Page 46 of The Getaway

No matter how heartbreaking that was.

She had promised herself so many times that she’d never give up. That she would keep trying until they found their child. He or she was out there somewhere. Marley had always believed it to be true. But maybe they could foster. Find some other way to make their family complete. Maybe she should think of it as pivoting. As finding a new path forward.

It was so hard to think of it that way. She wasn’t sure she could do it.

But she was sure they would work it out. They would. If he would just. Come. Through. That. Door.

And then he did.

The door flew open, and Marshall stumbled inside, looking like he’d just walked himself through a car wash. His hair was plastered to his forehead, and his clothes were like a second skin. He shook his hair out like a puppy dog, scattering water everywhere.

“Josh’s car is still here,” Marshall said, gasping for breath.

“So where the hell is he?” Marley asked. “He has to be somewhere in the house.”

They both automatically glanced at the end of the table where Cole had been sitting. There was nothing there. Magdelena had just cleared his place, and there was no sign of their interloper. Marley hadn’t even noticed. In all the upheaval, she hadn’t even noticed he was gone.

“Where the hell is Cole?” Marshall said.

From the corner of her eye, Marley saw something so horrible her brain refused to process it. By the time she did, her coffee mug had already shattered on the floor.

“Candice? What happened to you?” Marshall said, rushing toward her but stopping at the wild look in her eyes. “Why are you covered in blood?”

“It’s . . . not . . . mine.” Candice’s hands reached in front of her, smeared with dark-red stains. Her once-pristine shirt was soaked through, and there were finger swipes of blood on her face. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she stumbled toward Marshall, then fell into his arms. “Trevor’s dead.”

23

Suzy

“Someone needs to go check on the body,” Marshall said.

Marley had taken a hysterical Candice back to her room over the garage to clean up. Suzy, Sean, Grant, Gemma, Juliet, and Magdelena had all trickled in at various moments in Candice’s story, which had come out broken and almost nonsensical.

Construction equipment.

Ballroom.

Crushed.

Now they looked around at one another as the storm pulled and pushed at the walls around them.

“Why?” Sean said finally. “From what Candice said, Trevor is dead.”

“Very dead,” Suzy added.

“All that blood . . .” Juliet sat down heavily in one of the armchairs and toyed with her own fingers.

“Still, don’t you think we should see for ourselves? That we should know what happened?”

“Because you think there is a murderer among us,” Magdelena stated.

“Well, it definitely seems that way, doesn’t it?” Gemma said. “I’m with Marshall. I think someone should go check it out.”

“I’m game,” Grant said.

“Not it,” Sean put in, raising his hands to shoulder level.

Suzy had to concentrate to keep from sneering at him. Marshall and Grant were willing to go, but not her husband. She hated to be sexist, but honestly, it would be nice if Sean manned up once in a while.