Open House(67)
Haley tried to digest this new piece of information. “So if family is so important,” she started, swallowing over a hard lump in her throat, “and if it’s true about Chris and Emma, you realize that Chris might have been the father of the baby, who you killed along with my sister.”
Josie cried harder. “They didn’t sleep together,” she said. “He swore to me that they didn’t, and he’s never lied to me, ever. The baby was Noah’s. Haley, I swear to God it was an accident,” she said, trying to sit up but failing. “I meant to hurt her, I admit that. I was so angry, and I pushed her. But I never thought . . . It was so dark up there, I didn’t realize how close we were to the edge,” she said, crying harder now. “Please believe me, Haley, please. I loved your sister. I was so jealous of her and furious that she’d been with my brother when she promised she never would, I just, I couldn’t take it. Noah told me we couldn’t ever be anything more than friends now that Emma was pregnant and it was his. I thought he liked me, too, but he said he didn’t, that he only wanted to be with her, but I didn’t want to believe that, so I told him the truth: that Emma had been with Chris and Brad, too, and Noah was furious, and he called Emma disgusting and so many other terrible things.”
“I don’t want to hear what Noah thinks of my sister,” Haley spat. “I couldn’t care less. You’re the one who married him. You killed your best friend and married her boyfriend, and that’s the most vile thing I’ve ever heard.”
The corner of Josie’s mouth lifted into a sneer. “You’re just like your sister,” she said, her mood changing in a flash. “Judgmental. And why wouldn’t you be? With your parents who love you, with your perfect childhood . . .”
“My perfect childhood?” Haley shrieked. “You’re talking about Emma, maybe. Emma’s perfect childhood right up until you killed her.”
“Emma wasn’t a child,” Josie said. “She knew exactly what she was doing, taking Noah, messing around with Chris, the one person who’s ever even belonged to me, when she didn’t even like him.”
“Most roommates don’t kill each other over that.”
Josie sniffed. “Haley,” she said, her voice softer again, full of sadness that Haley wasn’t sure she could trust. “I was in a rage that night on the cliff. Okay? Temporary insanity and all that.”
“This isn’t a courtroom,” Haley said. “And I don’t think you’ll have any luck with that defense. You’ve been lying to everyone for a decade. And you’re lying now, saying you loved Emma.”
“I did!” Josie said, swiping away a lock of bloodstained hair. “She was like a sister to me.”
“Then you don’t understand sisters,” Haley said. “And if you loved her so much, you could have admitted what you’d done. You could have said it was an accident; you could have said anything. You’re a liar, Josie. You acted as though you were trying to protect Emma from what people might have thought about her sleeping with Brad, her being pregnant, whatever it was you acted so concerned about. But you let everyone in this town believe she’d killed herself, to avoid the truth coming out that you pushed her. Do you realize how wrong that is, how psychotic? And why should I even believe it was an accident? Why should I believe anything you say about my sister?”
Josie started crying so hard that Haley could barely understand her. “Because I’m telling you the truth now,” she said, her words staggered between sobs.
“But even now,” Haley said, “even after the bracelet was found, you could have come forward. You attacked yourself to pin it on Brad! What kind of person does that?”
“I was protecting myself!” Josie shrieked. “Can’t you understand that? I was terrified! After all these years, them finding out what I’d done? Me going to jail?”
“You belong in jail!”
Josie’s head fell into her hands. “I’m sorry, Haley,” she said. “Believe me when I say it, please believe me. There are things you can’t understand, things I need to protect, I mean, my marriage, you know I would do anything to stay with Noah, I can’t be without him. I . . . I can’t go back there, to that night in the woods, please . . .”
“You can’t go back to that night?” Haley asked, incredulous. “That’s funny, Josie. Because my parents and I have lived that night over and over again every day for the past ten years.”
Josie’s pale eyes were wide as Haley backed away from the hospital bed.
“Goodbye, Josie,” she said.
FIFTY-FIVE
Emma
Ten years ago
I’m falling with nothing to break my body’s trajectory, the air around me so cold and heavy. I fall until I hit something as hard as concrete, and then there’s a sinking feeling like I’m being sucked into something muddy, something fluid, something that’s trying to claim me as its own. I can’t breathe right; I can’t think straight. In my mind I see my sister’s face, peering over me with such concern, such love. The mud is numbingly cold, and I can’t stop shaking, and I try to call for Haley, but I can’t. I hear a shrill voice cut through the wind—“Emma!”—and for a second I think it’s Haley, but it’s not.