sawdusty floor, a hand on my head. Brad was over me. He grasped my hand and moved it away from my head. My hat had fallen off. I’m about to die, I thought. I heard the whistle of the wrench as Brad swung it again.
CHAPTER 26
LILY
Brad brought the wrench down on Miranda’s head. She dropped first to her knees and then to the floor, her hat coming off. She brought a hand up, touched herself where she had been hit. For a second I thought that Brad wasn’t going to be able to finish, but he crouched and hit her several more times. Without the hat to block the blows, the wrench made sharp thunking sounds against her skull. The last time he swung it I heard a raspy crunch, the sound of someone punching his hand through a wall. I gently pulled him away when it was clear that she was dead, when, even in the fuzzy light of the house’s interior, I could see that the side of her head was caved in, and that a black pool of blood had spread out across the floor.
“Leave the wrench here with her. Let’s step outside for a moment,” I said.
Brad did as I said, laying the wrench almost gently beside Miranda’s inert body. I gripped him above the elbow and led him to the front door and through it. The air outside was the same temperature as it was inside the house, but it felt cleaner, filled with the salty smell of the ocean. I let the door shut behind us. “It’s done,” I said to Brad.
“You think she’s dead?” he said.
“Yes, she’s dead. It’s over. You did a good job. Did she suspect anything?”
“No, I told her everything just like you told me to. She saw you, though.”
“What do you mean she saw me?” I asked.
“Last night. After you left my house, she was there. She’d come up to see me and saw you there. She recognized you.” Brad had pulled his cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and was unsuccessfully trying to extricate one from the packet.
“Let’s sit in the truck for a moment and have a cigarette,” I said. “Then we can deal with the body.”
We got inside Brad’s truck. I’d pulled my backpack off and held it in my lap. “You cold?” Brad asked. “I can turn the heater on.”
“No, I’m fine. But I’m going to have a drink.” I unzipped my backpack and pulled out the flask of apricot brandy. “Do you mind? I’m freaking out a little.”
“No shit, right,” Brad said, and barked out a short unnatural-sounding laugh.
I tipped the flask at my lips but didn’t drink any of its contents. “You want some?” I said. “It’s apricot brandy. It’s good.”
He took the flask from me and took a long pull, handed it back. “Have another,” I said. “I’ve had plenty tonight.”
“If we can’t drink tonight, then I don’t know . . .” he said, and tipped the flask again. I listened to him swallow twice. He’d drunk enough. I’d hoped the apricot flavor would mask what was in the brandy, and it had.