Page 23 of Skeletons in the Closet

And Olivia’s email was open. We were so screwed. She would know someone had been in her office, and I wasn’t confident we could slip out of the building unnoticed if she instructed her bodyguards to sweep the premises.

“Breathe, D.” Tallus’s whispered words ghosted my neck, and I never wanted to retreat so badly in my life. “You’re trembling.”

“I’m not.”

I was.

Tallus sensing my imbalance was demoralizing.

When he rested his hands on my forearms and rubbed them up and down, I almost came undone. My skin prickled. With nowhere to go and red-hot anxiety spiking my blood pressure,I couldn’t focus. Add Tallus’s concern to the mix, and I was a live wire in a lightning storm. My personal bubble on a good day was bigger than most people’s. While under stress, it grew astronomically.

“Breathe.” Tallus repeated the sentiment over and over, his tone soft enough I let it fill my head. I did my best to listen.

Olivia barreled into the room, slamming her office door behind her. “I didn’t have a choice. Get off my case, okay? Stop fucking calling and bringing it up. We shouldn’t be talking at all… Yeah, I know… I was wrong. I admit it. I never should have gone to his house and stirred shit up. I never should have talked to him. I thought I was helping. I was worried.”

Tallus’s fingers tightened on my arms. He lifted his chin, and we made eye contact. I could barely make out the contours of his face, but a thin crack of light bled through the seam of the door and shone on the lens of his glasses. It was enough to see his wide-eyed expression.

Olivia wasn’t talking anymore, but whoever was on the other end of the line was having their say. The muffled voice was too unclear, but the person was shouting.

“No… No! Beth, stop.” Olivia sniffled, and I got the sense she was crying. “Just stop. Did you talk to the police?” A pause. “Yeah, I know. They talked to him a couple of weeks ago.” She huffed a humorless laugh. “I don’t know what they said… Well, clearly it upset him… It’s his own fault… Is he? Paul’s asking questions too, and my sneaking off isn’t helping.” A longer pause. “I’m trying to help!”

The other person had more to say, but again, it wasn’t clear enough to make out.

“You aren’t to blame… No, this is all on him.” A short pause ensued before she shouted, “I have a husband and two kids too, Beth. I get it. I think about it a hundred times a day. No one will find out, okay. Just stay quiet.”

A rap at Olivia’s office door startled both Tallus and me. I jolted, and Tallus sucked in an audible breath.

“Hang on,” Olivia said to the person on the phone. “Come in.”

The office door opened, and a man spoke. “They’re ready for you.”

“Beth, I gotta go… Yeah. I’m sorry too… I know. I’m stressed.”

Olivia sighed. A long period of silence filled the air. I envisioned her staring at the ball cap on the desk. I imagined her noticing the light. Perhaps she was signaling the man to check the closet and we were about to be had.

The office door shut.

Quiet voices retreated down the hallway.

We were alone again.

Neither of us moved. My insides were lava, and my brain was fried.

“I think we’re good.” Tallus’s breath ghosted my neck again.

“Yeah.”

“Did that conversation sound incriminating to you?”

“Yeah.”

“For Olivia or Beth? Or both?”

“Um… Beth?” I couldn’t seem to produce more than one syllable at a time.

“D?”

I grunted.

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