Page 91 of Beach Bodies

‘Hello?’

Chapter Thirty-one

‘Hi,’ he says.

I count three heartbeats before I’m capable of speech.

‘I just listened to Episode Seven,’ I say, trying to adjust from the Daniel-in-my-ear being a recorded version, to the real, in-the-moment, living, breathing man.

‘Yeah,’ he says, drawing out the word like an exhale.

‘Is that why you called?’ I can’t help but tease him a little. ‘To see if I was up to date?’

‘I’m calling to warn you, Lily. Next week, I’m telling the world what you’ve done.’

‘I know,’ I say. This isn’t new information.

‘I wanted to give you the courtesy of a heads-up.’

‘What, so I can run away to Bali?’

He chuckles. ‘Bali, huh?’ His laughter dies, and I lie back down on the bed, phone on my chest.

‘I hope you’re not waiting for me to tell you I appreciate the thought,’ I say drily.

‘Of course not,’ he says. ‘And I hope you’re not waiting for me to say I’m sorry.’

‘It’s been very interesting, Daniel. I’ll give it to you; you’re a great storyteller. But you still haven’t taken down the Riovan.’

‘Have a little faith,’ he says. ‘Have to save something for the finale.’

‘Right,’ I say, ‘since it’s obvious to everyone that I’m the killer.’

In the background, even as we go back and forth, my head is playing out how this will go down.

He airs the last episode.

Now, the whole English-speaking world knows I’m a killer.

Law enforcement will show up at my door. How could they not? And however much I lie and deny– which I have no qualms about doing– Daniel literally watched me attempt to murder Serena, and I confessed that night to him in no uncertain terms:I want her dead. I imagine Serena is more than ready to corroborate.

Final scene, I go to prison.

Epilogue, I rot there, paying for the lives of people who didn’t deserve to live in the first place.

And that’s a wrap, folks.

I hate this story.

If I have to go down, wouldn’t it be so much better to do it for someone whodoesdeserve the time of day?

I mean it as a kind of sarcastic joke in my own head, but then…

Something in me opens; a door I’ve kept closed.

But now I think it’s always been there.

There is another way. A way for Daniel to have his killer–and a killer ending to his podcast. One that has the potential to break the internet.