Mother of All Secrets(54)

“So you’re really okay?” Kira’s color had not returned.

“Well, I think I will be. But that all depends on you,” she said, seriousness returning to her tone.

“What do you mean?” I managed to choke out.

“And what are we doing here?” Having shed her poker face, Selena was looking at Vanessa angrily. Vanessa knew something that we all didn’t, after all; she was the one who had brought us here.

“Well, it depends what you mean by ‘here,’” Isabel said quietly, thoughtfully. “Here in Montauk? Or here in this moms’ group? Though I suppose the answers overlap.”

Selena looked at her icily, not appreciating having her question answered with a question.

Registering her annoyance, Isabel quickly began again. “I’ll start from the beginning: the fact is that we all have so much in common, don’t we? We’re all new moms to precious babies. We’re all Upper West Siders. We’re all smart, kind women, too, I’d say. But there’s one more thing that we each share that never came up in any of our meetings.” She paused. “You all know my husband. In the same way.” She took a beat again, slowly turning her gaze to each and every one of us. “And now that we’re gathered together, I’d love if we could talk about why you didn’t tell anyone about Connor’s misdeeds after I went missing, because that was the whole point.” She took a deep, frustrated breath. “And more importantly—let’s discuss how we can make it right.”





Chapter Twenty-Three



Thursday, October 8

For a moment, I was genuinely baffled. Indignant. I’d met Isabel’s husband only twice, and both times had been in the past week since she’d gone missing.

Then the light bulb went off. The guy in the bar bathroom. Slim suit, perfect build, haircut out of a J.Crew catalog. Connor. That was Connor. Of course it was. How hard my brain must have been working to conceal that fact from me when I’d seen him again. Flashes of him came back to me now. His cocky half smile as he slid another shot over to me. His stubble against my cheek as he stood behind me. This explained why I hadn’t liked him from the moment I’d laid eyes on him, or laid eyes on him again, at their house.

Not only had I had an awful experience just like the one Kira had disclosed to me—I’d had it with the same man.

And apparently, Selena and Vanessa had, too.

My instincts about Connor were right; I only wished the same instincts had kicked in sooner, on the night that I’d met him, before I’d let him walk me into that bathroom.

I was silent, as were the others. Slowly, we raised our eyes one by one, looking around at each other.

And suddenly I was terrified, because it dawned on me that, as Selena had been insisting since Isabel disappeared, we didn’t know her that well. I had no idea what she was capable of, or what she planned to do to us, these women who’d played a crucial role in her husband’s betrayal of her and of their marriage.

“I’m sure you all have a lot of questions,” Isabel said. “We’ll get to all of them. But let’s have a toast first. This is still a moms’ night, after all.” We all stood silently, unsure of whether she was serious, but she waited for us to congregate around her to raise our glasses. “Cheers to new friends and new beginnings,” she declared pensively. “And of course, to our precious babies, for whom we would do anything. Anything.” We all clinked, but as our glasses touched, a sense of dread built within me as I wondered what “new beginnings” would entail, on Isabel’s terms, as well as what exactly was contained within that second “anything.”





Chapter Twenty-Four



Thursday, October 8

Kira broke the silence. “So, have you been here the whole week?” I almost laughed. The question sounded way too casual, given the severity of the situation. But I supposed it was as good a place as any to start.

Isabel nodded. “Vanessa rented this place for me, and I haven’t seen a soul all week. My great-aunt had a cottage in Montauk when I was growing up, and I used to come out during the summers. Montauk is so quiet, especially in the fall; it’s the kind of place where if you want to be left alone, you can be. People here tend not to ask a lot of questions. I knew I could disappear here. Of course, I’ve been worried sick about Naomi and missing her like crazy. It’s not like it’s been a vacation. But this is all for her, in the long run, after all.”

I felt more confused than ever. “What about all the blood?” I ventured. “You’re not hurt? We thought you were dead.”

“Yes, well, that’s how it needed to look. Like something really, really bad had happened to me. Vanessa helped me with the blood; we drew and saved it in her office every few days for the past few weeks so that we’d have a lot. I couldn’t have it look like I just left on my own terms; I needed it to be a bloody scene because I hoped that, once my disappearance and likely murder was made public, there would be a parade of women coming forward, yourselves included, revealing that you had been with Connor and knew just what kind of man he was. After all, the honorable thing for any of you to do, after learning that this terrible man now had a missing wife, would be to offer up your piece of the puzzle.” Isabel slowly looked at each of us, gauging whether we understood.