“Bullshit,” Maya said. “There’s no way I’d—”
“Enough,” I yelled, my head on the verge of exploding. I looked from Lily to Maya and back again, trying to figure out whom or what to believe. But then I thought how utterly exhausted I’d felt of late, how fuzzy my brain had been, particularly since Lily had moved in. If Maya was right and those pills were clonazepam... “I think you should leave the house,” I said to Lily.
“You’re right,” she said. “Let’s all take some time to cool off.”
I shook my head. “No, I meant you should leave.”
“Are you serious?” Lily said.
“Yes. You can’t stay here anymore.”
She tried to argue but I wouldn’t listen. Her shoulders slumped and I looked away until she pulled out her duffel bag from the closet and grabbed her clothes, stuffing them inside as fast as possible. As I watched her pack I almost told her to stop, and we should talk about this, but seeing my father’s watch, the earrings, the wad of the Cliff’s Head money and those goddamn pills made the words shrivel up in my mouth.
None of us spoke again until we got to the front door, where Lily turned to me.
“I didn’t do this, I swear. I’m being set up—” she pointed at Maya, who’d followed us down the stairs and was hovering in the background “—by her.”
“Please, Lily,” I said. “Just go.”
“I’ll be at the Harbor Inn,” she said. “Think about this, Ash. I’ve done nothing wrong, you have to believe me.” She opened the door before turning around again. “I love you,” she whispered, but as she walked away, I now knew for certain I’d never say it back.
30
MAYA
I wanted to celebrate as Lily walked out of our house—our lives—and Ash shut the door behind her, resting his head against it. A tiny part of me felt bad for him, but my elation kicked the emotion out of the way, sent it scuttling into the background.
My plan had worked. Simple, effective and carried out with meticulous precision. Everything would now be exactly as it should.
“Why didn’t you mention her history?” he said, turning around, his voice sharp, and my face fell as he continued. “Why did you keep it a secret, Maya? You should’ve told me. I had every right to know.”
“I thought about it,” I said, my voice low and calm. I’d half expected him to blame me, and I couldn’t spoil things by overreacting. After Keenan had told me about Lily’s name, and I’d done my research, it had been easy to ask Ash a few leading questions and figure out Lily had kept her past a secret since she’d arrived in Newdale, which meant she’d probably never told him when they were in Brookmount, either. It had been a gamble, and it had paid off. As the saying goes, “she who dares, wins.” “It wouldn’t have been fair to bring something like that up when you two were making a go of it,” I said. “I mean, we’ve all made mistakes...”
“I need to see for myself,” Ash said, pushing past me and heading to the kitchen, where he grabbed my laptop. “Show me what you found.”
Once he’d gone through Lily’s history online, he had no choice but to accept she’d betrayed us. Reading about her misdeeds had permanently quashed any lingering doubts he may have had and there was no way he’d want anything more to do with her. Lily would soon be on her way to Maryland, broke and brokenhearted. It wasn’t all my doing. She’d had a partial hand in her demise. People shouldn’t lie unless they were sure they’d get away with it.
“I trusted her,” Ash said. “And I don’t understand. What was the point of coming all the way to Newdale to steal a few hundred bucks?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Is it a case of once a con artist always a con artist? She could be a kleptomaniac. Maybe the garage she worked for didn’t go out of business. Or maybe it did because she stole from her boss there, too? Perhaps that’s the real reason she lost her job.”
“But why feed me those pills? What for? Did she attack me on the beach that night?”
“God, I hadn’t even thought of that, but I suppose it’s possible. Or maybe she’s just not well—” I tapped the side of my head “—in here.”
Ash fell silent, his mind no doubt working through all the possibilities of what Lily had done, and why. He’d question everything she’d ever told him, reexamine everything he’d remembered about their relationship, too. In no time at all his imagination would transform her from perfect human being to psycho bitch he’d had a lucky escape from, and I’d be by his side, helping him through it every step of the way.
“She put my stuff in storage,” Ash said, looking up. “I should go and get it.”
I frowned at him. “What? Why? What’s the rush?”
“Those things are my past, my history. I’ve got the key and she put the locker in my name but still... What if she tries to throw them away?” He took a deep breath. “I think it’s time I spoke to the cops in Maryland, go in person and show them I’m alive. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“They charge you?” I said, panic in my voice. “The guy who attacked you tries to finish you off?” I hadn’t banked on this reaction. Lily going back to Brookmount, a hundred percent, but Ash wanting to travel there, too? I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t want him to go.
“I need to put all of this behind me. Going for my things might help.”
“If you go, I go. I’ll call Patrick, talk to him about taking a few days off.”
“I can’t ask you to drop everything and come with me.”
“Good thing you’re
