Depth of Lies

by E. C. Diskin

  “I know, but please. Was anything else said?”

  “Just something like ‘Be careful’ and ‘No one is safe.’ I asked if he meant he’d fallen in love with someone else. He said no way. That it was just a thing. He wasn’t going to screw up life with Shea. I got the sense it had happened a long time ago, though.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t remember, exactly. Just something about how you think something’s behind you, but it could haunt you forever. I don’t know. I’m paraphrasing. I just got the sense that he’d cheated, it was a while back, but it was still messing with their life.”

  Was that about Dee? Why would he think she would be safe? She was one of Shea’s closest friends. And Kat had thought that whatever Shea feared was based on things happening last fall, not years earlier. She remembered seeing Dee and Ryan together the night of the luau, talking in the corner—their faces close, but he was a close talker. The music was loud. Kat hadn’t given it any thought.

  But something told her that her blind trust in Ryan might have been misplaced. He swore there’d been no affair. He blew up at the mention of Dee’s name. And if he’d done something like that, she didn’t know what else he might have done.

  After hanging up with Mack, she called Martin at the hotel offices. “Hey, I need a favor and I need you to drop everything and handle this, okay?”

  Martin agreed.

  “Remember the reservation info you sent me via e-mail this morning? Go to the security office for the hotel. Get a copy of the video feed from the elevator bank on the forty-fourth floor for the day of that reservation.”

  “The entire day?”

  “From the time of Ryan Walker’s check-in until midnight.”

  “Got it.”

  If Ryan was with someone other than Shea that night, Kat would know soon. And if he was, she couldn’t trust him, let alone look at him. If it was Dee in that hotel . . . she didn’t even know what she’d do.

  But someone had been on that island with Shea. Charlie wasn’t the guest, she reminded herself. Though that didn’t mean he hadn’t been there. She’d sat at the bar with someone. Mary hadn’t locked the front door of the inn until twenty minutes after Shea went to her room. And if Dee was in Michigan waiting for Charlie’s return on April 1, Kat suddenly realized, there would be no one who could verify where she was, either. What if Dee had known about Shea’s trip to the island? She could have driven there in a frenzy and found Shea at the bar with Charlie. She could have . . . Kat didn’t know. Her conspiracy theories swirled about. She felt like a lunatic. But the depth of lies she’d discovered made her trust nothing. It felt like the entire neighborhood knew more than they’d shared. Any one of them could have been with Shea that night.

  CHAPTER 35

  April 1

  4:20 p.m.

  “HI,” SHEA SAID. THERE WERE six of them, all men. They had all come out onto the platform, some from the left, the others from the right. She was surrounded with almost no room to move, and she stood with her back against the small metal railing. She recognized one of them now. The big one. He’d been the loudest of the bunch when they met last November.

  “Dave,” he said, putting his hand to his chest. He sounded annoyed, as if she should have remembered him.

  “I’m Shea,” she said, offering her hand.

  He didn’t take it. “I remember you, but we didn’t have your real name. Weren’t your friends calling you Chardonnay that night?”

  That silly nickname. She smiled, embarrassed. “Right,” she said, pulling her hand back.

  But Dave didn’t see the humor. He folded his arms across his chest. “What are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to pay my respects. I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said carefully, trying to defuse the tension. She raised her arms to rest them on the rail. If felt as forced as any bad pose.

  “Jesus,” Dave said, turning to his friends. “She wanted to pay respects. We’ve been wondering for months the real name of the woman Blake ran out of the bar with, what happened to him, why she came back to the bar that night and he never did, whether she was with him, what she knew, and she’s standing right here.”

  Shea felt her cheeks turn hot. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know about any of this until recently.”

  “But what happened that night?” another of the men asked, stepping closer. “You were with him. Did he take you down to his boat? Did you go out on the water?”

  “No,” Shea said, vehemently shaking her head. “I was with my friends.”

  “Shea, huh?” Dave said. “Shea what?”

