Lizzie

I have to calm myself down before I get back to Katie’s room. There’s a child there, one who is scared and desperate for her mother, and I can’t let my panic infect her.

The door is slightly ajar. Katie’s been waiting for me, even though I imagine I’m the last person she wants to see.

Her room is a suite like mine. Of course, Bex probably got it comped.

Katie is sitting on the couch sipping a tumbler of brown liquid.

She lifts a finger to her lips to warn me to be quiet and motions to the closed bedroom door.

I put the bucket of ice dumbly on the counter.

She walks over and takes out a couple of cubes to drop in her glass and then offers me my own.

When I nod, she motions that we should go out to the balcony.

We’re on the second floor, so there’s no infinity pool here. The rain is gone as quickly as it came. The violence of the storm a fading memory.

It’s almost as if it never happened.

I take a long sip from my glass. It’s straight-up whiskey, not my drink of choice, but I want it anyway.

“So, Kiki.”

“You can call me Katie,” she says.

“Where’s Bex?”

“I don’t know.”

I snort and take another sip as she keeps talking.

“Look. I don’t know where she is right now.

She’s been in a motel over in Krieger for the past few days.

But she’s not answering the phone. It’s been twelve hours since I talked to her, and she never goes that long without talking to the kids.

I called the front desk. They said she’s not there anymore.

” Katie bites down on her bottom lip. “I’m worried. ”

“Where are the other kids? Are they all in the bedroom?” I joke, and nod to the back of the suite.

“Just Alice. She gets ear infections and she wanted a good night’s sleep away from the others. They’re with my husband and his mother. She lives about a hundred miles away.”

“Have they been there the whole time?”

She nods.

“So you knew that Bex was going to murder her husband? You knew and you took her children and hid them?” My voice rises and Katie shushes me again.

“Please don’t wake Alice up. She just fell asleep. She needs rest. The infections keep getting worse. We think she’s losing some of her hearing in her right ear. And if she does, well…who knows what that would mean for her future. She’s an incredibly talented musician.”

“You didn’t answer me.”

“Rebecca didn’t kill him.”

“How do you know?”

“Because she told me she didn’t.”

“Why do you believe her?”

“Because she’s never lied to me.”

“Doesn’t she lie to everyone?”

“Not to me.”

The way she says it, I know she believes it even if it’s not true. I switch gears slightly.

“How long have you been with the family?”

“A long time. Since Willow was born. Rebecca wasn’t well afterward.

Depression and anxiety. There were days she couldn’t get out of bed at all.

The birth was hard. She tore, badly. Lost a ton of blood.

At least that’s what she told me later. Gray didn’t want to bring anyone in the house to help with Alice and the baby, but he didn’t have a choice.

Someone had to watch over them while Rebecca healed and I was dating JC at the time—he’s the ranch foreman, Juan Carlos.

He suggested to Gray that I just hang out with Alice.

That’s how he put it and it seemed acceptable.

I wasn’t going to be a nanny exactly. I was just a body hanging out with the children.

Gray allowed it. I loved her from the very beginning. ”

“Bex?” The whiskey is getting to me. But Katie offers up a feeble laugh.

“Alice. Rebecca took longer. But we eventually got there. We’ve been through a lot together. Both of us.”

I wait for her to continue, but she stays quiet.

How could Bex hide this beautiful woman and all the care and love she gave her children from her audience of millions?

Why didn’t she just reveal she had help?

Would anyone attack her for that? Why flatten Katie’s work and her labor?

Why pretend she doesn’t exist? I’m almost bold enough to ask it when Katie picks up the landline and punches in some numbers.

“It’s going straight to voicemail. It’s off.” I know she’s talking about Rebecca’s phone.

“I’ve been calling her for days and no answer,” I say.

“She isn’t using that phone. She has a prepaid one. I was texting with her right before we left for the dinner.”

“When did you take the kids?”

She hesitates before answering.

“They’ve been at Juan’s mom’s house since two days before the conference.

But it isn’t what you think. She had a plan to get away from him, and Gray wasn’t going to like it.

She wanted the kids to be far away from him and the house when she made her announcement.

And he agreed because he couldn’t take care of them on his own while she was gone and I made up something about how I couldn’t sleep over.

I knew what Rebecca had planned for this conference.

I know all about you, Lizzie. I know all about your past with Rebecca.

So I’m gonna trust you here because I also know we’re working for the same things.

We want Rebecca to be safe. We want those kids to be safe.

