Real Bad Things(69)

The lie had become the truth. And now she barely remembered the details herself. Wasn’t that something? How quickly and efficiently the mind manipulated trauma. But here those devils sat once again. Threatening. One telling her to take Jane up on the offer of retreat. Run. Even if it meant leaving her husband, her children. The other telling her to let Jane go. Let her do what she had always wanted.

If only she knew what Jason had planned.

She twitched.

“Are you okay?” Jane asked.

Georgia Lee opened her eyes. Concern colored Jane’s face.

Now or never, she’d thought back then. Tell her the truth. But now had become never the minute Georgia Lee saw Warren on the ground and the look on Jason’s face. Like he’d been bested, like she’d stolen something from him. Jane had seen it too. She’d made an assumption. An incorrect one. Georgia Lee had wanted to speak, tell her the truth, but she couldn’t. Things happened so fast. They made a plan, executed it, and then made a pact. Days passed, and Warren’s body didn’t show. Georgia Lee thought everything would be fine. The truth unnecessary. She didn’t feel compelled to scan the riverbank or worry that Warren would return like some horror movie villain. He was gone. Never to bother them again. She knew that. Deep in her body.

There’d been no need to tell Jane. But then Jane had confessed, and never had become forever. The truth, lost. Until now.

“I’m sorry,” Jane said, interrupting Georgia Lee’s thoughts. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it.” She rubbed at her eyes and then shook her head. “It’s stupid.”

Now. Those devils sat on her shoulders.

My sins, O God, are not hidden from you; you know how foolish I have been.

Georgia Lee’s throat itched. She wormed a hand around the floorboard and found the wine bottle, which had rolled into the back seat during their activities in the front. She popped the cork and tipped the bottle into her mouth, but nothing dropped onto her tongue. She tossed it behind her and chanced a look at Jane. Her hand gripped the door, but she didn’t move. Only her bottom lip, like she too wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words or the courage.

Jane, sweet Jane. The next time she saw her might be behind bars.

Before Georgia Lee could stop herself, she blurted out, “I killed Warren.”





Twenty-Three

JANE

Jane had to have misheard. “Wait. What?”

Georgia Lee took a long breath. “I killed Warren. Not Jason.”

“No,” she said, not understanding the words. She’d been there. She’d seen her brother. She knew him, better than anyone. His eyes had told her all she needed to know. “That’s not what happened.”

“In the moment. Right after it happened. You thought Jason did it.” Georgia Lee clutched her chest as if horrified by her own admission. “Neither of us actually said he did it, of course. That’s just what you believed.”

“What I believed?” Jane repeated the words slowly. Like she had believed Angie had helped Jason. Like she had believed Diane had no idea what had happened.

Georgia Lee nodded. “Correct.”

Jane repositioned herself to face Georgia Lee. She had to see her mouth say the words because what Jane’s ears heard made no sense. “And what I believed, according to you, is that Jason murdered Warren.”

Georgia Lee nodded again. “That was my understanding of events.”

“Was?” Jane asked.

“Correct. Well, is. I suppose.”

“I see.” Had Jane hit her head? Had she been blackout drunk that night? Every new revelation made her believe either was possible. She’d come across Jason and Georgia Lee in the woods. She’d seen Warren on the ground. She’d seen blood on both of them. She’d seen the rock in Jason’s hand, the anger in his eyes before he noticed Jane, before alarm spread across his face. She’d told him not to worry. That he must’ve done what was necessary. That she would take care of him. She would protect him.

Neither Jason nor Georgia Lee had said anything. They had just stared at her while she stared at the bloody rock.

Georgia Lee scanned the stations on the radio, which had been playing low the whole time they’d been in the car. She blinked. A lot. Turned up the volume and then adjusted it lower.

Jane smacked the power knob. Georgia Lee startled. Stilled. “You let me believe that Jason killed him instead of you. Is that also your understanding of events?”

“I didn’t mean to mislead you.” Georgia Lee stared at her hands, which were sweetly clasped in her lap as if she were sitting in church, as if they hadn’t been all over and inside Jane moments before. “I believe I was in shock.”

The events of that night unraveled on repeat in Jane’s mind. There was no new information. No new images or insights by replaying it. Her pulse quickened. “Let me get this straight. Just to be sure. You were so shocked by committing murder yourself that you let me believe my brother did it instead, not you. And you let me confess to a murder I didn’t commit and one that Jason didn’t commit, and you never said a word until now.”

Georgia Lee clenched her hands in her lap. Her lips pursed. “I know, it sounds terrible.”

Jane gaped at her. “Because it is. It’s terrible. Really shitty, in fact. I confessed to save Jason. I went to jail for him. I’m about to go to prison for him. And you’re telling me he didn’t even do it?” Jason had never said a thing. Why would he lie? Why would he let Jane go to jail—twice—if he knew what Georgia Lee had done? “Are you fucking with me? Is this some kind of joke?”