Page 63 of The Note

“Tell them what? That she thought her ex-husband was a bad guy? She didn’t know anything concrete. And at the time, even I sort of chalked it up to her being resentful toward him about the divorce and for being such a dick to me. But now that this other guy is dead too? I should have said something earlier. Maybe the police would have—”

Lauren’s cell phone rang. It was a Boston area code. “That’s probably Suzanne Kim about the lawyer referrals.”

“Lawyers that will be paid a fortune by my father,” he said. “They won’t pursue what we’re talking about now.”

They let the call go to voicemail.

Nate rubbed his temples with his fingertips. “Guess what really smart former prosecutor already researched all that complicated stuff about the laws covering lying to police in New York?”

They needed May.

37

Babe, you really need to stop looking at all that stuff.”

May sat cross-legged in her living room, parked in front of her laptop at the coffee table while Josh washed dishes on the other side of the kitchen island.

All that stuffmeant the entire internet, which she had been searching compulsively all day for any other mentions of Kelsey and her connections to Dave Smith, Lauren, or May.

In addition to the initial post on KillerInsights from someone claiming to be a Boston cop’s family member, she had found a Hamptons-focused TikTok account where the user had named all three of them, suggesting that Andy Cohen should build a Bravo reality television show around them—if Kelsey didn’t end up in jail first. That video was reposted almost immediately by an Instagram page called HamptonsTea. It had been shared two hundred and twenty-two times since.

She had stopped looking long enough to eat the sushi takeout Josh had ordered, but then immediately plopped down in front of her laptop once he began clearing dishes. She hit the refresh page on her search again.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Josh sounded more irritated than concerned. “You told that Long Island cop everything you know. You can wash your hands of the whole situation now.”

“I mean, I know you’re right, but I need to know what people are saying.”

“How does it help to know if total strangers are shit-talking you online?” The clink of their plates into the dishwasher seemed louder than necessary. “You can’t do anything about it. And you’ve been working so hard at managing your anxiety. This really doesn’t seem good.”

“Okay, Dr. Freud.”

“Really, you want to go there? Fine, why don’t you call Marissa?” Whenever he referred to May’s therapist, it sounded like he resented the fact that May was still seeing her after all this time. By now, it was obvious the focus had moved beyond thesubway incident and onto other issues. She talked about everything, including Josh. “Does she have emergency hours or something? Because I think this qualifies. You didn’t even take a shower today. It’s like you regressed to three years ago.”

She lifted her tank top away from her chest and took a quick sniff. She was fine. A new call came into her cell—a Long Island area code. “Hello?”

“Hi, this is Arianna Hensley. I own the house you’re renting. Are you the woman who called me Wednesday night? I think you said your name was Kelsey?”

So much had happened since that phone call. May had to remind herself that she’d claimed to be Kelsey when she called the homeowner to confirm the timing of the rental. “Yes, is everything all right?”

“You tell me. My neighbor said there are cops all over the house and someone was carried off in handcuffs. I tried your friend Callie—it was disconnected, so I found your number in my call log. What exactly is going on there?”

“I’m not at the house right now, so let me find out—”

“Not necessary. The neighbor sent video. I’m terminating the agreement and will call the police directly to make sure they know I have nothing to do with whatever you guys are doing.”

“Let me call my friends and—”

“Yes, do call them. Make sure they know I’mnotifying the police right now that under no circumstances can they reoccupy that house.”

The other end of the line went dead.

“Can we please talk about this before you call them?” Josh asked when he saw May opening FaceTime on her laptop and carrying it toward her office.

“I need to tell them—”

Lauren answered almost immediately. “Hey,” Lauren said. “I was literally about to call.”

May could barely make out Lauren’s face on the screen. She was sitting outside in the dark.

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