Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
PRESENT DAY
Josie
“I wanted to tell you,” I say to Ian. “I planned to tell you everything after the wedding.”
“You were on the dock with my dad the day he died.”
I nod.
“You lost your necklace that day. The one that looked like Madeline’s gift today.”
I blink. How does he know about the necklace I lost?
Did he find it, and if so, did he turn it in to the police?
My gaze swings to the security guard. If he knew I was there, and Ian found the necklace, the police should have showed up to question me long ago.
Suddenly, I’m feeling like I’m not quite sure what’s going on either.
“Just tell me the truth, Josie.” Ian’s face looks so sad. So defeated. “Were you having an affair with my father?”
I recoil. “What?” I take a gasping breath as the weight of Ian’s words pushes the air from my lungs. An affair with Christopher? “No. No of course not.”
“Then what reason would you possibly have to be on the dock that weekend?”
“I came to see you.” I turn away from him to stare out at the ocean because it’s easier than looking in his eyes. “I thought we had a date to go swimming in your pool.”
Ian’s brows knit together. “I had a regatta that weekend. Did you get the days mixed up?”
“No,” I say flatly. “I definitely didn’t get the days mixed up.” The memories come in waves. Christopher’s hand on the small of my back. The way my muscles coiled and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. “That’s the day your dad invited me.”
“But… I wasn’t supposed to be home until the next day.”
“No. You weren’t,” I say. “But I didn’t know that. When I got there, he was the only one at the house.”
Ian’s chest rises and falls. Does he know where this is going?
“Your dad sent me to the dock to wait for you. And then a few minutes later, he arrived with two cocktails and tried to get me to drink one. I still thought you’d be there any minute.
” My pulse pounds in my ears. “He tried to kiss me, and I said no.” It comes back to me now, Christopher shoving me into the cushions, spreading my legs apart, grabbing, groping. Terror filling my lungs.
Ian’s face is pale. He grabs the deck railing with shaking hands.
“He pushed me down on the cushions,” I whisper, remembering the panic, the terror. “He climbed on top of me. He put his hands on me…” I trail off, unable to go on.
Ian rushes across the deck until he’s standing in front of me.
His eyes are filled with tears. “Josie,” he says brokenly.
“I’m so sorry.” He reaches out as if he’s going to take me by the shoulders and then stops as if he realized I might not want to be touched.
There’s nothing I want more than to be in his arms. But there’s more to tell. More secrets to reveal.
“I managed to get away, Ian.” I take a shaky breath. “Your father didn’t rape me.”
He closes his eyes. “Oh, thank God.” He steps closer, but I stumble backward.
“There’s more. It’s worse.”
“How could it be worse?” His voice is hollow. “How could it ever be worse?”
“I pushed him. I shoved him off the dock. And then I ran. A few hours later, we heard the news. Your dad was dead. He hit his head and died in the water.” My eyes slide to his. “Your dad was dead because I killed him.”
Ian bends over, sucking air into his lungs.
From somewhere far away, a shocked voice hisses, “What?”
The security guard. I’d forgotten all about him. He’s been standing here all along. He must know all of this. That’s why he’s here, isn’t it? To confront me? To blackmail me? But he looks as shocked as Ian.
“What did you say?” he asks, his eyes wide.
“I killed Christopher. That’s why you’re here, right? You’re threatening to turn me in?”
“No,” he gasps. “No. You didn’t kill Christopher.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t kill him,” the security guard says. “I did.”