Page 51

Lizzie

Olivia has a gun. I hope she knows how to use it. We parked at the front gate of the ranch and walked the half mile in on foot, not knowing what we’d find here, if we would find anything, but hoping that if we did, we weren’t too late.

She met me at the hotel, and we covered the distance to the ranch in an hour, speeding the whole way, slowing down only twice.

“I know where the speed traps are,” she told me. What else does she know?

When I saw the light on in Rebecca’s bathroom I nearly ran to the house. We weren’t too late. But Olivia stopped me.

“Wait a second. We have to assess.”

She pulled the handgun out from a holster beneath her crisp black blazer. She’d reached me so quickly, I wondered if she slept in a full suit. When I looked at the gun with disdain, she rolled her eyes and whispered, “Everyone is armed in this state, Lizzie.”

That’s when the front door to the house opens and we duck down behind the hedges. In the moonlight I can easily make them out, strolling casually arm in arm, like two lovers out to get some fresh air.

“She’s with Marsden.” I let out a strangled cry.

“They look like they’re together. Like they’re romantic.

Did they plan this whole thing? Did they kill Gray together?

” Olivia shushes me by placing a finger over my lips.

The two figures glow in the moonlight as they finish their stroll and disappear into the barn.

Olivia pulls me forward until we can peek in through a small dusty window on the side of the building.

I don’t see them at first, but finally they come into focus.

Two figures about to kiss in the hayloft.

My stomach twists with disgust. Only then do I see the rope around her neck.

It’s too late. She’s flying over the edge.

But so is he. She kicked him straight in the gut with enough force to send him tumbling down two stories.

It isn’t that far to fall, but he was also caught off guard and he doesn’t have time to get his feet under him.

Marsden lands directly on his spine with a shrill scream and then silence.

Bex is hanging above us, her legs dangling, twitching as she gasps for air.

Olivia moves like lightning. She’s up in the loft, hacking at the rope with some kind of knife.

“Lizzie,” she screams. “You’ll have to break her fall.

” I look up to see Rebecca wiggling. She has both hands slipped under the noose.

A few fingers are the only thing that saved her from breaking her neck when she swung, but the noose is still suffocating her and she can’t hold on for much longer.

I’ve never moved so fast without thinking in my entire life.

I push two bales of hay under her and I climb on top of them the best I can until I can nearly touch her toes.

“I’m cutting her down,” Olivia yells.

“Bex, I’m right here. I’m here. I’m going to catch you. I’ve got you.”

And I do. When Olivia gets the rope cut Bex tumbles down and we both topple over, but I’m able to break her fall and we both roll onto the hay. It isn’t soft, but it’s also not the polished concrete floor that Marsden snapped his spine against.

Olivia is standing over him as he starts to come around.

His neck is twisted at an impossible angle and it’s clear his back is broken, but his eyes flutter open.

She calmly and wordlessly places the gun in his hand and then into his mouth.

She looks back at Bex, her expression asking the question for her.

Do you want to do this? Do you want to kill him?

“You do it,” she whispers. And with a single click Olivia pushes Marsden Greer’s finger on the trigger of the gun and splatters his brains against the beautiful moonlit barn walls.

Transcript of Detective Jim Walsh Interviewing Veronica Smith Greer

Det. Walsh: Why do you think your husband murdered Grayson Sommers?

V. Smith Greer: He was obsessed with him.

Always had been. Since we were all kids.

They were always competing for things. In sports, for girls.

Who could kiss a girl first? Who could lose their virginity first?

Who could get better grades? It was never ending.

But…I never thought…I mean, Marsden wouldn’t…

I didn’t think he would ever do what he did.

Det. Walsh: Can I get you a tissue?

V. Smith Greer: That would be wonderful.

Det. Walsh: I know this must be difficult. We can continue this later on.

V. Smith Greer: It’s okay. I want to help you as best I can. My husband was obsessed with Grayson. It was unhealthy. He was so jealous of him and his family. Of how much Grayson had growing up. But Grayson was also obsessed with Marsden.

And then there were rumors. I don’t know if you heard them. About me.

Det. Walsh: About you and Grayson Sommers being…

V. Smith Greer: Being intimate, yes.

Det. Walsh: We did find the pictures of you under his bed. Did you know he took those?

V. Smith Greer: I had no idea. He took all of them when I wasn’t paying attention. The close-ups of my entire body. It was just so disgusting and inappropriate.

I would never have cheated on my husband. I loved him with all my heart. Grayson sent me so many emails over the years. So many inappropriate things and I never responded. But my husband found them. And that must have set him off.

But I should have known. This is my fault.

Det. Walsh: None of this is your fault.

V. Smith Greer: It is. I’m Marsden’s wife.

We were bound by God. I should have known.

I should have talked to the church. I should have gotten him all the help he needed before this happened.

You watched the recording from the security cameras in that barn.

He was crazy with jealousy when he killed Grayson, when he bashed his head in.

And then he must have thrown him on those blades.

Det. Walsh: And do you think he killed himself in that barn because he felt guilty?

V. Smith Greer: I don’t think he could live with the guilt. In the end he truly was a God-fearing man.

Det. Walsh: Do you know whose gun it was?

V. Smith Greer: Definitely one of his. He had dozens of unlicensed firearms. Was always worried the government was gonna take his rights away so he stocked up. You understand.

Det. Walsh: Oh, I do.

V. Smith Greer: I recognized the gun right away. It was his favorite.

Det. Walsh: Is there anything else you want to tell me? Please take another tissue.

V. Smith Greer: Both of those men who died in that barn could have been good men, but they had problems the Lord could not help them with. I only hope they will find some peace and freedom in the next life. We all deserve peace and freedom.