The Guilt Trip(95)

“We don’t know that Paige heard anything,” says Noah.

“Why else would she have done what she’s done?” cries Rachel, unable to keep her voice down.

“You’re jumping to conclusions,” he says.

She shakes her head vehemently. “I made her do this,” she says. “She was coming for me.”

Her chest convulses as she sobs and Noah takes her hand in his.

“Are you saying she did this on purpose?” asks Noah hoarsely. “That she targeted us?”

Rachel tries to stop her mind from fast-forwarding, but it’s like holding back a freight train. There are so many faces, scenarios and possibilities crowding her brain that she has to wait for the fog to clear to think straight.

“Me, you, us—I don’t know who she would have felt more betrayed by.”

“Fucking hell,” says Noah as his head falls into his hands.

“What am I going to do?” cries Rachel. “Should I tell them?”

Noah’s praying hands touch his lips as he processes the question.

“We’ve done nothing wrong,” he says eventually.

“We’ve kept a secret for twenty years.” Rachel sniffs.

“It won’t help anybody if we start dredging up the past now,” says Noah.

“But it will offer an explanation for why Paige did what she did,” says Rachel. “What if Ali doesn’t make it?”

She thinks of Maria and the heart-wrenching pain she’ll endure at the loss of her only child. Every mother and child’s relationship is special, but their bond was unlike anything Rachel had ever seen. They’d been through so much already and come out of it all the stronger, but Maria would never get over losing the daughter who gave up so much for her, only to have her life snuffed out on what should have been the best day of her life.

“I may as well have killed Ali myself,” says Rachel. “She had no part to play in this; she was only doing the right thing by me, and look how I’ve repaid her.”

“You’ve got to stop doing this to yourself,” says Noah.

“If anything happens to her,” she says, ignoring him, “I’m going to have blood on my hands.”

“This isn’t our fault,” says Noah angrily, though Rachel knows it isn’t aimed at her.

“I apologize,” says Da Silva, reappearing around the curtain looking even more thoughtful and serious than when he went out. “So there is nothing you can think of that may have started this catalog of events?”

There is so much at stake here, Rachel feels like she’s standing on a bridge, deciding whether to jump or not.

“My wife and Jack Hunter were having an affair,” says Noah, making the decision for her.

Rachel looks at him, unable to hide the shock of his confession.

Da Silva raises his eyebrows. “I see…” he says, though it feels like there’s more to come.

“Both Rachel and I found out at the wedding reception,” Noah goes on while the policeman listens thoughtfully.

“And how did that make you feel?”

Rachel and Noah look at each other, both of them seemingly unable to put it into words.

“I understand,” says Da Silva. “Perhaps you can tell me how you came to find this out.”

“I don’t see why it makes a difference,” says Rachel. “Because it has nothing to do with what’s happened.”

“It might,” says Da Silva.

Rachel shakes her head. “Paige would never have done this intentionally,” she says, willing herself to believe it.

“I’m not suggesting she did, but we have to look at all the possibilities.”

“There are no other possibilities,” cries Rachel.

“You have escaped very lightly,” the policeman says to Noah. “Did you see the car coming?”

Noah nods. “I heard it before I saw it,” he says. “I suppose I just instinctively jumped out of the way.”

“So, you didn’t see who was in the car?” asks Da Silva.

“Well, no,” says Noah, looking confused. “But it was obviously my wife.” He chokes on the last word.

“And you, Mrs. Hunter? You weren’t able to see who was in the car?”

She shakes her head. “I just remember the lights blinding me, so I couldn’t see who was driving, but I think it’s pretty conclusive, don’t you?”

“That it was Paige Collins?” offers Da Silva.

Rachel nods.

“Not necessarily,” he says.

Noah and Rachel look at him quizzically as he sighs heavily.

“Because it appears that someone else may have been in the car with her.”





28



The last thing Rachel remembers before falling asleep is that she didn’t think she’d ever be able to sleep again. Now, as her eyes flicker open, she’s met by darkness, but she can make out an unfamiliar dim light filtering in from somewhere beyond her bed. It occurs to her that she might be in a hotel—she’s definitely not at home, she can tell by the acrid smell and strange beeping noises. Her throat is parched and she reaches to the right, where she’d normally keep her water, but there’s a spiky tug in her hand that immediately makes her recoil.