Page 99 of The Engagement Party

Disgusting.Sierra could never really pin Will down, but now she did—misogynist asshole. “That sounds like hatred, not joking.”

Cassie nodded. “That’s how Emily took it. She was pissed but he was so drunk. All this bottled-up stuff spilled out. It’s like he’d been holding it in, so controlled, all while silently pissed off that she didn’t want to be with him. He mentioned how similar their backgrounds were and how they fit. They would make a great team if she’d stop playing games.”

Ruthie put her hand over the phone and walked back to the group. It was clear she’d been listening to one group and talking to another. “They were yelling at each other and you left them alone?”

“Alex was right there, and I thought...” Cassie fidgeted while she played with Alex’s hand. “I mean, Will wasn’t exactly wrong about Emily and her playing around. She’d flirt with Alex then go find some computer nerd. It was weird.”

Flirt with Alex. That didn’t pop up by accident. Cassie had stored it. Stewed about it. Sierra would bet on that. “Emily dated. Big deal. That doesn’t mean it was okay for Will to kill her.”

“I didn’t mean that.” Cassie’s jaw clenched before she started again. “It really was an accident. She kept hitting Will and he threw her off him. Like, slammed her to the ground. Fueled by alcohol, I guess. I pulled him off her.”

Mitch frowned. “Off her?”

“She hit her head on these rocks in the labyrinth that are set up like chairs. She was bleeding and Will started screaming.” Cassie dropped her head. “She died before I could call for help and then I had to calm Will down and wake Alex but...” She lifted her head again and looked at each one of them, almost pleading with them to understand. “No one would believe us. I did the only thing I could.”

Sierra stayed on alert. She refused to be sucked in by an uncharacteristic show of emotion. Not from this woman. Not ever. “You could have called for help.”

“Don’t be so naïve.”

Sierra tried again. “You cleaned up the blood. You hid the crime scene.”

“Will did. He erased any sign that we’d been there.” She glanced over at Alex, and her eyes filled with tears. “I had Will wrangle Alex and get him into the car while I moved Emily out of the clearing. She was in the open and . . . there were other people nearby earlier and I didn’t know where they were. I couldn’t take the chance of being seen.”

“Sounds like you and Will were pretty coherent, not that drunk,” Mitch mumbled as he continued to work on Alex.

“Little did I know Alex would form a vigilante party and go after Brendan.” Cassie traced her fingers over Alex’s still hand. “Once he did, I told him Mitch had killed Emily and Brendan had been innocent.”

“You did that to hurt him, make him feel even worse. You ensured you were all complicit and no one would talk.” Sierra didn’t wait for Cassie to agree. “But why blame Mitch?”

“Alex would protect Mitch. He’d do anything for him. He would have turned on Will, and that was too risky for all of us.” Cassie’s hand moved to Alex’s leg, as if she had to keep a connection to him despite all she’d done to him. “That’s all of it. Will killed Emily. Only Will and I knew the truth. Alex knew what I told him. Jake spiraled because of the guilt over killing Brendan on that bridge. That’s how our college years ended.”

“And you kept the truth from me,” Mitch said.

Cassie shot him a sad smile. “You’re welcome.”

A siren blared in the distance.

Help. Finally. Mitch had taken off the shirt Sierra gave him and tucked it around Alex’s shoulders. His body was so still. Sierra watched to see if his chest rose and fell. Only Mitch, sitting next to him, checking on him every few seconds, really knew.

Red lights flashed through the trees. The ambulance was almost there. So close.

“You made it look like Emily was attacked. You’re the one who put Emily in the water.” Not questions. Ruthie spoke the words as if she didn’t need verification.

Cassie gave it to her anyway. “Yes.”

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Ruthie

When Ruthie left the hospital waiting room Alex had been in surgery and Cassie had been silently pleading for her freedom. She delivered a thunderous closing argument about how long it had been since Emily died, how traumatic the weekend had been for all of them, and how Zara needed at least one parent because Alex was likely to go to jail if he even survived.

Cassie wept, sounding genuine and contrite. She spoke of loving her family and fearing for her daughter because she’d be left alone. Cassie viewed her sister as beneath her and incapable of taking over. Losing Zara was her nightmare.

She gave the performance of her life.

Ruthie saved her support for Emily, who never got a chance to find a partner and have a family or live past graduation weekend. She was the victim. Brendan, an innocent bystander who sent one lousy text about a senior project, was a victim. Sierra and Mitch were victims. The collateral damage blew far and wide, and would likely consume Zara, too.

The police were back on the island. The whisper campaign through the hospital talked about the FBI being called in. There was so much focus on Dylan and the killings now, but the pastwould begin to unspool. Some secrets thrashed and screamed their way out. This pile-on of lies had burned over time until the fire roared and ran rampant.

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