Page 66 of What Have You Done?

‘We know that you entered Diana’s house uninvited – through the unlocked back door – the night before she died. We know that you wore gloves. We know that you frightened her, that you made her take off her clothes and looked at her. We know you warned her not to tell, because if she did, you would say that she invited you over – that she’d initiated it, just like in the locker room. Oh yes, we know about the locker room. You told her no one would ever believe her. We know that she went to Graham Kelly the next morning, for a second meeting, that she told him all this in front of you. She threatened to go to the police if you ever came near her again. But, rather conveniently, she was murdered that very night.’

Brad tries to show no emotion. He can’t speak. He can feel his lawyer beside him looking at him in dismay.

‘You had motive for killing her – to stop her going to the police. You didn’t think Kelly would tell the truth because he’d covered up for you already about the locker-room incident, and it would make him look bad, end his career. And you knew you could blackmail him with your knowledge of his extramarital affair. But you know what you didn’t factor in?’ Stone leans forward across the table. ‘Unlike you, Kelly apparently has a conscience. And he couldn’t live with it any longer. He believed you after the first meeting, but he wasn’t so sure after the second. Then he learned you had no alibi, and then you tried to blackmail him.’ He adds, ‘He’s afraid you killed her.’

‘That’s ridiculous,’ Brad says. ‘He’s lying. You only have his word for it. None of that ever happened. Diana was lying! He’s trying to set me up!’

‘Now why would he do that when he has so much to lose? His job. His wife. His family. His standing in the community.’ Stone adds, ‘Oh, and by the way, guess who else has come forward. Taylor Acosta. Remember her?’

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

ELLEN IS BACK at the farm with her parents. They are distraught, and she is sorry for it. She is feeling sorry for herself too. They told her that there was a lot of gossip at the funeral, and afterward, about Brad, about what he’s accused of. They have urged her to break off the engagement. They have reassured her that they can get out of the house deal somehow. Or maybe, they suggest, she can still get the house on her own, if she lets them help her. There are ways to fix this, they keep telling her, as long as she doesn’t marry him. She wants to shut her eyes and cover her ears with her hands, but she just sits perfectly still at the kitchen table while they bombard her with advice. At the very least, they implore, she should wait.

They’d heard the news earlier about Joe Prior, that he has been arrested for the murder of another girl. Does that mean he probably murdered Diana too? Ellen doesn’t know. She hardly cares. If Brad interferes with young girls, that’s enough for her to end their engagement. If it’s true. But she doesn’t know who or what to believe.

When they sit down to watch the eleven o’clock news together in the living room, they are all depleted and on edge. What they hear is unexpected and shocking. It’s that familiar reporter from KCVS who deals the blow. She stands in front of the Fairhill Police Station, her hair blowing around her face.

‘Vermont State Police have arrested local man Joe Prior in Fairhill for the murder of Katie Cantor two years ago. The missing schoolgirl’s body was discovered recently in an isolated wooded area in upstate New York. Prior will be taken back to New York State to face charges there. Police hope DNA evidence will confirm whether Prior is the man who raped and murdered the sixteen-year-old, who had been missing until her body was discovered just yesterday. In other breaking news, high school gym teacher Brad Turner has been arrested for the murder of popular schoolgirl Diana Brewer, whose body was found last Friday morning in a local farmer’s field. More details as we get them.’

Ellen stares at the TV in shock. She feels a kind of total emptiness, which is completely disorienting. She can feel her parents watching her in horror and pity. So, now she knows. She won’t be getting married after all.

Paula watches the TV news, stunned. She’d taken Taylor to the police station earlier that evening, where Taylor told her story.

‘Jesus,’ her husband breathes beside her.

She turns to him, her mind reeling. ‘Finally,’ she breathes. ‘They’ve arrested him for murder, and he was targeting our daughter, the way he targeted Diana …’ It makes her nauseated, to have her worst fears confirmed.

‘They’ve got him now,’ Martin says. But he seems to be in shock. ‘He won’t be hurting any more girls.’

She remembers earlier that day, at the school gym, where Kelly had arranged a casual wake after the funeral. The gym was packed, and they’d soon run out of sandwiches. She’d sought Kelly out to tell him that he’d done a good job with the wake, that it was thoughtful of him to do it, but there was something else she wanted to say to him. She got him alone in a corner and told him about what his daughter Sadie had been doing to Taylor. He’d looked very upset and said, ‘I’m sorry. I’ll deal with her.’ Then she’d told him about what Brad had been doing to Taylor. He’d seemed to stand a little straighter and repeated, ‘I’m so sorry,’ and then he’d left her.

