Open House(66)

Unless it was.

Below the clavicle sat the subclavian artery, one of the main branches of the aorta, and plenty of other important stuff, but where Josie had been stabbed there wasn’t much besides the trapezius muscle and nerves. Certainly someone could have tried to stab Josie in the heart and missed, or thought their attack would do enough damage that it didn’t matter—that was the assumption the police seemed to be operating under. But as Haley stared down at the scalpel, she knew that person couldn’t be Brad, not if he was actually intending to do real damage. No surgeon or anatomy teacher would have made that wound and thought it would be fatal. And why would it behoove Brad to stab Josie without actually killing her? Just to scare her? No way—it was too much of a risk that she’d be able to identify him to the police as soon as she recovered.

Haley felt the other students’ eyes on her, but she didn’t care. Her mind reeled as the substitute teacher droned on. Wasn’t it possible that instead of intending to hurt Josie but messing it up, someone had purposely inflicted a nonfatal stab wound? And what if that person was Josie? What if Josie had been so desperate to frame Brad, or even Dean, that she stabbed herself in the kitchen that morning?

Haley blinked hard, taking in Susie’s serene features. Figuring out how to stab yourself so that you wouldn’t be fatally injured as long as someone found you in time was something you could figure out from research online. Certainly it would take the heat off Josie, and with the pregnancy test she’d been holding on to, she had to think framing Brad for Emma’s death would be a slam dunk. Who would care about a silly bracelet if Brad were framed for both Josie’s attack and Emma’s murder? Maybe Dean was just an additional possibility, to muddle the scenario if Brad didn’t work. What if that’s why Josie had been contacting Dean for all those secret meetings? What if it was to secretly throw suspicion on him when the police inevitably searched his phone after Josie was found stabbed on the floor of an open house he attended? Was that why Josie said she couldn’t remember anything about the attack and who did it, so that both men would be potential suspects?

Haley’s heart pounded. The open house. Josie had arranged for all of them to be there to find her, and she’d been the one to turn off the heat: she could have googled it, figured out how much easier it would be to keep herself from going into shock in colder temperatures.

How had Haley never thought of this before?

Dr. Cotler was showing a slide up on the screen, teaching on the superior vena cava, but Haley could barely breathe. She needed to get to the police station, to explain in no uncertain terms the possibility of Josie purposely stabbing herself in that exact spot, where no major veins and arteries could be hit. Haley was right—she knew it.

When Dr. Cotler finally called the end of class, Haley didn’t move at first. She stood close to Susie, her hand resting on her shoulder as if she were comforting her, but maybe it was the other way around. Haley sent up a silent prayer of thanks to Susie, wherever she was, for helping her, and then she thought of her sister, feeling her closer than ever before. Maybe Emma had always been there; maybe she’d just been waiting for Haley to catch up with her, just like when they were younger, to see and know the truth of everything that had happened. Maybe Haley would spend the rest of her life trying hard never to forget that, to remember her sister for everything she was and everything she never would be, to honor her in the only ways she knew how.

Haley pulled the sheet back over Susie’s body. She gathered her things and raced to the station.





FIFTY-FOUR

Haley

After a few hours at the police station, where Haley described to Rappaport her theory on what Josie had done to herself at the open house, Haley was back at the hospital and waiting outside Josie’s room.

Rappaport had arrived at the hospital before her and was still inside, and Josie had already been informed of what they knew, and that she would be arrested for Emma’s death upon her imminent release from the hospital. Rappaport had promised Haley time with Josie, and she planned to take it. Haley had to face her parents this afternoon, and she needed to bring them something from Josie: an apology, maybe, or at least an admission of guilt.

When Rappaport opened the door, Haley braced herself. “I probably shouldn’t be doing this,” he said pointlessly, “but we’ve already taken Josie’s confession on the record for both Emma’s death and what happened at the open house, and if you think it’ll help you to talk to her for some closure . . . if you’re sure . . .”

“I’m sure,” Haley said quickly, before he could change his mind.

Rappaport held the door open for her. “Then go ahead, Ms. McCullough,” he said. “Good luck.”

Josie looked far worse than when Haley had last seen her, with purple circles beneath bloodshot eyes. She looked up at Haley with a hollow glance and then blinked a few times as though it was taking her a beat to recognize Haley. When she did, tears filled her eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Haley said. She thought she’d say more, but at the crux of it, what she’d said was true: she didn’t understand what had happened. Josie was Emma’s best friend. Emma trusted her, and so had Haley.

Tears spilled over Josie’s face. She was quiet, and Haley felt terrified she wasn’t going to say anything. A minute passed that felt like an eternity, and when Josie finally spoke, the words came out embarrassedly. “I was just so blindingly jealous of her,” Josie said, shaking her head slowly, carefully. Her movements felt measured, and Haley wasn’t sure how much of what she said could be trusted. Josie took a raspy breath, and Haley stayed quiet, the air hot and swollen between them, full of sharp things. “I liked Noah,” Josie finally said, “which I know sounds insubstantial because we were all so young and it was just a crush, I guess, but then he started falling in love with Emma and her with him, and it was just so obvious that he was choosing her over me. She was just so good, you know? And I tried to put my feelings for him aside, to give him up to her. But then she got together with my brother, and he’s the one person . . . he’s the only person who’d ever been my family up until that point. And it felt so cavalier, the way Emma was about it. She had everything going for her, with Noah falling for her, but she still carried on in secret with Brad, and then my brother, who clearly had feelings for her . . .”