Depth of Lies

by E. C. Diskin

  Shea realized that she’d never asked Evelyn much about her family. There was so much she didn’t know about her. Evelyn came out of the bedroom, looking typically simple and elegant. Even in jeans, she had an air of formality. Much like that apartment. Always the pearls, her hair always perfectly neat and straight. Kind of chic, really. They said good-bye to Red and headed out.

  “He’s adorable,” Shea said as they walked to the car.

  Evelyn rolled her eyes. “He’s not that cute.”

  “Tell me more. Why is he staying with you?”

  “Just moving on again. He’s pretty aimless. My father would say it’s because of the money. I think he’s just lazy.”

  “What does he do?”

  “Honestly? Nothing. Dabbles in the stock market, lives off his trust, sleeps with lots of women. Your typical playboy.”

  “Were you ever tempted to not have the career?” With Evelyn having the name Preston, one of the oldest and largest brokerage firms in the country, Shea assumed money had never been an issue.

  “No. I need to feel a purpose when I get up every day. I get that from my job.”

  “I used to get that from my kids,” Shea said. “I’m determined to get that feeling again.”

  “So, what’s the occasion?” Evelyn asked as Shea pulled onto the expressway. Shea had promised to tell her the purpose and destination of the trip in the car. “This feels very clandestine. I’m intrigued.”

  “Well, it is, kind of,” Shea admitted. “I haven’t even told Ryan where I’m going. He thinks I’ve gone to Grand Rapids for my niece’s play.”

  “Really?” Evelyn said, drawing out the word playfully. “You are bad. Well, your secret’s safe with me. What’s in Ohio?”

  “Can you keep a secret?”

  “It’s my specialty,” Evelyn said.

  “Remember that weekend in Put-in-Bay, last Thanksgiving?”

  “Yes . . .”

  “And remember how I got kind of drunk, and flirted with that guy . . .”

  “I do,” Evelyn said, removing her sunglasses, raising an eyebrow at Shea.

  Shea told Evelyn exactly what happened in November, and that she’d recently learned that Blake died that night.

  “That’s terrifying. I’m so sorry, Shea. I take it you never told Ryan about that night?”

  “God, no. We’ve been through enough. It’s bad enough that I have to live with what I did, I didn’t want him to have to visualize any of that. But Georgia’s freaking out. And it’s my fault. I put myself in a stupid situation.”

  Evelyn nodded, looking out the windshield. Her silence felt like judgment. She obviously thought it was Shea’s fault, too. Evelyn would never get herself in such a position. Everything about her seemed controlled.

  “I feel terrible,” Shea continued, suddenly feeling desperate to have a friend on her side.

  “A lot of people make stupid decisions,” Evelyn said flatly, her eyes still on the road ahead. But then she turned, and Shea met her eyes. “It doesn’t mean some psycho gets to rape you.”

  “Thanks,” Shea said. “I think I needed to hear that.”

  “If you’d been walking through a dark alley, alone at night, that might be considered dumb. But it doesn’t mean it’s your fault if you get attacked. You changed your mind. He got violent. His violence isn’t your fault.”

  Shea took a deep breath and smiled.

  Evelyn’s face had turned solemn, like something was weighing on her. Shea wondered if perhaps she’d had her own experience with a violent man. But she didn’t dare ask. Evelyn was in some ways Shea’s exact opposite. While Shea enjoyed sharing, and oversharing, and sometimes acting outrageously, just to make people laugh and relax, Evelyn was obviously less comfortable with opening up, or loosening those pearls.

  “Anyway, I’ve got to find out what really happened to him,” Shea said. “The memorial is at three o’clock this afternoon at the lighthouse. I booked a room at the Humphrey House B and B. It’s a great old place I noticed once. You’ll love it.”

  “Sounds perfect,” Evelyn said.

  Evelyn’s tone suggested the opposite. Maybe she was already regretting this trip. “I can’t thank you enough for coming with me. I know it’s a bit of a downer to tease you with a weekend trip and spring this on you, but we can just get this done, and then relax.” She fiddled with the radio. “That’s what I’m counting on, anyway. Maybe we can even rent one of those golf carts and look around.”

