“Yeah.” She sighs, twisting her hands together. “I’m just so used to taking care of him, and he’s always been so loving. Not just with me. With everyone.”
I have to work not to react to that. That is not the man Iknow. And while I would never say it out loud, I probably know the real Phillip better than she does.
“Hey, ladies.”
Bennett’s voice cuts cleanly through the moment as he comes out of the house carrying a tray of raw steaks, heading toward the outdoor kitchen with that same easy warmth he seems to offer everyone without effort.
“Why don’t you and Phillip join us for dinner?” he asks.
Chrissy straightens immediately, smoothing her dress. “Oh, I shouldn’t. He’s not really appropriate company right now. He’s been dealing with the insurance companies and the sheriff all day.”
“I bet,” Bennett says mildly as he lights the grill. “Can I at least get you a drink?”
“No, thank you. I should get back. I don’t like leaving him alone too long when he’s like this.”
Of course you don’t, I think.
“Let me know if you need anything,” I call after her. “I’m here.”
She turns, gives me a quick smile, and disappears back through the hedge.
“She seems sweet,” Bennett says once she’s gone.
“Mhmm.” I keep my eyes fixed on the space where she vanished. “Sweet as honey, and I don’t trust her one ounce.”
He lets out a soft laugh as he lays the steaks on the grill. “Why?”
“Because it’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar.” I take a slow sip of wine, still watching the hedge. “I think she’s hiding his secrets. I just haven’t figured out whether she knows she’s doing it.”
“That’s a serious accusation.”
“Well, my best friend is dead. That’s a serious situation.”
Bennett falls quiet for a beat, the hiss of the grill filling the space between us. “I just hope you’re not in over your head.”
“What does that mean?”
He looks at me then, really looks at me. “I mean if Phillip has that much to lose, and that many people he owes, then what do you think he’d do to protect himself?”
A chill moves through me so fast I almost shiver. “You think Chrissy is in danger?”
“No,” Bennett says, his tone calm enough to make it worse. “I think you are.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The morning light spills through the gauzy curtains in my bedroom, too soft and golden for the dread that creeps over me the moment I open my eyes. I stretch beneath the sheets, still heavy with sleep after staying up too late with Whitney’s journal open across my lap, her words following me long after I closed the cover. Even now they cling to me, fragments of her life drifting through my mind like restless spirits, filling the empty places she left behind and refusing to let me forget how much is still unresolved.
I pad to the window, rubbing at my eyes, expecting the usual view of clipped hedges, manicured lawn, and the kind of polished stillness that passes for peace in this neighborhood. For one brief second, before my brain fully registers what I’m seeing, everything looks almost normal.
Then I see it.
A noose hangs from the magnolia tree at the end of the driveway, swaying faintly in the morning breeze, the rope weathered and rough against the glossy leaves and bright white blossoms. For a moment I can’t move. I just stand there, one hand still clutching the curtain, my body going cold in slow,unmistakable waves as the image settles into meaning. It isn’t random. It isn’t decorative. It isn’t some ugly joke left by a drunk teenager in the middle of the night.
It’s a message.
And it’s meant for me.
I don’t remember making the decision to move, but suddenly I’m downstairs, yanking open the front door and crossing the lawn in my nightgown, my bare feet damp with dew as I hurry toward the tree. Panic drives me forward so quickly that I barely register anything else. A stupid, distant part of me wonders what the neighbors would think if they saw me like this, hair unbrushed, silk clinging to my skin, running half-dressed through the yard before breakfast. But the thought is gone as quickly as it arrives. All I can think is that someone knows. Someone is trying to frighten me. And worse than that, they know exactly how to do it.
