Page 143 of Not Quite Dead Yet

‘I don’t know,’ Billy said again, like he’d lost all other words out of his own black hole.

‘No. He had an alibi. He was with Henry at the time of my attack. He didn’t. He didn’t kill me.’

‘That doesn’t mean …’ Billy glanced down at the page again.

‘Luke can be scary,’ Jet said, echoing Henry’s words, picturing Luke smashing his fists against the steering wheel, reopening the scabs on his knuckles, blood pooling under his wedding ring.

Jet shook her head. Just kept shaking it, making the aches ache harder.

And a new thought, forcing its way through the cracks, clawing up her tightening throat.

‘If it wasn’t an accident, if Luke killed Emily … then it wasn’t my fault.’

‘Jet.’ Billy turned to her, the storm settling in his eyes, reaching out to take her hand, holding it in her lap. ‘It was never your fault.’

29

‘There you are!’

A blue Range Rover was parked outside the Masons’ house, too close to Jet’s truck, blocking it in.

Sophia slammed the door, marching toward Jet and Billy, meeting them halfway across the drive.

‘I was looking for you!’ Her cheeks were flushed, eyes swimming.

‘Lucky me,’ Jet muttered, not stopping. ‘Listen, Sophia, I’d love to stick around and chat, but I need to find my mom and –’

‘– You told Luke!’ she growled, spit foaming at the corner of her mouth. ‘I asked you not to tell him, and you did! About the pills. Why would you do that, Jet?!’

Jet’s head throbbed, the broken sides crashing together, a spark of rage where they met. Sophia doubled and doubled again, the world splitting apart, time too, all the way back seventeen years. Hot day, cold trophy in her hand.

‘You’re right, it’smyfault,’ Jet spat back. ‘That you were poisoning your father-in-law so he’d stop going into the office and wouldn’t discover all the fraud your husband was committing.’

Sophia’s eyes snapped wide, nostrils too, looking between Jet and Billy.

‘Yeah,’ Jet said, ‘we know about that too.’

‘And about Henry Lim’s accident, the hospital bills,’ Billy added.

‘Everything, Sophia.’

Sophia didn’t blink, like she’d forgotten how.

‘Luke did it for us, for all of us! The company was going under, and he’s the one who turned it around. He saved it!’

‘By scamming people. Not paying taxes.’ Jet stepped closer, matched Sophia’s eyes. ‘Someone burned the fucking building down, probably because of something Luke did. So I’m not sure he really saved the company. It’s gone!’

‘Luke’s a good person.’

‘I don’t think he is, Sophia!’ Jet roared, letting the rage in, letting it win. ‘Now can you –’

‘– Oh, because you are?!’ Sophia scoffed, pointing a finger too close to Jet’s chest. ‘Are you a good person, Jet?’

‘Sophia, move your fucking car!’

‘I told you what I’d do,’ Sophia lowered her voice, a dangerous whisper. ‘If you told Luke. I told you what I’d do.’

Jet took a breath, met her eyes. ‘Don’t,’ she said, lower, more dangerous.

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