Chapter Thirty-Eight Marni
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Marni
I was going to prison. After all these years, all those sleepless nights, the time had come.
The body interred or abandoned in that unmarked grave in that stunning garden no longer remained a mystery. I knew the truth
before the detective said it. I thought I’d have more time to plan and talk to an attorney. It had only been one night.
“The bones were Patrick’s.” I delivered the news before the detective could put his spin on the findings.
Stella’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit.”
“Really?” Hanna asked at the same time. “How can you possibly know that already?”
The detective took over, spewing the facts that would damn me. Eventually. “Mr. Tanner had a femur fracture a year before
he disappeared.”
He fell from the second floor of his house when the railing on the outside balcony gave way. I knew because I was there when it happened. The terrifying fall ended with ambulances and Victoria rushing home from a literacy luncheon.
That day I became extra careful in the Tanner house because, writhing in pain, Patrick had blamed Aubrey and suggested the
fall wasn’t an accident. He talked about her tormenting Noah. It was a ridiculous accusation to make about a then fourteen-year-old
girl, but his wrenching pain and scratchy voice stuck with me. The allegation lingered. That’s why when people whispered about
Aubrey’s ability to kill her entire family, I didn’t question the sentiment. She scared people, including her parents.
“He had a metal rod in his leg,” the detective explained. “The implant had a UDI, a unique device identifier. A serial number,
basically. We’ve had it on file since the family went missing.”
But that wasn’t why they came. They traveled here specifically for me because of what they found with Patrick’s body.
The one thing that would trace right back to me.