  Evelyn smiled, sounding lighter. “Well, I’m glad to do it. It’s been a long week, so I could use a little change of scenery. And it was such a nice place. It’ll be fun to stay on the island and explore.”

  “I’ll tell you another secret,” Shea added.

  “Okay . . .”

  “I’ve been looking at real estate on the island. Ryan and I are thinking of a fresh start. With the kids off at college, we may be ready for a new chapter.”

  “Wow.” Evelyn’s voice was suddenly flat, like she’d heard tragic news. “You really are full of secrets, aren’t you.”

  “Yeah, I haven’t told anyone about moving, either. I hope you can keep that to yourself.”

  Evelyn didn’t respond.

  “Ev?”

  “I promise,” she said. But her voice cracked.

  Shea looked over. Evelyn was wiping at her eyes. Was she crying? “You okay?”

  “Sure,” she said. “I just hate to see you go.”

  “Thanks. I do, too, in some ways. This town holds so many memories for us. But at this point, they’re not all good. I think we may have lost Dee and Charlie altogether. Things have gone south in a way that we can’t recover from.”

  Evelyn said nothing else, and the car fell quiet, despite the radio. Something felt different between them. Perhaps it would be tough on Evelyn when Shea and Ryan moved away. Perhaps she saw Shea as her only real friend in town. Hopefully Tori and the others would continue to include her in girls’ nights and parties. It was great that she had such a big job, but everyone needed friends.

  “So,” Evelyn said, “you’ve forgiven Ryan for the whole cheating bit, I take it?”

  “Actually, I was wrong about all that. That’s what makes what I did with Blake even worse. It was all just a misunderstanding. Ryan has screwed up, but he wasn’t cheating on me.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Shea didn’t answer right away. Some things were no one’s business. But then again, she’d already told the girls about her fears in November. And she suddenly felt like she needed Evelyn to understand, not to assume she was naive. “He did cheat once, a few years ago. That’s probably why I was so quick to assume. But that’s another story.”

  “I thought you found evidence. A bra or something, right?”

  It was a quick, painful jab. A reminder that Shea never had found out where that came from. “It’s . . . complicated,” she said. “Marriage is always complicated, right?”

  “For sure,” Evelyn said, and Shea could feel her eyes on her. “It’s just, I have my own issues about all this. Sometimes there’s no going back.”

  “Is that what happened to you?” Shea asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry, Ev. So, he didn’t just walk out. There was someone else?”

  Evelyn didn’t answer, and Shea had nothing comforting to say.

  “So, Ryan hasn’t been cheating with Dee, then?”

  The jab came more harshly this time. “Why would you say that?” Shea’s fingers tightened around the wheel.

  Evelyn didn’t respond.

  “What do you know about Ryan and Dee?”

  “Nothing. I’m sorry,” Evelyn said. She wouldn’t look at Shea.

  “No, you just said Dee’s name. Why would you do that?”

  “I guess I just assumed. In November, you said that he was cheating, and you just said you couldn’t be friends with Dee anymore. You know Dee.”

  “What does that mean, ‘You know Dee’?”

  “I don
’t know. She can just be a little unpredictable, and she drinks too much. I assumed it meant she wasn’t happy with Charlie. When I saw her and Ryan together after you’d told us all he’d been cheating, I guess I just assumed. But I shouldn’t have. It’s not my place. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Shea couldn’t breathe. Her fingers were turning white. What had she seen? Shea stared at the road, her eyes fixed but unable to focus. Everything was twisting again.

  “Stop,” Evelyn said, putting her hand on Shea’s knee. “I’m totally wrong, obviously. I must have jumped to conclusions. It’s not like I saw them kissing or anything. I’m sure I misunderstood.”

  “What did you see?”

  “I saw them getting in her car one night. I probably thought the worst because she’s always been kind of a bitch to me. But she’s your friend. Please, forget I said something. You and Ryan have worked it out. He wasn’t cheating.”

  Shea couldn’t let it go. “When was this? When did you see them together?”

  “I don’t know,” Evelyn said. “I guess that was in February.”

