Chapter Forty-Six
Present: Day Six at Sea
“I had no idea why Beth had acted so strangely that night until I read Courtney’s diary,” Russell says.
Emma leans against the cockpit table as I sit frozen on the bench, reeling from hearing about what was likely Courtney’s cruelest act of all. I can’t help but feel partly responsible. I was the one who told Courtney what Beth had said behind her back.
“Courtney catfished her,” Emma says, taking in what Russell told us.
Just like Beth did to Matt, I think. Her high school trauma must’ve been what sparked her idea.
Beth had everything necessary to make Matt feel like they had a deep connection.
Beth knew all about Matt’s life—even his marriage—because I had told her.
Just like Courtney had known enough about Beth to make her think she and Russell were soulmates.
“I don’t think there was a name for it yet, but yeah, she did.
” Russell leans forward, resting his forearms on the wheel.
“When I answered the door that night, Beth looked stunned, then flung her arms around me.
She said ‘Baby, what are you doing here?’ I backed up and had to peel her off me.
When I asked her what the hell she was doing, she put her hands on my face.
She looked like she was about to kiss me, so I swatted her arms away.
“She looked crushed and said, ‘It’s me, Beth. Your fiancée.’” Russell shakes his head. “I was confused, thought she was nuts. I wanted nothing to do with an underage girl throwing herself at me.”
I glance below deck. Despite Beth’s betrayal, my heart breaks for my seventeen-year-old friend, with her frizzy hair and glasses, thinking she and Russell were in love. And how shattered she must’ve been.
I shift my gaze to Russell, who could pass for an A-list actor all these years later. I can only imagine how attractive he was at twenty-four.
Russell stares at the deck. “I told her that Courtney was upstairs and retreated to the TV room as fast as I could. Beth called after me as Courtney came downstairs, grinning at the scene as I made my escape. I whispered, ‘What’s with your friend?’ while Beth stood frozen in the doorway.
Courtney shrugged and told me not to worry about it, saying that Beth was always like that.
She said, ‘She just thinks you’re hot.’ So, I said, ‘Tell her to keep her hands off me next time, okay?’”
Russell lifts his gaze to mine and Emma’s.
“Beth said my name again, so I turned and said, ‘See you later.’ Beth stared at me like she’d seen a ghost, but after what Courtney said, I chalked it up to teenage-girl emotions.
Until I learned from Courtney’s diary that Beth truly thought we were engaged. ”
Emma crosses her arms. “That was cruel. Even for Courtney.”
I gaze out at the swirling sea. “Beth never told me.”
Emma turns toward the bow before she passes me her empty mug. “Hold this. I’m going to take down the storm jib. It’s slowing us down.”
“Sounds good,” Russell calls from behind us while Emma hooks a tether onto her life vest.
Why didn’t Beth ever tell me? I wonder as Emma makes her way to the front.
Beth must’ve been too shattered to even tell her best friend what had happened.
I close my eyes, envisioning the messages to my husband I found on Beth’s phone.
The bitterness of Beth’s betrayal, dry and acrid, coats my tongue.
She was also not the friend I thought she was.
From the foredeck, Emma swears.
“Guys.”
I stand up. The horrified expression on Emma’s face makes my blood run cold. She covers her mouth with her hand, and she’s staring down at the deck. I climb onto my seat to see what she’s looking at.
I gasp, seeing the blood smeared across the foredeck. I start to go forward when Russell places a strong hand on my arm.
“Careful,” he says before I make my way beside Emma on the foredeck.
I stare down at the dark-red streak across the white fiberglass and wood.
“That’s a lot of blood,” Russell says, practically in my ear.
The blood on the deck leads to the edge of the boat, as if someone was dragged overboard.
“Beth,” I breathe.
I spin, ramming into Russell before I push past him and climb down into the cockpit. The boat rolls, and I stumble forward off the bench seat.
I catch myself on the center table and manage to keep my footing.
“Beth!”
I fumble to unhook my tether and scramble down the steps. I dash past the galley and throw open the door to my stateroom. My heart plummets. Our empty bed is unmade. Beth’s phone lies on top of the comforter on her side of the bed.
My knees buckle. I rest my palm against the wall as it sinks in that Beth is gone. My eyes brim with tears, but I’m swarmed with too many emotions to know exactly what I’m feeling. I’d already decided that she was dead to me, but now I’m losing her for the second time.
As much as I want to hate her, I can’t stop the tears from streaming down my face.
“No, no, no.” This can’t be happening. She can’t be gone.
Heavy footsteps sound down the companionway steps as I slide my hand under my pillow. I lift it up, staring at the white sheets. I check under Beth’s pillow, but there’s no gun.
“Is she here?”
I whip around at the sound of Russell’s voice in the doorway behind me, snatching my arm out from under Beth’s pillow and placing it at my side. Emma is behind him, peering over his shoulder at our empty stateroom.
“Oh, shit,” she says.
“Check the bathroom,” I tell Emma. “Just in case.”
Emma calls Beth’s name and opens the door to the bathroom closest to our stateroom. It’s empty.
Emma checks the second bathroom—also empty—as my mind swirls with what likely happened, the scenarios making me dizzy.
Beth must’ve taken Russell’s gun and confronted him about killing Nojan and Gigi, and then he killed her.
But as I stare into Russell’s green eyes, I realize that doesn’t make sense. Beth accused me of killing them.
Did Beth have a change of heart? Did she take Courtney’s diary from Emma’s room, and Russell caught her? Before I can accuse him, Emma does it for me.
She grabs him by the shirt collar and shoves him against the wall hard enough to make me flinch.
“You killed her, you sick bastard,” Emma sneers through gritted teeth.