who encouraged Grace to meet Selena in the park, having seen also on social media that Selena was about to go back to work. Then, things just fell together the way they do when you’re in the flow.
“But Selena, she was your thing, your half sister. You’d been watching her for years, right? Must have been.”
Yes, that was true.
Pearl had hovered on the edge of Selena’s life for years—online stalking Selena and her friends, Selena’s sister (Pearl’s other half sister) Marisol, who for some reason interested Pearl less. She watched from afar as Selena got married, had children, bought a new house, built brick-by-brick her Instagram-perfect life.
Pearl had also watched Graham on social media, though he was far less active and had a smaller network. Occasionally, she followed him. When, a couple of years into their marriage, Pearl realized he was unfaithful, she watched him more closely.
A strange thing happened. She started to feel sorry for Selena.
“So what was it? Revenge? Just another way to hurt the father who abandoned you?” asked Hunter. “What was the game with the Murphy family? More money? To destroy their family?”
The question surprised Pearl, causing her a rare moment of self-reflection.
What was the reason? Was there just one?
At first maybe yes, revenge; she was just on a program of causing the most amount of pain.
There would have been a score most likely—if Selena hadn’t moved the camera and caught Gracie and Graham fucking. If Gracie hadn’t grown a conscience and kept threatening to pull the plug.
But it was so much more than that. When Pearl realized what Graham was—not just a cheater, but a monster—she wanted him punished. She wanted to liberate Selena, just like so many years ago she had liberated Cora. This was the ultimate long game, one that started over a decade earlier. She’d hovered, waiting for the perfect point of entry. The score? It wasn’t about money. It wasn’t really about revenge. She wasn’t like Pop.
It was about the truth. The truth like a wildfire that burned everything in its path. One that destroyed but also cleansed. And then from the ash, new life.
But Pearl didn’t have the patience to explain this to Hunter Ross. She suspected that he was the type of man who only saw things in black-and-white. What she did was wrong. He would never understand that it was right, too.
“Yes,” she said just to keep it simple. The call was going on too long. “That’s it. Revenge.”
And maybe deep down, it was that simple. That she didn’t want justice for Jaqueline Carson. Or punishment for Graham, the man who used and killed her. Or to free her half sister from the illusions of her life. That she didn’t care about anyone but herself, about anything but the games she was playing with people’s lives.
“I’d say you did what you set out to do,” he said. His voice sounded heavy with fatigue.
“I suppose I did.” She had a hollow feeling in her stomach, a familiar empty sadness. She breathed through it.
“So what’s next?”
“I disappear. Like I said, I’m done.”
“Until?”
“Until.”
Another leaden silence where she considered hanging up.
“So—may I ask the reason for your call?” he said finally.
Good question, whispered Pop. He was always just over her shoulder. What kind of a game are you running here?
“Closure,” she said. “For you, for me. You’re a rare breed. A good man who doesn’t give up until he finds the truth. One who cares and puts other people first. I like that about you.”
He issued a little chuckle. “Thank you for saying so.”
She told him where Pop and Bridget were buried. She’d moved the flag that marked the root cellar to mark the grave. It would be relatively easy to find. Pop, Charles, Bill, Jim, Chris, an abused child, a con, a grifter, a killer—he was a wanted man. Pearl wanted Hunter Ross to catch him, finally. So maybe then they both could rest.
She didn’t know if anyone was still looking for Bridget, but maybe now she could rest, too.
There was nothing left to say. He had all the answers she had to give.
“Goodbye, Mr. Ross. Thanks for never giving up on us.”
“Goodbye, Pearl.”
If she had her way, that was the last time anybody would call her that.
She ended the call, took the SIM card from the phone. In the bathroom, she flushed the card down the toilet, put the broken pieces of the phone in the trash.
Her flight was boarding. She stood on line and filed in the early group