An Honest Lie(67)

You are the reason she’s here. And if I make her dead, that will be your fault, too.
Wow. I guess I can put being gaslit by a psychopath on my résumé.
Also: Make her dead? The guy’s phrasing drifted from Biblical to preschool.

It was a few minutes before he texted back, and she wondered if what she’d texted had made him angry. There were three types of people as far as Rainy was concerned: the people who knew who they were, the people who didn’t and the people who didn’t want to. She fell into the last category, marked by an early life that included shame conditioning. Rainy had no idea who she really was. She was just existing, making art about her untapped feelings. And did she want to know what type of monster those years had created—a monster she ignored and kept guarded? Nope. But guys like this: they either relished it or denied it was there.

Don’t you want to know what she told me, Rainy? About her and your guy?
Cold dread blew through her chest and gusted out of her mouth in an exhale. Three years. You’ve only known Grant for three years. Had he been lying to her all this time? No. Why would he ask her to move out to Washington if there was someone else? Was it because Braithe was married?

She pressed all ten of her fingers onto her forehead; she would have known if something was wrong between her and Grant. If he was in love with someone else, he would have been...off. There would have been tells...or had there been, and she’d been too distracted to notice? No. Paul was just baiting her.

There is nothing between them.
The dots appeared immediately; he’d been waiting for this, waiting to drop the next bomb.

She was waiting for rebuttal text, but what came through was a voice recording. Rainy clicked on it and was immediately met with the sound of Braithe’s voice.

“We went away together. It was before her. My husband was away for work, and so we just drove through the border and went to Canada for the weekend, you know? It was really romantic, and I thought...I thought that that was it, he wanted to be with me, and I’d leave Stephen.”

Rainy’s breath hitched; the sandwich she’d eaten for lunch felt heavy in her belly. She didn’t want to hear more, but she couldn’t not hear it; the weight of Braithe’s words clutched her throat and squeezed.

Braithe’s voice broke off, and for a second, Rainy thought that the recording was over, and then Braithe’s voice came back, weaker this time—she was crying. “But then when we came back, he pretended like it didn’t happen. He... I don’t know...” Her voice was so wet with emotion Rainy found herself holding her breath, waiting for what she would say next.

But then another voice spoke, and it was male. “Made you think you were going to be together and then abandoned you?”

“Yes,” Braithe said.

“Why do you think he did it?”

Rainy could hear the tinkling of glasses and the sound of other voices in the background. Was this the bar where Braithe had gone after they parted ways that night?

When Braithe spoke again, her voice sounded hard, cold. Could the woman who had always been so kind to her, so inclusive, have secretly hated her? It was too much to process. Rainy would have to sit down and unpack every memory she had with the woman. Myriad emotions bloomed in her chest. She was obviously trying to get close to you for other reasons, those reasons being Grant, like Tara said, Rainy thought, squeezing her eyes closed.

“Because he’s the type of guy who thinks he owes everyone...my husband is his best friend,” she said. “He could never hurt him. His new partner is an artist. She moved her whole life for him. He’s never going to up and leave her.”

It was true. Braithe was right.

She saved the voice clip to listen to later. Right now, he wanted a reaction, and she was going to give it to him.

She could be talking about anyone, she sent back.

He sent another audio message, this one shorter than the first. Braithe’s voice was slurred.

“I said that to Grant, I told him exactly how I felt.”

It wasn’t just the use of Grant’s name, but rather the familiarity of how Braithe used it that sent a chill through Rainy. Did she have any memories of them behaving oddly together? She searched her mind, but came up with none. She’d always thought Braithe and Stephen were the perfect couple, and she’d never seen so much as a crack in their relationship. But you weren’t looking.

But more importantly, how had Paul captured Braithe? All this talk of Braithe and Grant was a distraction. How long had he been watching; what else did he know about their group? The thought was terrifying.

He’s been waiting for something like us to play with, Rainy thought. He was creating situations to feed on, and their group had been there at the right time. What would he do if she refused to play his games?

I’m calling the police.
What will you tell them?
She had to think about that for a minute. So far, all she had for evidence were a bunch of texts from Braithe’s number. Coy, playful texts were not a cause for alarm. All of Braithe’s other friends believed she was blowing off marital steam. He had isolated her from them with texts. It was actually brilliant.

Hate to tell you this, but you’re the reason she’s here, Summer. And no one is going to believe you. By the time you get them to believe you I’ll have cut through her vocal cords.
Rainy went cold.

She stared at her phone for a long time, unmoving. Summer. He knew. He had Braithe, but this wasn’t about her at all. And he didn’t say he would kill her; he’d specifically said cut through her vocal cords. He was telling her he had a plan. Whoever he was, he was here for her. No matter what Braithe had or hadn’t done, she couldn’t let her die at the hands of someone who was after...