Page 98 of Lies He Told Me

That was for you, David.

“I just saved your life!” Blair shouts, pushing hair out of his face. “Silas was going to kill you, and I stopped him!”

“Oh, you’re the hero now?”

“And so areyou,” he says. “You lured him in. Our plan worked, Marcie, don’t you see?” The call of the sirens grows louder, Hemingway Grove’s finest on the way.

“Our plan,” I repeat.

“Yeah, our plan. You come out of this like a hero. You and I both. We forget about any criminal charges. You and the kids stay together as a family. And when this is over, we split what’s left of that money.”

The first squad car appears up at the bluff, followed by another, as the police begin their journey down the road to the bridge.

Blair sees it, too. “Make this deal with me, Marcie. Yougo back to your happy life and keep a couple million. No prison. Why not? What’s the alternative — you tell your story and I tell mine? I’m pretty good in those situations. You really wanna roll the dice on a he said, she said when I’m giving you a happy ending?”

“How about just a he said?” I open my phone, which has the recording pulled up. I play it on speakerphone for Blair, two men conversing:

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Cagnina.”

“Yeah, well, I had to see it for myself — an FBI agent willing to be helpful. I can make you a rich man. But I wanted you to hear it straight from me — you fuck me on this, I kill you and everyone you care about.”

“We understand each other. I have twenty million reasons not to fuck you.”

Blair looks at my phone like Superman looks at kryptonite. David, when he heard this recording so many years ago, only knew that the person speaking was an FBI agent. He didn’t know Blair, didn’t recognize his voice. But I do. And I did.

“I sent this to the Hemingway Grove PD, if you thought this was the only copy,” I say. “You didn’t know Cagnina recorded your conversation, did you, Blair? I guess he wanted an insurance policy. He left a thumb drive of this recording with the stash of twenty million so you’d know, if anything went wrong, that he had you over a barrel.”

“And your husband stole the thumb drive when he stole the cash.”

True. An insurance policy of his own.

The police squad cars are on the bridge now, their sirensblaring, lighting up the darkening skies as they head toward us.

Blair sees it, too. He looks back at me, the wind rippling his coat and tossing his hair, and makes one final plea. He holsters his weapon and shuffles toward me. “Fine — keep all the rest of the money, then. Every nickel. But you and me, we stay square. We’re both heroes. Nobody ever bothers you again. That recording — I can figure that out. But you and I stay square.” He puts out his hand and shuffles closer. “What do you say, Marcie? I’m much better as a friend than an enemy, I promise.”

“Let me think about that,” I say, wanting to back up but knowing there’s no room behind me. “What are you doing?”

“What am Idoing,Marcie?” Blair says. “I’m taking your sarcasm as a no. And I’m reaching for you, trying to get you back from the edge, but … oops!”

He lunges for me, making a show of reaching for me in a protective way, but also making sure his front foot, as it lands, gives a swift kick to the duffel bag to which I’m handcuffed.

He’ll have a story, I realize in that moment when the bag flies backward, my hand with it, that moment when I lose my balance.Marcie wanted to commit suicide out of shame … I tried to talk her off the ledge … I reached for her to save her.With David and me out of the picture, he’ll have a story that covers everything.

I fall backward off the bridge and through the air, the chain of duffel bags sailing downward with me.

In that last moment, while I spiral through the air, amoment before I plunge into the icy, tumultuous waters of the Cotton River, I think of my screen-saver photo of David and the kids in a pile together in our backyard.

I did this for you,I say to them.In some way, in the flesh or not, we’ll always be a family.

ONE HUNDRED FIVE

GRACE, YOU ARE FEARLESS. You strive for perfection. That will serve you well, honey, but life will not always be easy. There will be setbacks, but they won’t make you a failure. Show me someone who has succeeded, and I will show you someone who failed but kept trying. Smile, sweetie, remember to smile, to let some light shine into your life. Always remember that happiness is not a destination but part of the journey itself.

Lincoln, you are your father through and through. You are outgoing and warm and happy. Don’t ever change that. Just remember that hard work and perseverance will get you what you want in life. Nobody will hand it to you …

My eyes pop open into a dark green blurry nothingness, no sound but the thump of my pulse. Where — which way is up, which is down —

I can’t feel my limbs, can’t move, panic setting in as I feel my lungs contract, as I thirst for air —

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