Thirty-Nine Grace
It isn’t hard to get free of Geny’s house. She’s on edge, everyone is walking on eggshells, and my presence is making everything worse. We all know it. So when I yawn and say I’m going to make it an early night, Geny and Wyatt both agree they’re worn out too.
I go straight to my parents’ room and, equipped with a notebook and a pen, get started trying to sort my messy mind and the even messier tragedies of Raven, Michigan. I make a pot of coffee and drag the printer from my dad’s office into the bedroom. I lose track of time but gain traction mentally.
Here’s what I know:
Frank wanted me dead. Wyatt overheard him setting it up. Wyatt pretended to drown me in the lake. He told his dad he knew about the two of us and took care of me.
Frank told the town he recovered my body and did the identification himself. They buried bags of sand. Frank can’t be the only one who knows I wasn’t in the casket. Possibly the coroner, other police officers, and people working at the funeral home might have known.
My father was accused of having inappropriate pictures on his work computer. Shortly after, he allegedly committed suicide. The pictures were all taken in the school. And they were all old, from when I was in school. Not a single one was recent.
Frank worked at the school during that time.
Tara. She’s in one of the pictures and she was terrified to talk to me about it. Why would she have come to the funeral and hugged me and my sister if our father abused her back in high school? It’s not to say it’s impossible. Just something to think about.
Morgan died at the beach. The police did a half-assed investigation and chalked it up to a drug-induced swim gone wrong.
Brooke was killed on the beach after asking questions that made Frank look bad.
The Raven PD has been known to tamper with evidence and do other shady things.
It’s a lot to know for me, but to the FBI, a lot of it would be circumstantial. It wouldn’t be enough to get him locked up. But is that the goal? Was it ever?
No.
If Frank is who I think he is, he’s hurt more than just me. He did this to numerous girls and someone like that doesn’t deserve air in his lungs. He definitely doesn’t deserve the chance to be released. And all too often, that’s exactly what happens.
No. Frank deserves to die. And who better to do it than the girl he thought drowned?
But I need to make sure. I can’t be loose with my evidence. I know my biases, and I can’t let them cloud my judgment. If I get caught, it’s likely life in prison. That kind of consequence requires certainty.
I finally pick my head up from my manic bedroom investigation and see that it’s five o’clock in the morning. I scan the wall where I taped printed pictures and things I wrote to better see everything all together. It’s a typical murder board. All I’m missing are the yarn strings.
I know the next thing I need to do. I just have to figure out how to make it happen. No sooner do I have the thought than I have a possible solution. I need both Frank and Tina out of their home, and I need to know where they are.
The solution is another dinner party. But I can’t have them here.
I don’t want Frank inside this house. I’ll have to convince Geny to let me host a dinner at her house.
And then I’ll have to make sure Frank and Tina come.
But that isn’t straightforward. I don’t want any added stress on Geny right now.
I don’t want to send her spiraling. And I don’t trust Frank around her.
He could have heard her the other night.
I’m thin on options. I think through it for a minute and decide it’s a risk I have to take, but one I can try my best to mitigate. Wyatt will be there with Geny to keep an eye on her and, more importantly, on Frank.
I call Geny. She picks up on the first ring.
“Is everything okay?” she asks instead of hello.
“Everything is fine.” I laugh. “Relax.”
“Sorry. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong, Geny. I just wanted to ask you something—”
“What?”
“I want to host a dinner. For you, Wyatt, and the boys, and for Frank and Tina.”
She’s quiet. Did we get disconnected? Did she hang up? I feel so guilty using her for my plan against Frank under the guise of a gesture for her that I almost take it back. Then she answers.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. As a thank-you. As a nice way to reconnect and smooth over some of the awkwardness lately. I know Frank has been getting raked over the coals about my death. I just want to let him know I don’t blame him.”
The words burn my throat, but they sound convincing enough. I have an answer prepared if she suggests having it here at Mom and Dad’s. But she doesn’t suggest it. I knew she wouldn’t. She doesn’t like being here. She’d rather be at home.
“Sure. I guess that’s okay.”
“Great,” I say quickly before she can change her mind. “You don’t have to do a single thing, okay? I got it all covered.”
