Page 36 of Everyone Is Lying to You

“How long have you known each other?”

“So long. We both had our first babies around the same time. Of course, she went on to have more than me. I only have four.”

Only.

“We’ve been trying for a boy, but we haven’t been blessed yet.”

I finally recognize her from her social media. She does these videos where she wears matching outfits with all of her daughters and then raps about being a #GirlMom. If I’m remembering correctly she also promotes a lot of supplements. Her whimsical playroom does indeed look delightful.

“How many kids do you have?” she asks.

“Two.” Which to me still seems like an awful lot.

“And you’re a reporter. Are you writing a story about this? About Rebecca?”

“I am. Something went live hours ago, but I’m working on another one. Can I ask you some questions for it?”

“Oh, I don’t know if I should.” She definitely wants to. “I should probably check in with my hubs to see how he feels about it.”

This is something I haven’t heard before. Permission from a husband to speak to me.

“Sure. Ask your hubs.”

I pretend to go back to work while she sends a text.

“Ooooo, Chad—my hubby bubby—says I can talk to you,” the woman blurts out after her phone chimes seconds later. “But make sure to get my handle in there. Always be marketing, right?”

“Always,” I parrot.

“So I should tell you that not everyone is going to be as nice about Rebecca as I am. I mean I really respect her and everything she’s done, but there are some women who are real jealous or who think that Rebecca is always on her high horse, you know.”

“Right. But not you.”

“Definitely not me. She truly is an inspiration to me—you can use that quote if you want. She’s a pioneer in motherhood content. She gave so many of us permission to create,” she spews from her gratitude lexicon. “And my thoughts and prayers are with her and her children right now. And speaking of children. Have you heard anything about them?” Cricket is also clearly here to get information from me. I shake my head.

“I hope they’re safe. Whatever monster did that to Grayson…can you imagine if they get close to the children?”

It’s something I’ve been trying my best not to imagine, but of course I have been.

“Who knows what the police are actually doing—I don’t think they’re the most competent. But you know that Grayson has some powerful men behind him, behind his entire family.”

“Powerful men?”

“Church leaders, politicians, all of the rich guys who support the church and the politicians. We don’t live here anymore. Chad got transferred out of state years ago. But I still hear all the tea. A couple of years ago—and you can look this up, it isn’t just gossip—the wife of one of Grayson’s cousins—I think her name was Amelia—wanted to leave her husband and get a divorce. She was in love with someone else.” She lowers her voice for the next part. “With a man that she met online playing one of those virtual farming games.”

I express the appropriate amount of shock and surprise.

“Anyway…she kept the secret really well, but she confessed it to her doctor, her ob-gyn, Dr. Carmichael. He’s everyone’s doctor. He delivered all my kids. Loved him. She did it when she went in for a postpartum checkup. Thought it would be safe. But someone in his office must have overheard and called her husband right up and the whole town knew.”

“Do you think it was Dr. Carmichael? Who called her husband?”

Cricket flinches. “He would never. The man is a saint. Was probably his secretary, Rita. She loved being up in other people’sbusiness. Anyway, the wife apologized and repented, and they went to couples counseling with the church. But a year later she was in a car accident, drove straight off the road into the old oak tree on Route Twenty-Seven, dead on impact.”

“Did she do it on purpose?” I think of that mother driving off the cliff.

“What do I know? But…I think someone ran her off the road. They wanted her out of the way. Her husband is remarried now, a recent college graduate. She’s pregnant already and he was just promoted in the church council. But you didn’t hear that from me.”

I should be surprised that she is telling me all of this insider information, but I’m not. People love spilling other people’s secrets and most of all they love feeling included and important.

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