Page 52 of The Note

May felt some of the tension release in her jaw.

“No,” Lauren said, “I saw your reaction, May. What note?” Neither Kelsey nor May spoke. “What. Note.” They both kept their eyes on the blaze of the fire. “That can’t be it, right? All these years, I blamed Marnie. She walked in on us. I saw her. I went to her afterward and asked her—no, beggedher—not to tell anyone. I thought maybe I could trust her after how much I had helped her. But then that letter showed up at the office, which I never would have expected from her. At worst, I expected her to show off her shiny new secret. And there you were, the girl trying to bury the hatchet, because I was the one who practically ordered you to. And you, May, you never fail at anything, do you? She told her new buddy what she knew about the grown-ups.”

The note was never supposed to get Lauren fired. It was supposed to get Thomas Welliver in trouble for being a married lech taking advantage of a much younger woman whose employment he controlled. May had been trying to protect Lauren. She was trying to make Welliver pay for being a scumbag.

When she found out Lauren would be leaving Wildwood along with them at the end of the summer, she thought she might die from the shame. Kelsey found her curled up under a piano bench. May had sworn her to secrecy and then confessed to the mess she had created.

Lauren was staring at her now through the smoke from the fire pit, waiting for May to deny it.

“Lauren, I didn’t know—”

“That’s the problem with you, May. You have never known what youdon’tknow. You don’t know how lucky you are. Or how easy you’ve had it. Or even which man is talking to you on asubway platform. But you’re always so damn certain. You go off on Kelsey for keeping secrets, and yet here you are, after all these years? After all the chances you’ve had to tell me it was you?”

“I’m sorry, Lauren. It was so long ago.”

When May looked to Kelsey for support, Lauren wagged a finger in the air. “Uh-uh, this is on me, not her. This is too much. You need to go home, May.”

“Please, let me explain—”

“Leave. Now.”

No one tried to stop her when she walked away.

31

May managed to hold herself together as she walked through her building lobby, waving hello to Joe behind the doorman’s desk and wishing him a good night. When she opened the apartment door, Gomez was waiting for her. He always seemed to know if she was the one who’d stepped off the elevator.

“You’re back?” Josh said, hitting pause on the Yankees game on the television. “I was just telling Gomez that it wasn’t Momma in the hallway no matter what his nose was telling him.”

“I got you, baby.” She placed her purse on thecabinet beside the door and scooped the ecstatic pug into her arms before accepting a peck on the lips from Josh.

“What are you doing home?” he asked, rolling her bag toward the bedroom. “I thought you guys were having a good time.”

She shook her head, not knowing where to begin.

“Tapped out? Can I remind you again that you did say in New Orleans that I was the only human being you could tolerate for more than two straight days?”

She wanted to laugh but was afraid she might burst into tears instead.

He stopped and turned to face her. “Hey, what’s wrong? You look really upset. Was it something with Nate?”

She kept shaking her head. “It was something … with everyone. But it’s Kelsey. She was lying, and I figured it out. But they turned it all around on me, and they all hate me now. I blew it.”

Except for Nate trying to tell her that he was sure everything would work out in a few days, no one had even said goodbye to her as she carried her bag to the driveway, only to remember that she had taken the train to East Hampton. She bit the bullet and took an Uber back to the city so she could get home as quickly as possible.

She had spent the entire ride trying to decide whether she could bring herself to believe Kelsey’sside of the story after all her lies. In the end, it wouldn’t even matter. She knew Lauren would never forgive her.

Josh was reaching to give her a hug when her phone rang. She pulled away from him to get to her purse, letting Gomez jump to the floor. Maybe it was Lauren.

The 631 number was familiar. Detective Decker.

“This is May.” She mouthed anI’m sorryto Josh, but he scoffed and shook his head, his eyes widening in astonishment that she’d cut him off so abruptly.

Decker didn’t even bother with a greeting. “You left your friends awful suddenly. What’s up?”

“You’re watching the house?” she asked. “Wait, did you follow me home?”

“A white Toyota Camry with Florida plates was called in as suspicious this afternoon, parked there for nearly four days without moving. The responding patrol officer found the driver’s-side seat fully reclined. Two gunshots, right in the face. So yeah, this is a homicide investigation now, May. You knew that when you convinced your friend Kelsey to clam up, didn’t you? And now you’re right in the middle of it.”

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