  “Johnson,” she blurted out. Anything but the truth.

  Dave turned to his friends. “Let’s remember that. Isn’t it weird that she and her girlfriends were using fake names at the bar? So when Blake disappeared, we didn’t even know how to find them.”

  “Why would you use fake names?” one of the guys asked, stepping closer, the accusation obvious.

  Shea glanced behind her, at the sixty-foot drop to the ground. “It was just a game,” she said softly.

  “Where are your friends?” Dave looked toward the spiral stairs. “Are they here, too?”

  “Just one. I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m really sorry for your loss. I don’t know anything about what happened that night. We’d only just met.”

  “So why are you here?” another one asked.

  “My friend read about it in the local paper, and I felt terrible. I wondered how it happened.” She could feel the energy of these men coming at her even though their feet hadn’t moved. Despite the wind, her armpits felt wet with sweat.

  “Us, too,” Dave said.

  Shea stepped toward the men, faking confidence, and maneuvered herself to put her back against the light, anything to get some distance between herself and that railing. It would only take a slip, a push, a toss—a quick and painful death. “So, you didn’t see him that night after we were all together? I assumed he met back up with you.”

  “Nope,” Dave said.

  “I told him I needed to get back to my friends.” She moved her eyes from one face to the next, avoiding any real contact, any chance that someone might see through her. “He said he was going to pop into another bar. That’s it.”

  “What bar?”

  “I don’t remember the name.”

  “Where was it? Where were you when you had this conversation?”

  Shea swallowed before answering. “I’m sorry, I just don’t remember. We all drank a little too much that night. If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”

  Dave’s face softened then as he stepped forward. “Yeah, sure. But find us again, okay? I’d really like to talk more about this.”

  “Of course,” Shea lied again, already moving toward the steps.

  She rushed down the spiral staircase. The pounding of her feet on the metal steps echoed through the tower. She went back into the main house, through the crowd, and found the restroom under the hall stairs. She locked the door and braced the sink. She could practically hear her heart beating outside her chest. What if someone from the police department was here? What if those guys asked her to talk to the police? She looked at her reflection in the mirror. “I didn’t do anything.” Georgia was right. This was just asking for trouble, coming here. Anything she could tell those men would only cause problems for Georgia, cause Blake’s wife to know what he had done, cause nothing but pain. None of them deserved to have their lives thrown upside down because of what Shea or Blake had done.

  She turned on the faucet, splashed some water on her face, and patted herself dry. She had to get out of there. She went to the commode and sat, searching her purse for a pill. She’d promised Ryan she would stop, and she knew she could, but today was not the day.

  She found the bottle; only two remained. She took them both, swallowing them dry, dropped the purse on the ground, and braced her head with both hands, rocking back and forth, willing herself to breathe, to let the pills work the
ir magic.

  Finally, she calmed down enough to stand. She grabbed her purse and pulled out her phone. Evelyn hadn’t called or texted, so she sent her a text, asking her to meet up at Rudolph’s. She needed a drink.

  She quickly left the bathroom, walked through the crowd of well-wishers back into the kitchen, looking out for Blake’s friends, and ducked out the back door to her golf cart.

  As she drove the few miles to the north end of the island, she noticed a few real estate signs in the front lawns of houses along the road. Suddenly, everything had less appeal. Georgia was right. She never should have come. The idea of starting over, here of all places, suddenly seemed beyond absurd.

  She drove back to the inn, parked the cart, and stopped in her room. It was empty, no sign of Evelyn’s bag. Mary was nowhere to be found on the main floor, so she walked over to Rudolph’s.

  CHAPTER 36

  April 15

  KAT WOKE UP ON SATURDAY morning and checked the phone. It was before eight o’clock. Mack would be there soon. She couldn’t wait to wrap her arms around him.

  But he’d already sent a text: Flight delayed. Should be there by two.

  Kat rolled onto her back and opened her e-mails. Martin had gotten back to her.

  Here’s the security footage. Hope it helps.

