Chapter 55
Millie
“So, you left him there,” Frankie says, her mouth open. “You left him in the water, and he drowned?”
Ethan slumps down on the couch like he’s exhausted from telling the story. “No! That’s not what happened. I swear. We didn’t…”
“Who was the third person in the kayak?” Frankie asks, cutting him off, though we all know the answer. Everyone’s gaze flits to Alex, who’s been pacing behind the couches this whole time. “Alex,” she says. “It was you?”
I press the heel of my palm to my forehead. “I feel like I’m going to be sick,” I say, but no one’s listening to me. They’re all zeroed in on Alex, who has stopped moving and is now looking around the room like he’s trying to find an escape hatch.
“Say it.” I surprise myself with how loud my voice is, how furious I am at all of them for keeping something like this from us, for doing it in the first place. “If we’re really free of secrets, if we really want to tell each other everything, we need to know every single detail.”
“Damn, Millie,” Frankie says, almost impressed, then turns back to Alex, pain on her face, like every word she says is excruciating. “But she’s right. We need to know. I need to know.”
“I was there,” Alex says, his voice a whisper. “But we didn’t leave him for dead.” His voice is panicked now, rising. “I hated Billy for what he did to me, but I swear. We didn’t. That’s not what happened.”
“He jumped,” Trevor said. “I know he did. I heard a splash, and I turned around, and Alex swore he saw him jump, too. Right?”
Alex nods. “It looked like he cannonballed in, and he was right next to the ladder. I thought he would climb back up and be fine. We’ve all jumped into that water a million times.”
“But he didn’t,” I say. “He drowned. He had scrapes and bruises all over his body.” I turn to Ethan. “You think he jumped?”
Ethan covers his face with his hands, and when he speaks, his words are muffled. “That’s what it looked like to us.” He looks up, his cheeks stained with tears. “I swear.”
“Then why didn’t you tell anyone?” Frankie asks, disbelief in her voice.
“I did!” Ethan said. “I told your dad.”
“What?” I ask, my voice high.
“After the police questioned us. I told your dad what we saw, and he told me not to say anything. He said that if I did, they might charge us with involuntary manslaughter for not going after him.”
My mouth drops open, a mix of fear and disgust swirling in my brain.
“We were terrified,” Alex says. “What if Hampton didn’t believe us and thought we pushed him? What if she found out about the catfishing and determined I had motive? We all had motive!”
“Is that why you wrote me that note?” Frankie says, her voice small. “It was you, wasn’t it, Alex?”
Alex drops his head but mumbles a yes. “I just wanted you to stop looking.”
“We thought that he would climb back up, and we’d talk about everything in the morning,” Ethan says.
“But when I saw him out in the water, tried to save him…” He swallows, his face pale.
“I didn’t want any of us to get in trouble.
I’m supposed to keep them safe. I’m supposed to protect them.
” Ethan’s voice cracks on the final word before he breaks down, sobs coming out of his throat like eruptions from a volcano.
For a moment, all of us are quiet, listening to Ethan wail. All of it’s a shock, a moment of overwhelm, and sheer terror rushes through my body.
These boys may not have killed Billy with their bare hands. May not have held his head underwater. But they left him there to die. Each of their actions led to this moment, and all summer, they let everyone on Pelican Island believe a killer was roaming free, lying in wait, looking to strike again.
The weight of the realization is staggering.
I glance at Lucy, who hasn’t said a single thing since we got here, who listened as they spoke and didn’t nod her head or say a word. Only stood there with a blank expression.
My hands shake at my sides, and I lick my lips, looking at Lucy. We need to leave.
She says nothing, only spins around and walks right out the door.