Page 135 of This is Why We Lied

There was a burst of static, then, “Will, copy?”

Will reached back for his phone. He had no choice but to step out onto the porch. He left the door open so he could keep his eye on Keisha. “What is it?”

Kevin said, “Subjects are fishing from a canoe on the lake. They haven’t seen me.”

Will tapped the phone to his chin. He thought about all the tools that Drew would have access to on the boat, including knives. “Stay back, keep an eye on them, let me know if anything changes.”

“Will?” Faith came up onto the porch. She was holding an evidence bag with the broken knife handle inside. “Nothing in their suitcases or backpacks. The cottage was clean. Want me to lock this in the UTV?”

“Bring it inside.”

Keisha was sitting ramrod straight on the couch when Will walked back into the room. Her eyes went to his gun, then Faith’s. Her hands were shaking. She was clearly terrified that they had brought her inside the cottage away from witnesses so that they could hurt her.

Will took the evidence bag and motioned Faith outside. She left the door ajar so she could stand on the porch and listen. He sat down in the other chair, which wouldn’t have been his choice, but Sara was seated closest to Keisha. He placed the plastic evidence bag on the table.

Keisha stared at the handle. “What is that?”

“It was in your toilet tank.”

“Is it a kid’s game or—” She leaned forward. “I don’t know what that is.”

Will looked at the red plastic handle with a thin piece of curved metal jutting out at the broken end. If you didn’t know what you were looking at, you might mistake it for a kitchen implement or an old-fashioned toy.

He asked her, “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know!” Her voice raked up in desperation. “Why are you even asking me about this? You’ve got the killer. We all know you arrested Dave.”

Will guessed now was as good a time as any to let out the truth. “Dave didn’t kill Mercy. He has an alibi.”

Keisha’s hand slapped to her mouth. She looked like she was going to be sick.

Will said, “Keisha—”

“Jesus Christ,” she breathed. “Drew told me not to talk to you guys.”

“You can choose not to talk,” Will said. “That’s your right.”

“You’re gonna jam us up anyway. Goddammit. I can’t believe this is happening. Sara, what the fuck?”

“Keisha,” Will didn’t want her talking to Sara. “Let’s try to clear this up.”

“The fuck you say,” she yelled. “Do you know how many idiots are rotting in prison because the cops told them they needed to clear some shit up?”

Will said nothing. Thankfully, neither did Sara.

“Jesus.” Her hand went back to her mouth. She looked at the bag on the table. She’d finally put it together. She knew that it was part of the murder weapon. “I’ve never seen that before, okay? Not me, not Drew. Neither one of us. Tell me how to get out of this, okay? We didn’t do it. Neither one of us had anything to do with this.”

Will asked, “When did you first hear the toilet leaking?”

“Yesterday. We were unpacking and we heard it dripping, so Drew went to find Mercy. She was upset because Dave was supposed to fix the toilet before we checked in.”

Will heard her audibly gulp for air. She was terrified.

“Mercy told us to go for a walk while she took care of it, so we went up the Judge Cecil Trail to look down at the valley. When we came back, the toilet was fixed.”

“Was Mercy still here?”

“No. We didn’t see her again until cocktails.”

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