  She couldn’t open the compressed file from her phone, so she jumped up and grabbed her laptop and waited impatiently for the computer to turn on.

  When she opened the mail again and clicked the attachment, she held her breath, waiting. Finally, her screen expanded into video, and she stared at an empty elevator bank. She fast-forwarded the footage, stopping each time the elevator doors opened—six times, strangers coming and going on the forty-fourth floor.

  When the door opened again, Kat’s breath caught in her throat.

  Feeling nauseated, almost light-headed from the evidence in front of her, she fast-forwarded past two more door openings until, finally, she saw Ryan. She grabbed her phone, hands shaking.

  Get over here. 911, she wrote.

  Kat threw on some clothes, still trying to sort it all out. Within ten minutes, she heard the front door open as Tori asked Lina where to find Kat. Kat came out of the bedroom and looked at her friends. Lina was still in her robe and slippers, with coffee in hand.

  “Ryan is having an affair.”

  “With who?” Lina asked.

  “Evelyn.”

  “What?” they both nearly shouted.

  “I saw them. On the tape, she got out of the elevator on the forty-fourth floor. Within an hour, Ryan did, too. And she was there.”

  “Wait, back up. What are you talking about? What tape? She was where?”

  Kat collapsed onto the sofa and explained what she’d seen on the security tape, why she’d looked at the footage, and what Evelyn had said during their phone call last night.

  “Evelyn drove Shea to the island,” she continued, speaking slower now, trying to absorb it all. “Evelyn said she never got on that ferry, that she’d been sick at the terminal, and after what happened, she was afraid to tell anyone because she thought we’d all hate her for leaving Shea.”

  The women sat in stunned silence, each trying to process what it could all mean.

  “If she was having an affair with Ryan, and she knew where Shea went, so did he,” Tori said flatly.

  “Did they want to get rid of Shea?” Kat asked, her words aimed at the emptiness in front of her. “Was it all a lie? Was Ryan the man at the bar?”

  “Did you ever hear back from the bartender at Rudolph’s?” Lina asked.

  “No.”

  “So that man could have been Charlie or Ryan,” Tori said.

  “I’m going to be sick,” Lina said, collapsing into a nearby kitchen chair.

  “Where is Evelyn now?” Tori asked.

  “She said she gets back later today. Do we call the police?”

  “Hold on,” Lina said. “Back up a second. Okay, Ryan and Evelyn were having an affair. That’s horrifying.”

  “And maybe she told Shea about it,” Kat said. “Maybe she drove her to . . .” She shook her head, unable to utter the words.

  “Even if that’s true,” Lina said, “that makes Evelyn a terrible person. Ryan, too. But it doesn’t make them murderers. Right? But if you tell the police all of this, they could end up on trial for murder. This isn’t just about ruining their lives. Those kids . . .”

  Kat was nodding, Lina was right. “We need to get in there,” Kat said.

  “Where?” Tori asked.

  “Evelyn’s apartment. Maybe there’s some proof that she was on the island. She said she never got on that ferry, that she took a rental car and returned home. If she was on the island . . .”

  “Well, that’s easy enough for the police to investigate. Maybe we just tell them everything,” Tori said.

  Kat stood up, suddenly struck at the thought of precious time slipping by. “What if she called me last night because she knew her brother had just told us about her leaving town with Shea? If she suddenly thinks people are looking . . . what if there’s something in there that proves she was there or even proves what happened? What if we do nothing and she comes home and destroys the evidence before the police have the chance to look into it?”

  “But how?” Lina asked.

  “Georgia,” Kat said as she walked to her bedroom.

  “What do you mean?” Tori asked, following her.

  Kat was back with her purse in hand. “Georgia has a key. She took care of Evelyn’s plants in the summer and fall. She has keys to Evelyn’s. She told me on Thursday.”

  Lina left the mug and went to her friends. “Now you want to break in there?”

  “It’s not breaking in,” Tori said. “We’re friends. With keys.”