Now she wonders if he’s the one who gave the police information that led to Turner’s arrest. She wonders what he might have known all this time, remembers how he’d looked as if he felt he had blood on his hands.

They might have had a narrow escape, Paula thinks. But for the grace of God, she might be in Brenda Brewer’s shoes right now. She can hardly breathe.

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, 11 p.m.

Diana is dead, and they’ve arrested Prior for the murder of some other girl, but not, apparently, for the murder of Diana. Because they’ve arrested Mr Turner for that, finally. I wonder what information led to his arrest. Poor Diana. I wish she’d felt able to confide in someone. It might have made a difference.

I texted Riley repeatedly tonight after the news to talk to her about it, but she didn’t answer. Maybe she’s asleep. Maybe her mother gave her something to calm her down. She had a very difficult time with the funeral.

The funeral … It was all so tragic. It was a nice service, though. I think Mrs Brewer can at least be happy that the funeral was beautiful, and there were so many flowers. The church was absolutely packed. Everyone was there. My reading went okay, although I was really nervous. I get anxious when I have to do any public speaking, but I wanted to honour Diana. I stumbled over the last line, then somehow made it back to my seat, lightheaded with grief. I was afraid that Cameron might try to speak to Mrs Brewer, so I stayed close to her as much as I could. But he didn’t come anywhere near her.

After her, my main concern was Riley. I kept a close eye on her. I know she was anxious about the funeral, and the burial especially. She seems to almost have a phobia about it. Still, I was surprised when she fainted. One minute she was standing there beside me – swaying a little, so I put my hand out to steady her – and then she just slipped through my fingers and was down on the ground on her back, her face white, her black hair tumbling on the grass. I got down on my knees beside her, calling her name, while everyone looked on. But her mother pushed me away, and a doctor in the crowd stepped forward. Riley came to pretty quickly, and her mother put her arm around her and bustled her out of the churchyard home. I turned and went back to the gravesite, but things were essentially over. I went home with Mrs Brewer and stayed with her a while and made her a cup of tea. Her ex-husband left before too long. Mrs Brewer hadn’t arranged any gathering afterward; she hadn’t wanted to. So Mr Kelly had organized sandwiches and coffee in the gym at school for anyone who wanted to go. But after I left Mrs Brewer, I just went home. I was too tired and depressed to do anything else.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

RILEY WAKES SLOWLY, having at last fallen fitfully to sleep only around dawn. Her body and limbs are heavy, and she stares at the ceiling and feels a kind of smothering dread hanging over her. She’d gone straight to bed after the funeral yesterday, knocked out by half a Valium her worried mother had given her. She’d risen many hours later and had watched the late news with her mother. Turner had been arrested for Diana’s murder. She couldn’t believe it.

Immediately the texts came fast and furious from Evan, but she ignored them. She couldn’t face talking about it any more that night. She just wanted to be with her mom, pretend that none of it had ever happened. But then afterward, because she’d slept after the funeral, she’d hardly slept that night.

It’s over, she tells herself now. She should be feeling some sort of relief, but what she feels is an increasing anxiety, as if there’s something she hasn’t dealt with, as if there’s something unacknowledged that she must face. She feels she must gather her strength, but for what?

And then she realizes – she must gather her strength to face a long life without Diana in it. Grief takes time, she keeps hearing, and she realizes she’s hardly even begun. She feels that she is sinking under the weight of it.

She makes her way down to breakfast. Her mother has stayed home again, in case she needs her. Riley tries to think of what day it is and realizes it’s Thursday, because the funeral was yesterday. Her mom asks her if she wants to go to school, but she doesn’t want to, not yet. It seems like such a betrayal of Diana, to even try to go back to a normal life when she is lying there in the cold ground, all that earth pressing down on her. Riley starts to feel her anxiety rise, and with it a kind of breathlessness, as if she can feel the earth pressing down on her too. She remembers those stories about witches in New England being pressed to death – boards placed on top of them and then stone upon stone added until they finally died. They weren’t all burned at the stake or tied to a chair and thrown in the river. So many awful ways for a woman to die.

Her phone pings and she glances at it. It’s Evan.

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