She entrusted the kids to us because she was about to announce her big deal and she knew Gray was going to lose it.

That’s the only reason. But then the night before she was set to make the announcement… Well, you know what happened.”

“I don’t know what happened,” I snap.

“That’s not what I meant. Look, I don’t know what happened either.

Something went very wrong that night. I just don’t know what it was.

But I trust Rebecca. Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I’m being na?ve and maybe I’m just hoping she didn’t do it because I don’t want those kids to have a dead father and a psychopath mother, but I’ve practically lived in that house for a decade.

I’ve watched Gray and Rebecca. He’s terrible.

It’s gotten so much worse the bigger and more successful she’s gotten. ”

“How long has he been hitting her?” I know Katie is taken aback by the bluntness of the question and that’s what I want, to catch her off guard. But she recovers quickly.

“I don’t think it’s been like that. At least not until recently.

It’s emotional. It’s the control. He’s always tried to keep her small.

He belittles every accomplishment, tells her anyone could do what she does, that she’s silly, that she’s stupid.

He blames her for everything that goes wrong on that ranch when all the problems are due to his terrible investments and crap management.

He isolates her from everyone. She has no friends except for me, and I don’t even know if she’d consider me one. He’s rotten to the core.”

“How is he with the kids?”

“Mostly ignores them.”

“But he did hurt her physically recently. Did you see that?”

“I was with the kids at the doctor for most of the day, but when I got back, I helped her bandage it all up. The kids saw the damage. It was horrible.”

“She trusts you.”

“Like I said, we’ve been through a lot. JC nearly got deported a few years ago. Rebecca’s been paying for his attorneys. She’s been funding development for my app. She’s good people. I wouldn’t blame her if she murdered Gray, but she didn’t.”

A moan, so loud we can hear it outside, comes from the other room.

“Alice will need some more medicine soon. This damn infection. She should have gotten tubes as a toddler, but Gray kept ignoring the problem and every time Rebecca wanted to travel to see a specialist he found some way to stop them. I brought her here so we could be closer to the hospital if we needed it, even if that would have completely blown Rebecca’s cover. You should go back to your room.”

“You’ve been giving me the clues. You gave me the keys.”

She nods slowly. “It was me.”

“And that’s why you’re still here at the hotel? You’ve been watching me.”

“I’ve been back and forth between home and here. But I’m not just here for you. Rebecca wanted me to keep an eye on Veronica. She doesn’t trust her or Marsden.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know all the details. But I trust her gut.”

“Why did you go to that dinner out there? Why leave Alice?”

“I wanted to talk to you, figure out what you’re writing next. Also keep an eye on Veronica.”

Another moan.

“You should go.”

“Give me Rebecca’s new number.”

Katie reluctantly picks up a piece of paper and writes the digits down.

I stand and stare out into the distance. I want to go home and hold my own children. Grab them tight and devour them. Never let them go.

I head toward the door, but Katie stops me halfway.

“Be careful, Lizzie. I’m getting out of here with Alice before sunrise and I’m not coming back. I don’t know who murdered Grayson Sommers, but whoever did it wants us to believe it was Rebecca and I imagine they’re desperate right now. Be careful.”

I’m cross-eyed with exhaustion as I make my way to the elevator to reach my room. I don’t even see Veronica Smith until she’s right in front of me, blocking my path.

“Thank god you’re okay,” she says in a sultry purr. “I’ve been checking on everyone. And I have to give you this.”

She rifles through the leather bag slung over her shoulder. “Is this your phone? I only have two left.”

I snatch it from her greedily.

“How’s your sister?” I ask.

“Awake, thank god. I’m heading over there now.”

I glance behind me, curious if she knows which room I just came out of, hoping she doesn’t. I don’t want her to know where Katie is, where Alice is.

“What a night,” she says, then sighs and rubs her temples. “That didn’t go as I planned.”

I manage a strangled laugh, but a chill runs down my spine as our eyes lock.

“I really wanted to spend some time with you tonight, Lizzie. I was hoping we could talk more.”

“Maybe tomorrow.” I glance nervously around her. I want to leave.

“I’ll be here. I’ll find you.”

I have no doubt about that.

“See you then.” I’m walking away, running almost, but suddenly she’s right there at my heels. I can feel her breathing down my neck.

“I need to tell you something, Lizzie. I read your story. And it’s terrible what Gray did to his wife, how he treated her all those years. I’ve watched it. Grayson Sommers was a true son of a bitch and he deserved everything he got.”