  “We can’t involve Georgia in any of this,” Kat said, walking to the door.

  Tori followed.

  “I don’t feel good about this,” Lina said.

  “We’ll be back within the hour,” Kat said. They were out the door before Lina could protest.

  “What are you thinking?” Kat asked as they climbed into Tori’s car.

  “Georgia’s got my spare keys, too, for emergencies. It’s Saturday,” she said, looking at her phone. “She’s at yoga.” She turned on the ignition. “Hold on.” She quickly dialed a number. “Hey, Bob. It’s Tori. I need to pop over and get my house key from Georgia.”

  Kat couldn’t hear his response.

  “Sure, okay. Thanks, will do.” She ended the call and tossed the phone at Kat.

  “What did he say?”

  “He was walking out the door with Tessa for her gymnastics. He’ll leave the back door open. I even know where she keeps the keys.”

  “How will you know which keys are Evelyn’s?”

  “Have you ever seen the way Georgia organizes that house? She’s like an obsessive-compulsive labeler. Her canned goods are alphabetized.”

  Within minutes, Tori had pulled up in front of Georgia’s house. “Wait here,” she said, jumping out of the car.

  Kat watched Tori walk around to the back of the house. She could hardly believe they were essentially about to break in to Evelyn’s home. The woman who’d promised to be a good friend to Shea during that girls’ night out just a little more than three months earlier. It was the going-away party Shea had organized in Kat’s honor. Of course, Shea had invited Evelyn, her new, dear friend, despite the fact that Kat didn’t know her well. As they shared sushi rolls and wine, Tori, Dee, Lina, and Georgia had all made toasts involving fun memories and promises to visit. Shea’s toast had included her impression of Kat the first day they met. She’d said she found Kat orchestrating her moving men like she did everything else in life, with kindness and patience. She said she’d been struck by Kat’s beauty, inside and out, and that she knew instantly she’d made a friend for life. It was such a generous, distorted depiction of that afternoon on the sidewalk, and Kat had been unable to hold back the tears. “See,” Shea had
exclaimed with tears in her own eyes, “just like the day we met! I told you I loved to cry, too!”

  After they had hugged and taken their seats, Evelyn had stood and said something about not knowing Kat well, but she could tell that Shea would miss her terribly, and that she’d do her best to be there for Shea. It was the wrong thing to say. Kat didn’t want to be replaced.

  And what a friend Evelyn turned out to be, Kat thought, anger building. She was a liar. Ryan was lying, too. She had lost faith in everything they’d said to her.

  She looked at her phone. It was still early. Evelyn had said she was coming home late today. They’d get in there, look around, and decide what to do. She didn’t even know what she might find, but if she didn’t look, it was going to eat away at her. She sat back, crossed her arms, and took another deep breath.

  Shea had saved Kat’s life in a thousand different ways. She’d been with her through those darkest postpartum days, she’d taken care of Kat’s son when he was sick and Kat had to get to the office, she’d gotten Kat out of the house when her father died and she began eating through the pain. She couldn’t stop the tears from falling as she thought of all those moments. And the moment she’d tossed the phone aside when she saw Shea’s text, simply because she didn’t want to hear about life in Maple Park, because she was thinking only of herself, of missing her friends and not wanting to make it harder on herself. It had never occurred to her that Shea, who she’d thought was always coasting on the top of every wave and enjoying the ride, was going through something or needed to talk. She’d failed Shea when she ignored that call, but she would not ignore the mounting evidence that someone might be responsible for her death.

  A moment later, Tori appeared and quickly returned to the car. “Got it.”

  CHAPTER 37

  April 1

  5:30 p.m.

  “ANOTHER CAPE COD?” THE BARTENDER asked.

  “Yes, please.” The first one had gone down too fast. Shea turned to check the front door behind her again. Still no sign of Evelyn. When she turned back toward the bar, a man was standing to her left. She looked into the mirror behind the liquor bottles and watched the man looking at her before he addressed the bartender. “I’ll have what she’s having.”