Page 82 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

“Anyway,” Rachel said, “I figured I’d get through the rest of my junior and then senior year, then go off to college and never come back. So I wasn’t intent on making friends.” She released a nervous chuckle. “But I did like to watch people.”

“But you became friends with my mother?” I asked softly.

She nodded, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. “I didn’t notice Lila right awayorher sister Bethany. They were so quiet that they flew under the radar. But I found out, through some stranger in town, that two teenaged girls lived on the farm next door. I would have known from riding the bus, but I never rode the bus. My parents’ concession for dragging me here was to let me use my grandfather’s car.” She took a breath. “It took me a few weeks before I realized that one of the girls was Lila, and something about her drew me…” Her voice turned wistful.

“Did my mother introduce herself to you?”

“Shoot, no,” she said with a laugh. “Lila and Bethany were used to being the outcasts. They’d been treated like shit for years. Lila had the same attitude as me—bide her time until she could go to college and never look back.” She released a chuckle. “Of course, I didn’t know that was her plan back then. I only knew she kept to herself. It wasn’t until we were thrown together as lab partners in chemistry that we got to know one another.”

By now, I already knew my mother had been an outcast, but it was still painful to hear. She’d never once hinted that her life here had been miserable. Then again, the fact she never mentioned her past had served as a sort of a neon sign. I just didn’t see it before.

Rachel didn’t look at me, keeping her gaze on the half-eaten cookie in her hand. Then, as though realizing she didn’t want it anymore, she reached over and set it on the edge of Dixie’s desk.

“Sorry,” Rachel finally said. “I guess I got lost in my memories.” She gave me a half-smile. “I was intrigued by this quiet girl and became determined to befriend her. It took the rest of the spring semester for her to accept that there were no ulterior motives behind my talking to her. She loved to read, and I started bringing her some of the books I’d brought with me from Atlanta. I guess I wore her down.” She lifted her shoulders into a shrug.

“I don’t know anything about her past here,” I said. “She never, ever brought it up, and when my brother and I asked, she changed the subject.”

Her gaze lifted to mine. “She never told you about me?”

“No,” I said softly, hating the pain in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s for the best,” she said, her words barely audible.

“So you became friends?” I prompted.

“Oh, yes.” Happiness washed over her face. “By the summer, we were fast friends. During the school year, I got to knowBethany through Lila, but it was over the summer that I really got to know them both. We did everything together that summer between my junior and senior year. Lila and I may’ve been seventeen years old, but we still climbed trees—Bethany too. We ran through the creek, and even skinny-dipped in the stock pond. But then something shifted between us.”

She looked torn, as though rethinking what she was about to say.

“Go on,” I said, wondering what she was hiding. Was it to protect herself? Me? Possibly my mother? Or maybe all of the above. “I know some things about my mother now that I hadn’t known before, so don’t worry about shocking or hurting me.”

She looked me straight in the eyes. “I loved your mother, and it wasn’t puppy love. It wasn’t even a deep friendship.” A tight smile strained her face. “No, it was a friendship, but it was alsomorethan a friendship. We loved each other. She was the love of my life. And Lila loved me too. We kept it to ourselves, of course. Back then and living here…it wouldn’t have been received well.” She looked down and took a deep breath. “Besides, we were seventeen and it was exciting to have a secret romance. But then someone found out.”

“Bethany?” I asked, my stomach clenching. Surely they hadn’t killed her for knowing.

She nodded. “The three of us all spent so much time together…but Bethany was a sickly girl, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to stay inside a few days a week while Lila and I ran all over our farms. It was after one of those times that Bethany sensed something was different. To be fair, while Lila and I cherished the secrecy, we struggled to hide it all the time. Especially around Bethany. Still, while Bethany knew something had changed, she didn’t understandwhat. She felt hurt over being left out. But we never meant to hurt her, and finally, one night in their room, she and Lila had words, and Lila told herthe truth. That we were in love.” Her voice trailed off, her chin trembling. “Bethany was livid. I think she felt betrayed by the fact that Lila could love someone else more than she loved her sister, not because Bethany thought we were an abomination.”

“That had to be very hard for Bethany,” Belinda said. “It sounds like Lila was her only friend.”

“No. Not at that point,” Rachel said, her voice breaking. “I was her friend too. She felt betrayed by the both of us.” She drew a breath. “You have to understand, I loved Bethany too. Not like I loved Lila, that was different, but I loved her like a sister. We’d spent countless hours together. I hated that we’d hurt her. I tried to make things right, but I only made things worse. She resented me for coming between her and her sister, and I think she hated me a little bit, not just for stealing her best friend, but because we were in love. Especially when Bethany was so desperate to be in love herself.”

Had the sisters come to blows? Had Bethany threatened to expose their secret and my mother and Rachel killed her to keep her quiet? I had a hard time picturing my mother doing something that awful, but then again, I had a hard time imagining her life here at all. I decided to cut to the chase.

“Did my mother kill her sister?” I asked flatly.

Rachel’s eyes flew wide. “What? No. Oh my God, no. Bethany’s death killed Lila,devastatedher. She felt responsible, but she didn’t kill her. In fact, I don’t think she ever recovered from the loss, at least from what I saw.”

“But you know who did kill Bethany, don’t you?”

Her eyes dulled with pain. “I do.”

She swallowed hard, clenching her hands in her lap. “Lila may not have killed her sister, but she left Sweet Briar with plenty of blood on her hands.”

Chapter Thirty

Magnolia

Rachel held my gaze, her eyes flooded with sadness. “It wasn’t supposed to be Bethany, but she wasn’t totally innocent either.”

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