The Lies I Told(93)

“That’s right. He saw you first at college when you were visiting Brit. When you passed out at the party, he took you back to his dorm room and, like the good gentleman he is, let you sleep it off. He found the flyer in your pants pocket when you were passed out. You left while he was out getting breakfast for you both. He didn’t have your name but wanted to see you again. He went to the art show in Richmond. He saw you coming out of the art show.”

“I never made it to the show. I drove with Brit to Charlottesville to shop. He saw Clare coming out of the show.”

“David didn’t realize you were a twin. Common mistake. You two were always one of a kind.”

“What happened?”

“He struck up a conversation with her. Found his attraction growing. And David, being David, started following her. They ran into each other again, and he coaxed her into bed. He was certain he was in love.”

“He told you this?”

“Later. After it all fell apart.”

My stomach tumbled. “After he killed Clare.”

“That’s right.”

I’d never have put Jack and David together. They ran in very different circles then and now. “How do you know David?”

“I met him in juvie. During his gap year . . .” He grinned. “Only a rich boy can afford a gap year. Anyway, during that year, he interned with the chaplain at the boys’ home. He and I became good friends. Helped me out of a few tight spots, and I offered to repay the favor if I could.”

“He followed Clare to the New Year’s Eve party.” I imagined David arguing with Clare and him wrapping his hands around her neck. When he killed her, he must have panicked. “He called you for help.”

He appeared pleased, but he didn’t answer.

All these years of wondering and praying for answers and Jack had known all along. While he’d hidden the truth, he’d also pretended to be my friend. Did he get a rush watching me struggle? Emotion tightened my throat. “What happened after she told him about the baby?”

“He offered to marry her, but she laughed at him. She told him she never wanted to see him again. David’s number-one problem is that he gets too attached, and if he hates anything, it’s rejection. He lost his shit, as he’s done before. At least the time before, the girl survived.”

“What girl?”

“That doesn’t really matter.” He leaned a little closer, as if sharing a secret. “Turns out his daddy is rich and sent him to the juvenile facility as a volunteer for a reason. Tried to scare the boy straight.”

Bitterness soured my stomach as tears welled behind my eyes. “It didn’t work.”

“That place rarely spit out a better version of any boy.” His expression grew pensive. “For what it’s worth, he said that Clare’s death was an accident.”

“Accident? How does a man accidentally wrap his fingers around a woman’s throat and squeeze the breath out of her for over five minutes! That’s hardly an accident.”

“When David’s pissed, he forgets himself.”

How many times had David’s parents excused away his violence? Often enough that David clearly had become accustomed to having his messes cleaned up. “You took her body and did what?” Richards had said the body’s removal had a calculated feel to it.

“While you slept like a baby, I told him where to drive to, and I met him there. I stripped her, tossed her in the river, and dumped her clothes downstream. He called her Marisa, and that’s when I told him he’d killed Clare.”

All along he’d thought he was dealing with me. Clare’s game of pretend had been too good. “Did he care?”

“Not so much upset as confused. He even argued the point, said she’d told him she was Marisa.”

Even in death, Clare and I had been interchangeable. “Did you tell him she had a twin?”

“No. I didn’t want him coming after you.”

And in the end, he’d found me. Had that been karma or just my great luck? I refused to dwell as I searched his gaze for any sign of remorse. I saw none. If anything, he seemed relieved to share the grim details he’d carried for thirteen years. “Where’s David been all this time?”

“New York. Had the good sense to stay away. But then there was a bit of trouble in the Big Apple, and he came down here, thinking if he were near me, I’d keep him out of trouble like a good brother would. He was looking me up at J.J.’s Pub when he saw your flyer. I didn’t know he was here until I saw him at your birthday party.”

“Brit said David had a brother.”

He grinned. “He was talking about me. We used to joke at juvie that we should have been related by blood.”

My brain was a computer on information overload. “Did he cause my accident?”

“He did. Your memory loss bought me some time, but I knew eventually he was going to lose control again, or you’d figure it out. You’re too sharp, too focused, these days to be ignored. And those pictures you took of the river. Those are the images of a woman on a mission.”

“Did you break into my apartment?”

“No. But that sounds like classic David. Bet he got a copy of your key from Brit.” The chill behind the smile was frightening.

“That’s why David let me leave,” I said. “He heard Jo-Jo’s name and knew you had to be near.”