Page 31 of The Engagement Party

None of those calls to action ended with Brendan hauled away in handcuffs. Two weeks after a forensic team fished Emily’s body out of the New Meadows River a truck driver spied Brendan’s body on the rocks under the Frank J. Wood Bridge.

The untimely deaths bound the college students’ stories together forever.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Alex

Numb and wet from the start of the downpour, they shuffled into the great room. They grabbed blankets and towels from the downstairs linen closet and sat bundled in groups of two on the sectional sofa again. For a few minutes no one spoke. The only sound came from the fierce winds rattling the walls of the house and the driving rain pinging against the windows as the bellowing storm raged.

Alex knew he had to take control of the conversation and fast. The truth about what they did—what really happened—had been trampled on and hidden for so long. Letting it slip out now, by accident or out of panic, would make the sacrifices of the last twelve years meaningless. He had too much to lose, including his family. Zara depended on them. Admitting the pieces they knew would condemn them all and destroy her.

“It was graduation night.” He wanted to stop the second after he started. Not talking about this, pretending the pain happened to different people in a different time, had been the fallback position for so long. Now he understood why Cas fought every whisper and every mention of that horrible night and the weeks that followed. Opening this door stole a piece of him. “The ceremonywas in the afternoon. We had this big celebration with relatives and friends after the formal program ended.”

“We?” Ruthie asked without judgment.

Alex assumed she was trying to understand the players and ran with that to prevent a renewed battle between Ruthie and Cassie over a misplaced word or manufactured slight. “Mitch and Emily. Cas and me. Will and Jake, plus some assorted friends, but mostly the six of us.”

Cassie nodded. “We had a meal and agreed to meet back up to toast graduation, which meant party and get hammered.”

Sierra frowned at Mitch but didn’t say anything.

Alcohol, the easy answer to every horror that unfolded that night. In those moments when he fell deep into brooding and the guilt swamped him, Alex knew better. “We started at the apartment Will and I shared but the party spilled into the street. We visited other parties. Plowed those drinks. Stumbled and laughed. Bickered about stupid shit.”

Cassie squeezed his hand before taking over. “We piled into cars, which we shouldn’t have done, but that was the least of the sins committed that night. A bunch of us, our group and other friends, went to Smith Boathouse, on the river where...”

“Where they found Emily days later,” Mitch finished.

They’d already talked longer about this than Alex wanted to. He tried to drag them to the finish line with as few details as possible. Too much information would derail them, possibly rip apart every ragged tear they’d sewn together that night. “After a few hours of partying, the crowd died down. Mitch drove this small pickup truck. We piled into the back, including Emily. There’s a museum on campus. Mitch dropped us there.”

“And that’s the last we saw her.” Will shrugged. “On the museum steps.”

“No one left campus with her or walked her home?” Sierra asked.

Alex could hear theif onlys andwhat ifs in Sierra’s voice. The same unspoken blame he’d pummeled himself with for years. “We were all sort of wandering around at that point, trying to sober up and either meet up with relatives or get enough sleep to look presentable for a brunch Emily’s parents were throwing for us the next morning.”

“Wait.” Ruthie held up a hand to stop the swirl of conversation. “So, you all went off in different directions and left Emily on the steps?”

“It’s not as if we left her in an abandoned parking lot,” Cassie explained. “It was graduation weekend. People walked around and sang and... Look, she was not alone.”

“I don’t remember how I got home.” Alex said the lie without thinking. It slipped out as if lying had become his full-time fucking job. He hated so much about his life starting with that night, but his ability to compartmentalize and justify was what scared the hell out of him. “Cassie and I probably did what dating drunk college grads do on graduation night.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, we did. The next morning, we woke up a mess and stumbling around with headaches and had to shower and get dressed up and go. We got to the brunch but Emily wasn’t there.”

Alex nodded. Saying anything else, letting even a sliver of light into the darkness they’d all plunged their memories into, could unravel it all.

“What about you?” Ruthie said, looking at Mitch. “Do you remember details or is it hazy for you, too?”

“I offered to take everyone home, but they wanted to stop on campus and then walk to their respective places. All but Jake, so we left.”

Ruthie frowned. “And?”

“That’s it. We got some food and went home.” Mitch leaned back into the couch cushions with his leg pressed tight against Sierra’s.

Cassie squeezed Alex’s hand again. The small move eased some of the tension spilling through him. They’d provided a stark outline of what happened that night long ago. Not that different from what they’d told the police, but none of it explained being hunted this weekend.

“So, no one heard from Emily again?” Ruthie looked around the room, studying every one of their faces, even Sierra’s. “You all scurried off and Emily was alone and vulnerable.”

Cassie let out one of her I’m-done-with-this exhales. “Don’t judge us.”

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