Julia grabbed her heels and didn’t even put them on before she ran out the door.
Katherine was keeping her ears tuned to the back of the house. While she heard a man’s raised voice, she didn’t hear Megan once lose her composure.
“You suspected something when we pulled in,” Katherine said quietly.
“I noticed the car a few weeks ago, driving around town. Julia was in the passenger’s seat. I swear to God, I had no idea the guy was Megan’s husband or I would have told her.”
“None of us had met him.”
“I know, but I still feel guilty.”
There hadn’t been much noise from the back of the house in a few minutes. Katherine was starting to get concerned when all of a sudden, the air seemed to electrify. At once, every picture hanging on the walls around them rattled, shook, and fell to the floor.
“Uh…” Toni’s eyes went wide. “He’s alive, right? She wouldn’t have…”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m not saying I don’t know where to hide a body,” she muttered, “but I don’t have my truck with me.”
“Please don’t say things like that.”
Hearing a loud male voice reassured Katherine that she wasn’t going to have to figure out how to deal with a supernatural murder while her knee was the size of a large grapefruit.
Katherine and Toni met the still-alive but definitely confused Rodney a few minutes later when he walked down the hallway with a duffel bag in his hand.
“Who are you?” he snarled.
Rodney Carpenter was a man who had aged well. He was classically handsome with broad shoulders and a build that said former athlete. Unlike some former athletes though, he hadn’t let his body deteriorate much. His hair was grey at the temples, and his light brown eyes had wrinkles at the corners that magazines would call “distinguished” instead of “aged.”
Women would call him a silver fox. Katherine wanted to punch his teeth in, and Toni looked like she wanted to do worse.
“We’re Megan’s friends.” She forced herself to stay calm. “I’m Professor Katherine Bassi—I teach physics at Central Coast State.” She turned to Toni. “I don’t know why I do that. I just automatically introduce myself with my work.”
“It’s cool. You must be Rodney.” Toni crossed her arms. “I’m Antonia Dusi.”
Rodney’s face paled visibly. “Dusi?”
“Yeah. One of those Dusis. You know us. We know everyone.”
“Dusi Farms?”
“That’s my brother.”
“Dusi Heritage Winery?”
“That’s my cousin’s.”
It was strange, but Katherine could almost see the “fuck” forming in a thought bubble above Rodney’s head.
“And you’re friends with Megan.”
“We fucking love your wife,” Toni said. “Funny, smart as a whip, and loyal as hell. Gotta love that in a person, right? She saved our lives at the gym. My parents will never forget it.”
Katherine nodded. “We really admire her.”
Rodney had nothing else to say. He finally started to look a little embarrassed. “I’m leaving.” He looked at the family pictures, broken and lying on the ground where they’d fallen.
“California earthquakes,” Toni said. “Crazy, right?”
He opened his mouth, closed it, then walked out the front door.
Katherine and Toni peered through the entryway windows and watched Rodney’s convertible back out of the driveway before they rushed down the hall.
“Megan?” Katherine called. “Where are you?”
“Megan?” Toni yelled. “He’s gone.”
Katherine ran into the bedroom at the end of the hall, a room that was nearly as big as her entire house with picture windows looking out over the mountains and a sweep of vineyards folding over hills leading down to the coastline.
“Holy shit.” Toni stopped in the doorway. “That’s an amazing view.”
Katherine ran to the center of the giant room. “Megan?”
She was huddled on the far side of the bed, crouched on the floor, biting the heel of her hand to stifle the sound of her cries.
“You did so good.” Toni put her arms around Megan and squeezed hard. “You fucking kept your cool the entire time. He’s gone, Atlanta. We got you.”
Katherine drew Megan’s hand away from her mouth and her cries finally broke through the calm silence of the immaculate house.
“Shhh.” Katherine smoothed her hand over the bite marks that nearly broke the skin as Megan’s painful cries filled the bedroom.
“I don’t know what to do.” Megan cried and cried. “I don’t know what to do!”
Toni sat on the ground beside her. “Just do this. Just do whatever you feel like right now. It’s just us.”
“Why? Why?”
The pain in Megan’s voice ripped a hole in Katherine’s heart. She’d had friends who’d experienced divorce, but she’d never been there for the raw, painful ending. Not like this. She felt wholly unprepared to help. Nothing she could do could help.
“I’m so sorry.” Katherine kept Megan’s hand in hers. “I’m so sorry.”
“What am I going to tell the kids?” She hiccuped. “What do I tell them?”
Toni looked at her wristwatch. “We got a few hours to figure that out. Right now, just get it all out.”
Megan screamed, “I hate him so much!”
“Totally fair.” Toni waved her hand. “Keep going.”
Megan stood and started pacing around the room. “I moved away from all my friends! All my family! I dragged the kids out of schools they loved. I gave up my business, and he knew I was set to make more than him the next year with the way I was growing. He knew that! I sold the house where I brought my babies home! He knew it and he fucking sleeps with a teenager?”
Katherine didn’t think she was a teenager, but she was definitely young.
“That girl was young enough to be his daughter!”
“I know.” Toni stood. “I know her mom. I’m totally telling her about this.”
“Oh God, don’t.” Megan looked miserable. Then her eyes got wide and maybe a little scary. “No. Fuck him. I didn’t do anything wrong. Tell
