Page 94 of Say Yes to the Death

“Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t want to know what’s on the DVD.”

“We have pizza to eat and literally one thousand paper cranes to fold.” And, frankly, Claire wasn’t sure she was ready to confront these feelings. There was enough going on.

“Sweetie, I’m going to need you to put on your big girl panties and read this.” Nicole paused, slapping Luke’s letter into Claire’s hand. “And watch the damn DVD. Because I’m not going to be able to focus on origami until you do.”

The letter fell from Claire’s hand. “You knew he was going to do this, didn’t you? That’s why he sent two ice creams.”

Nicole bit her lip. “He knew I was going to be here tonight. I didn’t know what he was going to do. I haven’t spoken to him. It’s all been through Kyle.”

Claire frowned. She couldn’t stay mad at Nicole. “Kyle and I are going to have to have a serious discussion on boundaries. This is exactly what I was afraid of, and why I didn’t want to get involved with Luke. He and his stupid lying tongue have compromised the sanctity of our entire friend group.”

“He did a really shitty thing,” Nicole agreed. “He clearly regrets it and is trying to make up for it, but that doesn’t excuse what he did.”

“Thank you,” Claire said. She ripped the envelope open. The oven timer went off. “Will you get that?”

Nicole nodded and left the room, leaving Claire to confront the contents of the envelope. She wasn’t in the mood to read more apologies from the career-driven-to-the-point-of-insanity Luke. Words meant nothing coming from him.

She pulled out a single sheet of Luke’s stationery. His cramped handwriting barely covered a single line.

I’m just trying to give them a voice. Watch it and you’ll see.

“Holy crap,” Nicole said from directly over her shoulder.

Claire shrieked and dropped the paper.

“He must have sent you part of the documentary. He’s never done that for anyone, ever. Kyle’s mentioned it a million times. He’s so secretive about his work.”

“He must really trust that pizza guy.” Claire tucked the paper back in the envelope and slid it under the box of origami paper where she wouldn’t have to look at it. “I guess we’re having some true crime with dinner.”

“Hell yes.” Nicole set two plates on the coffee table and rejoined Claire on the floor.

Claire took a bite of the steaming slice. “Oh my god.”

Nicole took a bite too. “Holy shit.”

It was the best pizza she had ever tasted. The sauce was perfectly flavored—not too sweet, not overly tomato-pasty. The crust was thin and crunchy, not soggy or doughy. The blend of cheese was elegant. And it had traveled two thousand miles to get here. How good would a fresh one be?

Claire flopped the slice back onto the paper plate like it had personally offended her. How dare Luke exploit her love of carbs? She glanced at her phone with half a mind to send him a video of the pizza frisbeeing out the window. But wasting this pizza would have been a borderline criminal act.

Nicole reached across the table and pressed the play button, startling Claire out of her introspection. The documentary rolled.

Forty minutes later, Claire and Nicole sat side by side on the couch, stack of origami paper untouched.

Nicole blew her nose loudly into a tissue. “And she just—she—the garden. And her dogs. And all the little babies she watched over.”

Claire hugged Rosie to her chest and drew her softest blanket around them like a cocoon. The documentary had wiped all of her energy. “I remember Kayley from freshman biology. She partnered with me during a lab. She handled the micropipettes when I was ready to throw them across the room.”

“And her wife loved her so much,” Nicole choked out, wracked with sobs.

Claire reached over and pulled her into the blanket cocoon. The three of them sat in silence, staring at the blank TV screen. Even though it was a rough cut, every frame had something beautiful in it. The family and friends Luke interviewed had gushed over Kayley’s hobbies and interests. She had watched over two hundred NICU babies in her short career as a nurse. Her lovingly tended flower garden had been featured in West Haven’s Parade of Homes three times. She had left behind a wife, two dogs, two cats, and a ferret. The entire episode had been more a beautiful memorial for Kayley than a true crime documentary. Barney was barely mentioned until the last ten minutes, when Luke had recreated the timeline of the day she had gone missing.

The documentary had sucked the fight right out of Claire. Luke had asked her something incredibly insensitive—there was no denying that. But the documentary wasn’t about making money. It was telling a story, reclaiming the identities of the women as individuals, not just victims. In its own dark way, it was beautiful.

“I think I need to make a call.” Claire extricated herself from the cocoon. She handed Nicole the box of tissues and walked back down the hall to the bedroom.

She held her breath as the phone rang.

“Hey. Thanks for the pizza.”

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