Page 76 of The New Year's Party
At this, Olivia wailed even louder.
Well... damn. Really? One of them had murdered Jenn? Not that she didn’t deserve it... Who would it have been? Old Phelpsy seemed pretty tense... Revenge for the restaurant? Maybe Olivia, she’d really snapped back in the yard—
Hellie. Doug hadn’t even noticed her at first, leaning against the doorframe between the living room and the dining room. So small and quiet. So easy to miss at first.
Oh...
Fuck.
The missing gun.
The pink water in the sink basin.
Hellie, washing her hands, then lathering up again and washing some more. She was washing out blood. Jenn’s blood.
Jenn, who had gotten Doug fired.
Jenn, who had broken up Doug and Hellie’s marriage.
Hellie met Doug’s eyes. Her gaze was steady. Unflinching. She knew he had a gun. She was the only one here who knew. He hadn’t told her he was bringing it tonight, but it wasn’t unreasonable to imagine she might have gone looking for it in his bag. He suddenly remembered how she’d attacked Jenn. Doug had had to pull Hellie off Jenn so she didn’t kill her right then and there in the living room, in front of everyone...
Doug knew a moment of limbo before a hot rush filled him. Even as his body buzzed, his brain was clear as day, all his thoughts standing to attention like bright, beautiful little soldiers.
Hellie hadn’t responded to Doug in the bathroom with declarations of love, because she’d alreadygivenhim her declaration. Her sign. A sign that was more than words, just like that song she loved... The biggest sign of love she could ever give him.
His wife had killed Jennifer Fucking Bernanke.
Chapter 33
Phelps
The siren blare cut short. The living room window flashed red.
Showtime, Phelps couldn’t help but think. The room was in chaos, so he had to shout.
“Shut up, everyone! They’re here.”
As he walked to the front door to greet the first responders, adrenaline was rushing through him, so powerful it had completely washed away his buzz, and he’d worked hard to get that buzz too.
When Allie had come screaming to the Dog House about Jenn and blood, he figured it was something small, like one of her notorious nosebleeds. At worst, an accident with the wine opener, because dear Lord that woman could have used a drink and maybe she’d finally woken up to the fact. In the basement, a different sight entirely met his eyes. Olivia, crying on the floor in her dirty silk dress. Vomit mingling with insane amounts of blood. And, behind the couch, with her feet sticking out like the Wicked Witch of the Fucking West, was Jenn, on her back, eyes open. Blood covered the lower part of her face, her neck, her chest, and had soaked through her blouse and some of her skirt.
There was a switch Phelps could hit. He liked to think it self-installed the day you became a parent. It came in handyduring crises. When Kayden sliced his hand open. When Skyler shut his fingers in the car door. You just hit the button and went to a different dimension where you didn’t absorb what you were seeing, you just acted, because you were the fucking adult in the situation and no one else was going to do it.
He hit it as he stepped into the blood, rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and crouched over Jenn.
“Jennifer, can you hear me?” he said in a loud, clear voice. “I’m going to see if you have a pulse now.” He was pretty damn sure she was dead, which by the way holyfuck, but just in case, it was important to talk people through what was happening.
He put his fingers on her throat and waited. After a minute, he removed them.
“Get Will and call 9–1–1,” he said to Allie calmly. Then he turned to Olivia. “And let’s get you up off the floor, okay? Why don’t we wash your hands. C’mere, let’s get you to the sink.”
It wasn’t helpful that two minutes later, as Olivia washed her hands in the tiny basement bathroom, Allie came back and toldhimto call 9–1–1. Was there not a single other adult in this fucking house?
Then Will showed up with Hellie right behind. He got to the last stair, made a single violent sound between a sob and a shout, then collapsed, shaking violently, saying, “I can’t look at her. I can’t.” Hellie immediately crouched behind him and laid a small hand on his shoulder.
“It’s alright, Will,” said Phelps. “I know this is a shock. You don’t have to look. Go back upstairs. She’s not going anywhere, okay? Hellie, could you help Will get to a couch? Achair? Olivia, why don’t you go upstairs too? I think we’re done down here. I think we’ve done everything we can do.”
Hellie helped coax Will away, and Allie led Olivia upstairs. And then, it was just Phelps and the dead woman.
