Page 99 of You Know Why

Again. This is the first time Margot has aligned herself with the police and their theories that Trey tried to kill me with the SUV in Atlanta, poisoned me in the hospital, and slaughtered his own parents. They have no evidence to prove any of it, but in his absence, it’s pretty easy to pin everything that’s gone wrong on him.

“You believe her?”

“I believe the police, Brook. Nothing else makes sense.”

“And you think he killed Chloe?”

Margot nods. “Eden found him standing over her, covered in blood.”

Eden gasps back a tiny sob. “That’s true, Brook. You should read the file. Then you will understand.”

She wipes her eyes, then rummages in her bag, which is hanging on the back of the chair, and pulls out the file.

Seeing it makes me nauseated. Panicky. It feels familiar, and I’m overwhelmed by the sense of dislocation. Of wanting to run, and brakes squealing, and flying through the air. Of Trey’s disembodied voice.

“Remember what I said in Argentina, honey. Please remember.”

I need to remember. Why can’t I remember?

I fight it all down.

I am in denial.

I grab the file, retreat to the living room, and start to read.

Going Downhill

Chloe

Nineteen Years Ago

Two weeks after Eden came home, Chloe woke up on a Sunday morning, sick to her stomach. She didn’t think twice. She went straight to her sister and begged a ride to a drugstore the next town over.

“Why?” Eden had asked. “What’s so great about the CVS? Why can’t you go to Little Drug?”

Chloe didn’t want to say it aloud. She didn’t want to manifest it into being. They’d been so careful, but she hadn’t gotten her period. And now she felt bad, and strange, like she wasn’t connected to her body. She knew what that meant.

“I just need a bigger selection of stuff. Please, Eden?”

“Fine.”

“Can we go this morning? Like . . . now?”

Eden narrowed her eyes at her little sister, appraising. “Yes, we can go now. Go get your things.”

Chloe spent the ride nauseated, quietly freaking out. The timing would be exactly to the night Andrew left. She threw up when they got to the drugstore, leaning out the door of the car. Eden didn’t say a word.

Chloe stalked the entire store to make sure there was no one there she might know, then bought the pregnancy test and went directly to the bathroom. She read the instructions, heart in her throat. Peed on the stick and set the timer on her watch for three minutes. Her thoughts were in a jumble; she felt so ill she couldn’t think straight.

Finally, she dared to turn the test over and look. There was only one line. Negative.

Relief as incandescent as the sun burned through her. These were decisions that she wasn’t ready to make, and she felt like she’d dodged a huge bullet.

It was just a bug, or food poisoning.

She practically skipped to the car, smiled at Eden.

“Everything okay?” Eden asked. Chloe realized Eden knew exactly what was happening.