Page 127 of Take Your Breath Away

“I am.”

“You can’t. You’re going to have to talk to the police about whatever happened back there.”

“They’ve always figured out how to find me,” I said.

“Andrew,” he said, coming close to the driver’s window, “what the hell was that?”

“That man killed Brie. And that was where he buried her. After Saturday’s events, he wanted to be sure she was still where he’d left her. Wanted me along to try and identify her.” Another pause. “It’s her.”

“But then who—”

“I don’t know who it was that you and Isabel and Albert, and my old neighbor, saw on Saturday. I still can’t figure it out.”

“But why … why did that man kill Brie?”

“He was hired to do it,” I told him.

“Jesus,” he said. “By who? Did he say?”

“No,” I lied.

Did I catch something in his eye at that moment? Relief? No, I didn’t think so. Unless Matt had lied to me in his final moments, Norman was in the clear.

Like I said, unless he lied. You reach a point where you don’t believe anything that anyone says.

“So why’d you follow me up here?” I asked. “Why’d you call the other night?”

Norman took a breath. “Because of Elizabeth, in part.”

I waited.

“I had some time alone with her and she wanted to know if I’d ever shown any gratitude for what you did. Or, more like what you didn’t do.”

“I wouldn’t have expected any,” I said. “Your wife’s had you and the whole family convinced I killed Brie.”

He shook his head. “I was never sold on that. I mean, yeah, I wondered, but I felt you were as devastated by her going missing as the rest of us. You were Isabel’s scapegoat. Someone to blame to make herself feel better. Anyway, Elizabeth said I owed you one, for never telling.”

Norman let those last three words hang out there for a moment.

“I did tell,” I said. “I told Detective Hardy. I told her about you and Brie.”

“I know,” he said. “And I don’t fault you for that. And that didn’t do any harm, because Hardy cleared me right away. Me and Isabel were out of town.”

It occurred to me then that being out of town didn’t absolve anyone, considering that Brie’s murder had been contracted out.

Norman was still talking. “The big thing is, you never told Isabel. It would have destroyed her. Given how much energy she put into ruining your life, it’s a wonder you didn’t want to ruin hers. And, by extension, mine.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” I said. “I did it for Brie.”

“Anyway, it seemed like it was better late than never. That I thank you.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“But there’s more, something else that’s been eating me up since she disappeared,” he said. “I saw her that day.”

“What?”

“That Saturday, of the weekend she disappeared, I went to the house.”