Page 98 of What They'll Say About Us

"What are you going to do?" Sloane asked nervously. "Where did you get that gun?"

"You don't need to know that."

"Your husband is going to kill me," I told Sloane. "Can't you see that?"

"No. He's not a killer," she said, clearly desperate to believe that.

"I told you to stop talking," Garrett said loudly, coldly. "Why did you let her in? I told you to stay away from her."

"Why did you do it, Garrett?" I asked, interrupting their conversation, which might have been a mistake, but I didn't feel like I had much time to get the answers to my questions, and I didn't want to die without knowing everything.

"I had to protect my wife, the mother of my child," he replied, as if that justified everything.

"You talk about her like she's a possession. Her name is Sloane, and she's more than just your wife and the mother of your child. She has a life and a past, and she did something bad. But it wasn't murder; it was an accident."

"It was," Sloane agreed. "It really was."

"No one else will see it that way," Garrett said. "You don't even see it that way, Tessa. You're just trying to talk yourself out of this. But you can't do that, because you are a loose end I cannot afford."

"They already caught your guy, Garrett. They'll find out you paid him," I said.

"No, they won't. I know how to cover my tracks. I've done it plenty of times before."

"Many times before?" Sloane echoed in shock. "What do you mean, Garrett?"

"Go in the house, Sloane. Our daughter needs you. And if you want to be her mother, you need to leave." He took a step forward, and as he did so, I instinctively took a step back, which made me realize exactly where I was, very close to the edge of the bluff. There were a few fence posts lining the area, but the fence had not yet been built, and a few more steps, and I'd be gone. The realization made me dizzy, but I didn't want to show any fear. I couldn't give Garrett that satisfaction.

He took another step forward. I put up my hand, trying to stall until I could think of a way out of this. "You don't need to kill me. I won't say anything."

"Yes, you will. You can't help yourself."

"I can. I'll protect Sloane. I know the truth now. She didn't kill Paige. Paige fell on her own. I'll make everyone see that."

"It's too late. You should have left it alone. You should have let Hale take the fall. After you questioned Sloane about him, I realized he was the perfect one to take the fall for Paige's murder, and also that of the detective. I had someone watching Cabot's house. We suspected Hale would go to talk to him at some point, and he did. When Hale showed up, it was the perfect time to strike. His fingerprints would be everywhere, and it would look like Hale had knocked out his friend and searched for damning evidence against him. The cameras in the area would have also put him in the house. Hale made everything so easy."

"How did you know Hale would ever go to talk to Cabot?"

"Because there had to be a reason his relationship with Paige never came out during the first investigation. Hale had to know Cabot. He had to have done something to keep himself off the radar after Paige died."

I had to admit that Garrett was smart. "But Hale was caught on camera, leaving hours before Cabot died," I said. "The police didn't like that gap in time."

"The police would think he'd doubled back. The affair would come out. There would be enough circumstantial evidence to convict him. And he deserved to go down. He was a scumbag. But now you have to die, too. You should have left town when you had the chance."

What I should have done was listen to Colton and Morgan and stayed put, instead of running over to see Sloane. I couldn't really regret it, though. My actions had led to her confession. That might not have happened if I hadn't come. Unfortunately, it didn't look like anyone else was going to know about it.

Garrett moved closer, the barrel of his gun pointed at my head.

"If you shoot me, it won't look like an accident," I told him as I took another tentative step back. I wasn't right at the edge, but my foot slipped in the loose dirt, and I started to slide. I flailed my arms in panic. I couldn't fall. I couldn't make it this easy.

A look of pleasure crossed his face as I tried to regain my footing. But I was falling…

I screamed, searching for something to grab onto.

Just like Paige had fallen backward into the lake, Sloane was going to watch me die, too.

As my feet slid out from under me, I fell to the ground, but I was able to grab the fence post, stopping my fall, at least for a moment…

I clung to the post with desperation, my legs already hanging over the edge.