Page 67 of The Girl and the Lies

“That’s good,” I say. “Even if he’s recovering well, the support will mean a lot to him.”

She gestures toward the hallway. “I can show you to his room.”

“Actually, I want to talk to you first,” I say.

“All right,” she says hesitantly.

“It would be best if we were somewhere private,” I say. “Let’s go back in here.”

I walk into the small room, and she comes in after me. There’s no door to close, but at least we’re alone in here.

“I need you to be honest with me about something very important,” I say.

She nods. “Of course. What is it?”

“What is the nature of the relationship between you and Ander Ward?” I ask.

Her mouth falls open slightly. “Me and Ander? I know him from work. We’ve done a few double dates and hung out during work events and things.”

“And that’s it? There’s nothing else going on between the two of you?” I ask. “And there never has been in the past?”

“I can’t believe you’re even asking me that,” she says. “Is this because we’ve been talking on the phone recently? We’ve both just been through something horrific. You ever heard of trauma bonding? That’s exactly what it is. He called me after Marshall was attacked to see how I was doing. It was comforting talking to someone I knew about it because I’m having to be the strong one here for Marshall by myself. Our families aren’t here. Our friends have stopped by, but everybody is so afraid because of the whole situation that they don’t want to hang around me. It’s like I’m cursed. But Ander has been someone to talk to about what I’m going through, and I’ve been letting him vent.”

“What were you doing the morning that Sabrina Ward was killed?” I ask.

“Are you serious right now?” she asks.

“I am,” I tell her. “I’m digging into everyone who was anywhere near these murders, so you aren’t unique. But I need to know all the connections, and that means I need to know where you were.”

“That morning I baked a couple of loaves of bread for a bake sale at our church. Then I went to a morning yoga class with, oh, I don’t know, about twenty-five other women. If you don’t want to believe them, the classes are live streamed, and you can access replays of them on the school’s social media. I was at the front of the class with a bright-pink mat. I’m sure you’d be able to see me,” she says. “Hopefully, that’s good enough for you. Now, are you here to talk to my husband or to accuse me of being an accomplice to murder?”

She whisks out of the room visibly offended and upset as I follow her to Marshall’s room. Her reaction doesn’t bother me. I don’t have the luxury of time or delicacy when it comes to investigating these murders. What matters is finding who is responsible and stopping any other killings or attacks.

Carla forces on a smile before stepping into the room.

“Hey, honey,” she says as I walk in after her. “I just talked to your sister. She says your parents are going to be here on Wednesday. She’ll be here Friday.”

“They don’t need to do that,” he says. “I don’t want them going out of their way just to come here and see me like this.”

Carla leans over and kisses her husband on the forehead. “They love you and are worried about you. They want to make sure that you’re all right and be here for you while you’re recovering. Besides, maybe we can rope them into helping with some packing while they’re here.”

He chuckles, but it looks painful. His head is still bandaged, and one eye is swollen shut. I can see bruising along one arm, and I imagine there are many other injuries I can’t see.

“Hey, Marshall,” I say, stepping further into the room.

“Hi, Agent Griffin,” he says. “How’s it going?”

“I’m the one who should be asking you that,” I point out. “How are you feeling?”

“Not the best I ever have, but I’m alive. I’m glad for that,” he says.

“I am too,” I tell him. “I’m not going to stay here for too long. I know you need your rest.”

“Stay for as long as you need to,” he says. “I want to find out who did this. I managed to survive, but Gideon and Sabrina didn’t. I want to see the guy pay.”

“So do I. I need you to tell me everything that happened that night. Everything you can remember.”

“All right. Well, Carla and I were at home. We were planning on having just a night in, but then she got a call that she needed to help with an event she’s organizing for her charity work. I was disappointed because it was already getting kind of late in the evening, and I was really looking forward to just spending some time with her. But I knew how important the event was to her, and I could hear how frantic Sarah was on the phone, so I knew she needed to go.

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