Page 87 of The Followers

“Then what are you talking about?” Molly asked, frustration simmering beneath her worry. She was tired of feeling one step behind, of not knowing the real story.

Liv and Jeremiah exchanged a glance—hurt and anger in Liv’s expression; shame and guilt in Jeremiah’s—and Molly knew she must be missing some crucial piece of information.

“He was there,” Liv said, her voice quiet. “The night Kristina died.”

Molly stared at Jeremiah. She never would have guessed Jeremiah knew about Scott’s past—they had never seemed close. Scott hardly spoke to Jeremiah, except for terse conversations about the business.

Just one more lie, but it felt like a slap on already-sore skin. She had known, deep down, that Scott hadn’t told her the entire story.

“Scott didn’t say anything about you being with him that night,” she said to Jeremiah.

He nodded, and the guilty look on his face intensified. “He’s always tried to protect me.”

“Protect you from what?” Liv asked. She was pale, but her eyes sparked with fury.

If Jeremiah had been there, had he also known Liv was Kristina’s sister? He certainly hadn’t told Scott—Scott’s shock at seeing Liv had been genuine.

“Miah,” Molly said, “I want to know what happened.”

Jeremiah shook his head, exasperated. “It’ll have to wait—we need to find him before he does anything stupid.”

But Molly folded her arms. She wasn’t letting him get away with that. “No, I need to know what really happened. Then I can decide if he’s worth finding at all.”

A few minutes later, they were settled in the living room. The cloudy sky made the room seem muted, bleached of color. Jeremiah sat in one of the yellow armchairs. Liv stood awkwardly, as far from him as possible. Molly sat in the other chair and waited for Jeremiah to start talking.

“You should know,” he said, “neither of us have breathed a word about this for nearly nine years. We’ve hardly talked about it to each other.”

“Just tell me,” Molly said, impatient. “And please make it the truth.”

Although she wondered how she would recognize the truth, even if Jeremiah told it.

Jeremiah sighed, leaning forward with his hands on his knees. “It’s not a pretty story.”

He was looking at Liv, and her face went even paler. Once again Molly was reminded that this was Liv’s sister they were talking about. Her sister had been murdered. Her niece had been kidnapped. Liv swayed on her feet, and Molly went to her.

“You should sit down,” she said.

Liv blinked, as if coming out of a daze, and allowed Molly to direct her to the sofa. Molly sat again and turned to Jeremiah. “Start with how you met Scott.”

Jeremiah exhaled, then said, “My parents divorced when I was ten years old. My mom remarried a couple years later and moved to Ohio. My new stepdad had a son of his own. Sam is three years older than me.”

Shock ricocheted through her. “He’s your stepbrother?”

Jeremiah nodded. “I spent my summers in Durango with my dad, but other than that, I lived in Ohio with my mom. I was always tagging after Sam—”

“Don’t call him that,” Molly said, surprised at the edge in her voice. “It makes him seem like a different person.”

And she needed to remember, as she heard this story, that it was about Scott, the man she knew as her husband. Calling him by a different name, even if it was his real name, made the whole thing seem like it had happened to someone else. She needed to remember this was happening to her, right now.

Jeremiah nodded and continued. “I was always tagging after Scott, growing up. He felt like the big brother I always wanted, but also my best friend. He even came to Durango once, during a summer break in college. He loved it here.” He paused, his eyes focusing. “The summer after my sophomore year in college, I was living in Pennsylvania with him. He was planning on starting law school in the fall at NYU, but he was worried about being so far away from Ella. Kristina wasn’t doing well.”

He glanced over at Liv, who sat perfectly erect on the couch, her dark eyes blazing.

“What happened that night?” Molly prompted.

“I’ll get there,” Jeremiah said. “I need to tell you about Scott and Kristina first. They met while he was a senior at Ohio State, and he fell hard and fast for her. When Kristina broke up with him, it was rough. He came home for a break—spring break, I think—and he was a disaster. Not showering, hardly sleeping. Anyway, when Kristina showed back up saying she was pregnant, he was actually pretty thrilled. He asked her to marry him.”

Molly glanced over at Liv, who looked as surprised as Molly felt. “This isn’t at all how Scott described their relationship,” Molly said.

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