Page 66 of The Engagement Party

“No. She’s my...” Poor Will, as usual, three steps behind, refused to believe the obvious. “This can’t be happening. I would have known.”

Some of Ruthie’s usual confidence seemed to wash away,leaving her alone and wilting in the middle of the sectional. “Will, listen—”

“The things we said to each other. All that talk about your family living overseas and wanting to meet me.”

“What the hell was the plan here?” Alex asked as his emotions seesawed between frustration with Will and sympathy for his failure to move forward from his mess of a life.

“My goal was to win Will’s trust and eventually the trust of all of you then get you to talk.” Ruthie tripped over a few unintelligible words before speaking again. “You deserved being lied to because you’re liars. You’ve hidden so much about Emily’s death and everything that came after.”

Will shook his head. “Nothing between us was true?”

“Good God, man. You’re not really this clueless, are you?” Dylan asked.

“Shut the fuck up.” Will’s anger whipped out, overtaking his confusion.

“Be careful.” Dylan’s playful mood vanished. “While I find your distress enjoyable, I still have a gun and a temper.”

Ruthie shifted to the front of the sofa cushion. The move pushed her skirt up higher on one side, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Most of the threatening notes were mine, but I didn’t intend for them to be used that way. To be planted the way they were.”

Dylan winked at her. “I thought printing those out and using them the way I did was ingenious.”

“Of course you did,” Mitch mumbled.

When Dylan started to respond, Ruthie talked faster, dragging Dylan’s gaze back to her. “How did you get them? How did you know about this weekend? I assume at some point yougot my computer password and could see what I was doing and decided to crash, right?”

He shrugged. “You fall asleep after sex. That made it easy to search through your condo.”

Will stood up. “You cheating bitch.”

“Language.” Dylan snapped his fingers. “And sit.”

“You’re fine with killing but not name-calling?” Mitch asked.

Alex almost warned Mitch to be quiet, but Sierra wasn’t trying to tone down his usual sarcasm. No, something else was happening here. Something intentional and baiting that Alex couldn’t decipher. Every time Dylan looked away, Sierra studied him, as if trying to figure out his reaction time.

“Call me sentimental.” Dylan smiled at Ruthie. “We have a past.”

“You’re partners in this?” Alex knew the answer, but he needed Will to hear it this time and be more careful.

Dylan nodded. “Yes.”

“No, we’re not. I had nothing to do with the killings or any of his plans this weekend. When you found Tyler, I assumed the violence related to Mitch’s past, not Emily’s. I was as surprised to see Dylan as you all were,” Ruthie said at the same time. “I brought you here because I’m writing a book about Emily. Beautiful, funny, bright, fun, and flawed. Neither a saint nor a villain.”

Cassie frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Those notes you found. The Book Notes. That’s what they’re for. Emily and I grew up together. We went to the same school. Our families were friends. We were inseparable. Best friends.” Ruthie labored over the words, trying to get it all out and build her case. “When I said I wanted to go to Amherst and major in journalism, so did she. That’s the kind of thing she did. Taggedalong. Stole other people’s thunder. It was never a big deal until it was.”

“The best friend... You’re the one she said betrayed her,” Mitch said.

“That’s ridiculous, of course. No one stole her place in the Amherst freshman class.” Ruthie waved off the suggestion. “But she was furious at not getting in and...” She seemed to run out of energy. “Honestly, the specifics don’t matter.”

Dylan hummed. “Sounds like Emily was a spoiled brat.”

Ruthie leaned forward on the cushion, as if trying to reason with Dylan. “Don’t do that. Don’t judge her. She was a kid. That’s what kids do. They make bad choices and act immature. None of that means they deserve to die.”

Alex couldn’t make the Dylan piece and the Ruthie piece fit together. The way she described the timeline the two of themhappenedto meet. Dylanhappenedto lose control. She thenhappenedto stumble over Will and used him to get to all of them.

Too convenient. Ruthie’s role had to be bigger. Sidekick, partner—something.

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