Page 141 of All These Beautiful Strangers

“You look ravishing,” he said.

I wanted to remind him that the word “ravish” came from the Latin word rapere, which meant “to violently seize or take away by force.” I knew that meaning of the word was archaic now, but I still found it a little offensive that women were supposed to take it as compliment when men were basically saying, You look so good I want to carry you off by force and have my way with you. But I bit my tongue.

“You know, when we were setting up earlier, I noticed there are a lot of dark corners and empty hallways in this building,” he whispered. His hands circled my waist. “I could show you.”

“Is your mother here?” I asked.

His hands stilled. “My mom?” he asked, sounding disappointed.

“Yes,” I said. “When I was putting together the silent auction this morning, I saw something she might really like. I wanted to show her.”

“Can’t you do that later?”

I pivoted out of his arms and gave him a quick, pacifying peck on the tip of his nose. “I’ll come find you after,” I lied.

I found Margot making the rounds at the silent auction tables.

“Looking for anything in particular?” I asked.

Margot straightened and gave me a smile. She was wearing a classic off-the-shoulder gown in black. She looked polished and stunning.

“The vacation homes are always my favorite part,” Margot said. She took a sip from her champagne glass. “Oliver—Royce’s father—and I are thinking of investing in a place in Napa. I was seeing if there were any places I might stay while I looked.”

“If travel is your thing, I have something that might interest you,” I said.

She followed me to the end of the table, and I pointed to the item card I had staged there that morning. I studied her face as she read to gauge her reaction.

Vintage Burberry Cloth Luggage Set in Paisley Print, $500

Wouldn’t you just kill for a striking set of luggage that will make you the envy of every girl in town? This vintage Burberry cloth luggage set in paisley print is perfect for a quick getaway. Get noticed with this elegant and graceful style.

Luggage set is in nearly mint condition with only a slight tear in the inner lining. Don’t let this steal pass you by.

Margot was silent for a moment. Then she gave me a knowing smile.

“You’re a clever girl, Charlie,” Margot said, taking another sip of her champagne. “And you have a certain fortitude that I admire. You must get that from Grace.”

“Don’t,” I said, my voice bare and cold. “Don’t talk about my mother as if you were her friend.”

I was sure now that the blond woman I had seen down by the lake that night ten years ago with my mother wasn’t Claire. It was Margot. And the embrace I’d thought I’d understood at the time had been something else entirely. Not an embrace, but a struggle.

“You killed her,” I said. “I saw you that night down by the lake. And before my mother, there was Jake. You killed him, too.”

Margot sighed and took a sip of her champagne. “That’s too strong a word for what happened with Jake,” she said. “We were kids. I was seventeen. Jake took those pills of his own volition; no one forced him. And if we hadn’t done what we did, he probably would have died anyway. That’s the ugly truth of it. He wouldn’t have made it to the hospital. We didn’t know what we were doing, but in the end, it was good that we didn’t, because we probably wouldn’t have had the guts to do it. We gave him a swift and painless end. It was merciful, what we did.”

“I would hardly call that merciful,” I said.

“He was unconscious,” Margot said. “He didn’t feel anything.”

“You can’t know that for sure,” I said.

“I do,” Margot said. “I stood at the Ledge and I held him. His body was so still and cold and lifeless that we thought he was dead. And when he went into the water, he just—sank. He was there one moment, and gone the next.”

“So you admit that you were the one to throw him in?” I asked.

“Your father was supposed to be the one to do it,” Margot said. “But he was too weak to stomach it.”

“So first there was Jake,” I said. “And then my mother found out the truth. And you couldn’t have that.”