Page 22 of The Last Housewife

“We have to go to the Hudson Mansion,” I said. “Find Tongue-Cut Sparrow.”

He nodded. “That’s what I was going to say. Any luck with our last interview?”

“No.” I drew my feet up on the couch. “I left Laurel’s mom half a dozen voicemails, but I haven’t heard anything.”

“You’d think she’d want to connect with one of her daughter’s friends.”

I watched the river, little waves eddying, lapping at each other. “We know so much more than we did just two days ago. The fact that Laurel started acting erratically five or six years ago, quitting her job and disappearing from her apartment for months at a time. That she was interested in Tongue-Cut Sparrow. That she had a strange symbol on her arm—”

“That the cops are clearly withholding information,” Jamie added.

“I just wish I knew how it all fit together.”

We fell into silence. Jamie’s eyes roamed to my bed, which was large and white and perfectly made, the comforter turned down invitingly.

I felt a flush of heat.

“Shay.” His voice was deep when he turned and caught my eyes. My heart sped up. “Would you let me interview you for the podcast?”

I blinked. “What?”

“You’re an important witness.” His expression was earnest. “You knew Laurel so well. Maybe some helpful details will surface.”

I tensed. Jamie was asking me to do the exact thing I’d avoided. Open doors I’d locked.

“It might help her,” he said softly, and my heart squeezed.

You’re here to be brave, I reminded myself.Kick down the door, like Clem.

“Okay,” I whispered. “What exactly do you want to know?”

“Tell me where things went wrong, back in college.”

“You want the whole story?”

Jamie laid his phone on the couch between us and pressed a button. Red bars raced across the screen, searching for sound.

“Yes,” he said, and the bars jumped. “Tell me everything. From the beginning.”

Chapter Seven

TransgressionsEpisode 705, interview transcript: Shay Deroy, Sept. 1, 2022 (unabridged)

SHAY DEROY:I’m not used to… It feels like there’s a physical block in my throat, keeping the words down.

JAMIE KNIGHT:Try starting with something that feels safe.

SHAY:I guess I’ll start with the fact that we were best friends. Maybe it was because we’d met under such hard circumstances. I think I told you what happened to Laurel at the start of freshman year…

JAMIE:You told me something happened to a friend of yours one weekend when you came to visit, but I didn’t know the friend was Laurel. I never forgot what you said, though. How mad it made me. And scared.

SHAY:Why scared?

JAMIE:For you. The things you had to face that I never had to worry about.

SHAY:Well, I’m going to tell your listeners what happened, because too many people wanted us to shut up back then, and now Laurel’s dead, without ever getting justice. She was raped, freshman year, at a party. The guy’s name was Andrew Sch—

JAMIE:Don’t say it, for libel purposes. Sorry.