32 Suzy
Suzy
In the breakfast room, Suzy dropped the book she’d just picked up.
Her breath hitched. Was that Marley? She ran into the great room, the dozen or so candles she’d lit to read by casting odd shadows on the walls.
The moment Marley and Marshall walked through the sliders at the back of the house, Suzy stopped in her tracks, fighting for breath.
Everyone but the twins and the staff was gathered in the great room.
Grant and Gemma near the oak dining table.
Hazel pacing with the baby in her arms in front of the fireplace.
Sean was bleary eyed, having clearly just been pulled out of a deep sleep.
Marley made it through the door, went over to the nearest chair, and sat on its edge.
The look on her face said everything. It was as if she’d never smile or laugh or feel anything that wasn’t anguish ever again.
“What happened?” Grant asked, his voice scratchy. He had one arm around Gemma’s back.
“It’s Juliet.” Marshall couldn’t seem to focus on one person or one spot.
His brown hair stuck out in every direction, and the blue of his eyes seemed electric.
“She’s . . . she fell or she jumped or .
. . the wind . . . ? She must have been on the sundeck, and she . . . she’s . . . she’s . . . gone.”
He broke when he said the last word. His whole body shook as he sobbed into his hands.
No. It was the only thing in Suzy’s brain. No. No. No. As if that could make it untrue. As if that could turn back time.
Something shattered inside her. Something deep and pure and necessary to her survival.
Something she didn’t think she would ever be able to repair.
Juliet, gone. Juliet with her laughter and her energy and her weird manicures.
Her love of the sun and her quest to save the world and her horrible singing voice. All of it. Gone.
She went to Marley, sitting on the wide arm of her chair, and wrapped her arms around her friend.
At her touch, Marley started to cry as well, but more quietly than her husband.
The inside of Suzy’s skull throbbed. She felt as if reality had bent itself inside out, and at some point, it would snap back into place, putting everything right again.
How could it not? This couldn’t be their lives.
This couldn’t be real. She ran her hand methodically over Marley’s dirty-blond hair and down her back.
“Fucking Josh,” Marshall said, then turned to punch the wall behind him. Gemma made a surprised noise and moved closer to Grant. “If you had been here, she’d still be alive!” he shouted. Another punch.
“Marshall, stop!” Hazel said.
He whirled on them, his knuckles already purpling. “What? Am I hurting your precious house?” he snapped.
Suzy’s heart was frantic in her chest. This was not like Marshall at all. She’d never seen him so untethered.
“No. You’re going to hurt yourself,” Hazel said calmly.
Marshall looked down at his hand like he’d forgotten it was there. His fingers trembled. “What if he did it?” he asked.
“What if who did what?” said Grant.
“Josh. He could have snuck in,” Marshall said. “Gone up there. Shoved her over. He could be here right now. Maybe he killed Lincoln, Trevor, and Juliet. Maybe he’s been hiding out here the entire time.”
Suzy looked across the room at Sean. Had Marshall completely lost his mind?
“Marsh, you said Josh was stuck somewhere in a flood,” Sean said gently. “And there’s a tree down across the road, remember? There’s no way he could have gotten back here.”
“He could have lied! He could have been screwing with us this entire time!”
“Marshall, please,” Marley begged through her tears. “Please don’t. I can’t. Not right now.”
Marshall’s gaze went distant and unfocused. He looked down at his hand again and let out a noise that sounded somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “I’m going to go get some ice.”
He walked out of the room, disappearing inside the kitchen, and those he left behind let out a collective breath.
Suzy couldn’t take much more of this. Her own hands were shaking as well, and there were scratches on her forearm she didn’t remember getting.
She tugged the sleeve of her sweatshirt down to cover them and took a deep breath and tried to steady herself.
Grant shifted his feet. He stepped away from Gemma and went over to the sliders to look out. “Should we . . . What should we do about . . . about the—”
Don’t say body. Please don’t say body.
“About Juliet?” Gemma supplied.
Only then did Daisy and Cole shuffle into the room, Daisy yawning hugely. Suzy hadn’t even realized they were missing. “What’s going on?” Cole asked.
No one said a word. The wind howled. Suzy didn’t want to be the one to say it out loud. If she said it out loud, it would be real. Juliet fell. Juliet is dead.
She knew they were all thinking the same thing. Was it an accident? Was it the wind? Or had she been pushed?
Marley’s tears began to subside. She wiped her face with the backs of her hands.
They could hear Marshall blowing his nose in the kitchen and then a few drawers opening and closing.
They were still standing like that when they heard the front door open.
Suzy and Sean locked eyes across the room again, his What the eff? expression reflecting her thoughts.
“Finally!” Josh’s voice rang out, filling the charged air around them.
“Josh! You’re going to wake everyone up,” another voice whispered.
Suzy’s heart lurched into her throat. Marley looked up.
“No freaking way,” Suzy muttered.
“Why is it so dark in here?”
They heard the futile sounds of switches flipping, and seconds later, Josh strode into the room, pocketing a set of keys.
He looked shocked to see them all there and paused uncertainly as they stared at him.
He took in the sight of Marley on the chair, all puffy and red, of Suzy’s tearstained face.
Marshall returned, sweaty and sniffling. Josh focused on him.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
And then Lily stepped into the room behind him.