  Shea could feel a heavy weight pushing her down, bringing her back to that moment she’d returned to the house in February after the weekend in Michigan. Ryan naked, the messy house. “You have to tell me exactly what you saw. And when.”

  Evelyn looked down at her phone. “Let’s see . . .” She’d pulled up her calendar. “I guess that would have been February 18. It was a Saturday night.”

  A Tom Petty song came on the radio: “Free Fallin’.” That was what it felt like.

  CHAPTER 30

  April 14

  KAT WAS LOOKING UP THE flight options. If she didn’t get on the seven-thirty flight, there was nothing else open until three o’clock tomorrow. It was now four o’clock. The phone rang, and Kat looked over, hoping it wasn’t Mack. She wanted to be able to tell him which flight she’d booked before they spoke again. She really didn’t want to fight anymore.

  The call was from an unlisted number. “Hello?” Kat said.

  “Kat, hi, it’s Evelyn.”

  “Well, that’s a coincidence. I was just thinking about you.”

  “I just spoke with my brother. He said you and Tori came by looking for me?” Her voice rose then, like her day was brightened by the prospect of a visitor. Kat wondered if, with Shea gone, Evelyn was feeling lonely.

  “That’s right. Are you back in town?”

  “Not yet. What’s up?”

  “I’ve just been thinking about Shea a lot, and it seemed like you might know more than the rest of us. I was hoping we could talk before I left.”

  Evelyn fell silent for a moment, and when she spoke, Kat thought she sounded even lonelier. She probably hoped it had just been a social call. “When are you going back to Texas?”

  “I’ve got to get home by tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I won’t be home by then. I get in late Saturday. Sorry.”

  “Do you have a minute now?”

  “Sure.”

  “Evelyn, none of us knew about Shea taking pills. Even Ryan said they weren’t an issue. But you seemed to know more. I thought maybe Shea confided in you about what might have been going on with her. And your brother said you two left town together just before she died? Where were you going?”

  There was a long pause. Kat suddenly wondered if they’d been cut off. “Hello?”

  “I’m still here,” Evelyn said. “Kat, there was something strange going on between Ryan and Shea and Dee and Charlie.”

  “Yeah, I know all about that.”

  “Can I tell you something in confidence?”

  “Absolutely,” Kat said. She’d been oblivious to everyone’s issues while she lived there, and suddenly, she was the keeper of all secrets.

  “It’s been eating away at me,” Evelyn said.

  Kat heard Evelyn sniffle and take a deep breath.

  “I,” Evelyn finally began, “I feel . . . responsible.”

  CHAPTER 31

  April 1

  11:30 a.m.

  THE CAR FELT QUIET DESPITE the radio. Shea couldn’t speak, and Evelyn seemed content to let her sort through the pain alone. Maybe she thought it was the best thing a friend could do.

  Dee had been with Ryan on February 18. The night Shea was out of town, crying to her sister all night about their problems, after pleading with Charlie to leave her alone.

  Ryan said he’d been drunk that night, sure that she’d run off with Charlie, and convinced their marriage was over. If Dee feared the same and they’d seen each other . . . could they . . . ? He’d sworn that he hadn’t been with her.

  But he lied. He’d lied about the affair three years ago. He lied about the job, the finances. Why did she trust him at all? She’d found that bra in his drawer right after their luau party last summer, and he’d never had an explanation. She’d feared cheating again but at the time had never in a million years considered one of her own friends.

  She began replaying every moment she could remember from that party. She’d seen Dee heading upstairs. But lots of their friends went upstairs to use the bathroom. She’d never thought twice about it. She’d later seen Dee whispering to Ryan in the corner, seeming almost angry. But Dee was an animated storyteller. She could have been saying anything. It could have been the punch line to a joke.

  But then she remembered Ryan’s comment the night after those weird kisses with Dee and Charlie. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” he’d said. Was this always about Dee? He’d run off with her so fast that night, pulling her toward the basement like he finally had the green light to do what he’d always wanted.

  And when Shea had returned from Michigan, he was naked. He’d changed the sheets.

