Page 44 of The House Across the Lake

“Katherine? I thought she was at Lake Greene.”

“Not anymore.”

I give her a recap of the past few days. Katherine unhappy. Tom acting strange. Me watching it all through the binoculars. The fight and the scream and Katherine’s sudden departure.

To Marnie’s credit, she waits until I’m finished before asking, “Why have you been spying on them?”

I don’t have a suitable answer. I was curious, bored, nosy, all of the above.

“Ithink it’s because you’re sad and lonely,” Marnie offers. “Which is understandable, considering everything you’ve been through. And you want a break from feeling all of that.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No. But this isn’t the way to take your mind off things. Now you’ve become obsessed with the supermodel living on the other side of the lake.”

“I’m not obsessed.”

“Then what are you?”

“Worried,” I say. “Naturally worried about someone whose life I just saved. You know that saying. Save a person’s life and you’re responsible for them forever.”

“One, I’ve never heard that saying. Two, that is, like, the definition of being obsessed.”

“Maybe so,” I say. “That’s not what’s important right now.”

“I beg to differ. This isn’t healthy behavior, Casey. It’s notmoralbehavior.”

I let out an annoyed huff so loud it sounds like rustling wind hitting my phone. “If I wanted a lecture, I would have called my mother.”

“Call her,” Marnie says. “Please.She’s been bothering me instead, saying that you’re ignoring her.”

“Which I am. If you go check to see if Katherine is there, I’ll call my mother and get her off your back.”

Marnie pretends to think it over, even though I already know it’s a done deal.

“Fine,” she says. “But before I go, one last question. Have you checked social media?”

“I’m not on social media.”

“And thank God for that,” Marnie says. “But I assume Katherine is. Find some of her accounts. Twitter. Instagram. The one her husband literally invented and owns. Surely she’s on that. Maybe it’ll give you an idea of where she is and what she’s up to.”

It’s such a good idea I’m pissed I didn’t think of it on my own. After all, following someone on social media is just a more acceptable form of spying.

“I’ll do that. While you go check to see if Katherine’s home. Right now.”

After a few muttered curse words and a promise that she’s leaving this second, Marnie ends the call. While waiting to hear back, I do what she says and check Katherine’s social media.

First up is Instagram, where Katherine has more than four million followers.

Of course she does.

The pictures she’s posted are an eye-pleasing mix of sun-flooded interiors, throwbacks to her modeling days, and candid selfies of her slathered in face cream or eating candy bars. Interspersed are gentle, earnest urgings to support the charities she works with.

Even though it’s all carefully curated, Katherine still comes off as a sharp-witted woman who wants to be known as more than just a pretty face. An accurate representation of the Katherine I’ve come to know. There’s even a recent photo taken at Lake Greene, showing her reclining on the edge of their dock in that teal bathing suit, the water behind her and, beyond that, the very porch I’m now sitting on.

I look at the date and see it was posted two days ago.

Right before she almost drowned in the lake.

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