“Okay, but—”
“I’ll invite the Gibbses. It’ll be at seven. I’ll do cleanup and everything. I don’t want it to be a hindrance on you at all.”
Geny sighs, but she says okay again.
“I love you,” I say. “I’ll see you later. Bye.”
We hang up and I look at the clock again. 5:15 a.m. Shit. I forgot it was so early. What was she doing awake? I hope Wyatt is really watching her. If she’s not sleeping, that’s another sign of her slipping into an episode. I’ll have to try to pull him aside tonight to ask.
I plug my phone into the charger and hop into the shower if for no other reason than to pass some time.
I take a slow hot shower until the water goes frigid, then I stay beneath the stream, letting it shock me awake after my all-nighter.
When I can no longer control the shivering, I turn off the tap.
I go through the routine of drying off, slathering myself in lotion, brushing my hair, and all the other things.
I make yet another pot of coffee and cook myself a nice little breakfast. Eventually, I make it to eight o’clock, when I know Tina will be awake and ready for the day. I only hope Frank is already at work.
I park in front of the Gibbses house, relieved to see Frank’s truck isn’t here. It’ll be easier to extend the invitation to Tina and let her handle Frank. And I’m afraid if I see him before I get sleep, I might just do something rash and stupid.
I walk up the front steps and ring the doorbell.
The house has been kept up well, of course.
No peeling paint or rotting wood boards here.
Tina wouldn’t allow such things. Part of me wonders if Wyatt ever tried to help fix things around my parents’ house.
Maybe my dad was too proud to let him. I can’t imagine Wyatt sitting by and watching their house fall apart and not caring.
The door swings open, and Tina Gibbs stands in the threshold. It takes her a second to greet me with her famous friendly smile. But of course it does. People are still adjusting to my being alive. Or maybe she first thought I was Geny. I have no idea how her relationship is with my sister.
“Hi, Mrs. Gibbs.”
“Grace! It’s so good to see you, darling. What can I do for you? Come in, come in.” She ushers me inside, and I try my best to embody the person I used to be. The confident girl she adored and treated like a daughter.
“I just wanted to stop by and see how you are, how you’ve been. It’s been a long time.”
That’s not at all why I’m here, though I don’t mind knowing. In a town full of monsters, she was always someone I could lean on.
Mrs. Gibbs laughs. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one. And I’ve been just fine. The question is how have you been? And where!”
It’s my turn to smile. “Oh, here and there. You know.”
She lowers her chin. “Grace Marie.”
What a millennial middle name my mother gave me. And why just me? My sister got Genevieve Lorraine. Way more unique.
I decide to give her a little more. “I lived in all kinds of different places, mostly still in the Midwest.”
Her eyes sink to the floor. She looks sad. “Why didn’t you come home? We were all . . .” Her voice breaks. “We were all devastated.”
Guilt claws at my chest. I did what I had to do, but it doesn’t change the fact that I hurt people I cared about. My parents. My sister. Tina. Others too.
“I’m sorry.” It comes out a whisper, and I can’t meet her eyes. I suddenly miss my mom, and it hits home that Tina is the closest thing to a mother I have left.
My insides ache and I crave a breakdown. Every part of me wants to crumble and allow Tina to hold me and tell me everything is going to be okay. She leans forward, and I’m so close to letting go. So close my whole body trembles for a moment.
I sit up straight, suck in a breath, and hold it in my chest. I try to smile.
“I’m going to host a dinner at Wyatt and Geny’s tonight. A thank-you for letting me stay with them and just a nice way to spend some time together. Will you and Mr. Gibbs come?”
She looks disappointed, like she wanted me to fall apart so she could comfort me. But I’m stronger than I was all those years ago. And though it hurts to push her away, if I can do it to Geny, I can do it to her for now. It’s not forever.
“Sure, hon. We’ll come.”
“Great,” I say and stand up. “I have to get back, but I’ll see you tonight at seven.”
She nods. “I’ll see you then.”
I feel her eyes on my back as I walk myself to the door.
I’ve gotten what I came here for. Eighteen years is a long time, and alarm systems and home cameras have become popular since then.
But the Gibbses are resistant to change, like all of Raven.
There’s nothing of the sort that I can see here. And that makes my life so much easier.