  She felt sick.

  But Ryan had a tell. He had never looked her in the eyes when he lied. And he’d looked her in the eyes. She had always been able to trust him when he looked in her eyes. He was at home right now, sorting through their stuff, trying to fix their life. “I love you, Shea Walker,” he’d said as she left him in the basement. He did. She knew it.

  Maybe Dee had just found him drunk that night and driven him home. Maybe there was an innocent explanation. And she and Ryan had a plan. She believed in it. She wanted it. They were going to start over. She could not spiral down this road of assumptions again. She had to believe her husband. She had to stop listening to everyone else. Even Evelyn said she might just have been jumping to conclusions.

  Shea looked over at Evelyn, who seemed as distraught as she was. “You okay?” Shea asked, turning down the radio.

  Evelyn turned and gave a half smile. “Sure.”

  But she was not. “What are you thinking about?”

  She shook her head. It was obvious she had no desire to open up. “It’s just been a long week. Lots of work stress. I’m sorry. I haven’t been sleeping. It makes me a little teary.”

  “I’m like that, too.”

  “I need to send off a few e-mails for work, okay? I’m sorry I’m such bad company.”

  “No, no. Do what you have to do.”

  It was after two o’clock when Shea pulled off the expressway toward the sign for Port Clinton. “Getting close now,” Shea said.

  Evelyn finally looked up, dropping her phone into her lap.

  “You get it all done?”

  “Yep. I tend to agonize about work problems. Like there’s no way to fix them, but then it’s like a lightbulb and I realize I’ve got a solution. I think everything will be okay now.”

  “I envy you,” Shea said.

  “Me? Why?”

  “Just to have that. To be so needed. To have such a big job.”

  “Well, you have something, too. I envy that.”

  Ev was right. Shea had a husband who loved her, kids who made her life worth living. She needed to trust Ryan. They were a family.

  Evelyn began squirming in her seat as they got closer. “I’m starting to feel a little desperate to use the bathroom.”

  “Oh, I�
��m sorry. You should have said something. We could have stopped.”

  “No, it’s fine. I know we’ve got to get there by three.”

  “That’s right,” Shea said, checking the clock. “I always forget that we cross into Eastern time when we come here. We’re going to be late, though I’m guessing these kinds of things last a few hours.”

  “How long is the ferry ride to the island?”

  “About thirty minutes.”

  Ten minutes later, Shea pulled in to the parking lot of the ferry terminal. Evelyn put her hand on the door handle.

  “You okay?” Shea asked.

  Evelyn winced. “I just need to go.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Ev.” She pulled up to the building. “Go on. I think there’s one right inside. I’ll park the car.”

  Evelyn said thanks and jumped out.

  Shea parked the car, grabbed their bags, walked into the terminal, and checked the schedule. The next ferry was leaving in five minutes. Perfect timing. She went into the bathroom to check on Evelyn, still inside a stall.

  “You okay?”

  “I will be,” Evelyn said. “I’m sorry, I know we’re on a tight schedule.”

  “The ferry leaves in five minutes. I’ll go get our tickets.”

  “Wait,” Evelyn said. “I’m so sorry, Shea. I don’t feel very good. I don’t think I can go anywhere for a little while. Just get on the boat. I’ll take the next one. I’ll text so we can meet up.”

  Shea looked at her watch. The ferries only ran once an hour. The lighthouse was on the other side of the island, and it would take time to get there. “You sure?”

  “Absolutely. Go. I’d feel terrible if I held you up. As soon as I feel better, I’ll get a ticket and get on the next ferry. Can you just leave my bag here with me?”

  “Oh, Ev, I don’t want to leave you here.”

  The horn of the ferry blared. “Go,” Evelyn said more firmly. “Really, I’ll be fine. I’ll get out of here as soon as I can.”

  “Okay,” Shea said, sliding Evelyn’s overnight bag under the door. “Remember, the B and B is called Humphrey House. It’s not far from the main strip. It’s on that side street right after you pass the chocolate shop. Blake’s memorial is at the lighthouse, but if you don’t feel good, just go to the room. I’ll meet you there.”