Page 58 of Two Couples

While we cut into our steaks, breaking up the mouth-watering taste with bites from a magnificent salad, Patrick told stories from his hike. He ignored the side trek to bury two rabbits and help the traumatized Jordan.

All that mattered to me was that Patrick was safe. He was alive. Reconnecting with each other was the only important thing here. It made my heart ache that he still believed Emily, Keith, and I were covering up a murder. I understood why it felt like that to him, but it wasn’t the truth. Todd’s body had vanished! All we were doing now was protecting ourselves and our lives from suspicion.

Although, I suppose that wasn’t entirely true. Todd did have something to do with me. But the other pieces of his life, the pieces I was as ignorant of as if I were a total stranger, had nothing to do with me. I had no idea why someone might have wanted to kill him. I had no idea why they’d chosen our house as the place to do it. And even though that note threatened me, or all of us, we were ignorant about what it meant, and about the author.

“You should have told me you were going,” Keith said. “I’d love to take that hike with a view of the lake.”

“I wasn’t looking for company.” Patrick cut a piece of steak and put it in his mouth, he chewed slowly, holding Keith’s gaze.

“Sure. Whatever,” Keith said.

“It gave me a lot of time to think,” Patrick said.

“About what?” Emily asked.

Patrick smirked. “What do you think? I’m not feeling good about covering up a crime.”

“We’re not covering it up,” I said. “We⁠—”

“We absolutely are. A man was murdered here, and⁠—”

“Not again.” Keith picked up his wineglass and took a long swallow. “I thought when you said you had time to think, you recognized the reality of the situation. For one, the murder is only in our minds now, because there’s no body, zero evidence.”

“You must be quite the attorney if you think crimes aren’t real unless certain criteria are met,” Patrick said.

“As I already reminded you, I’m not a criminal attorney.”

Patrick put down his utensils and leaned back in his chair. “Something interesting did happen on my hike.”

His expression made me nervous. He looked like he had something on us, something that would make us squirm. He looked cynical and ready to attack. He pushed his chair away from the table and stood, moving toward the living room. “We need to report that murder, body or not.”

“We’ve discussed this to death,” Emily said. “How do we explain a murder when there’s nothing to prove that? Like Keith said⁠—”

“You should have thought of that when we first saw him,” Patrick said.

“Why didn’t you call immediately?” Emily asked.

“Keith knocked my phone into the pool before I had a chance.”

“Are you sure? How long does it take to tap three numbers on your phone? You see a dead body, you pull out your phone, and you call.”

“That’s beside the point. I wanted to call, and you all refused. You knocked my phone into the pool and then we lost power.”

“What about after that?”

Emily was smiling as if she was enjoying this. I wasn’t sure if she was enjoying trying to make Patrick uncomfortable, or if she was simply happy that she was right.

“I can call right now,” Patrick said. “In fact, we need to make that call. If we don’t, Jordan will.”

“Why do you think that?” Keith asked.

“She knows something,” Patrick said. “She saw or heard something. I don’t know what, but she’s going to call, sooner or later.”

“I don’t think so,” Keith said. “What would she say? If she saw the body and did nothing, she’ll be in the same position we are. If she saw him being murdered, that’s even worse. Because why didn’t she call when she had a chance to save his life?”

“I don’t think she saw anything,” Emily said. “She’s infatuated with you, Patrick. And other than that, she’s not all there.”

Patrick walked back toward the table. “I don’t know what she saw, or heard. I don’t know what she thinks she knows. But I do know she doesn’t trust us. And I also suspect she has a much better relationship with the sheriff’s deputy and everyone else who provides law enforcement around here. She’s lived here all her life.”