Page 90 of Forever Never
“The world does, but not a lot of people do,” she pointed out.
“That sounds like bullshit to me,” Brick observed.
Fortunately, the conversation was cut short by the arrival of their food.
She dug in to her turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy and a side of lima beans. See Dr. Ferrin? She could be healthier. She could make the effort. She wasn’t incapable of trying. Sure, she was definitely having a bowl of Marshmallow Munchies when she got back to the cottage, but the lima beans still counted.
His phone buzzed on the table. Idly, he flipped it over, and Remi saw his expression sharpen.
“What is it?” she asked.
He looked up at her. Those blue eyes focusing in on her face. “It’s a news alert. Camille Vorhees was just released from the hospital.”
She launched forward, snatching the phone out of his hand.
“Oh my God,” she breathed as she stared at the photo on the screen. There was Camille, looking elegant and exhausted on crutches. She wore an ivory cashmere coat and black trousers. Her blond hair was pulled back in a sleek twist.
Relief coursed through Remi as she zoomed in. Camille’s delicate face looked very pale and very thin. She looked fragile and glamorous and lovely and very much alive.
The screen blurred, and Remi swiped at a stray tear that escaped.
“Why do you have a news alert set for Camille?” she asked.
He looked at her long and hard. “Because she matters to you.”
* * *
A keyed-up Remilocked the door of the cottage and leaned against it. Camille was out of the hospital. In any other situation, it would have been incredible news worth celebrating. But in this one, it meant she was in a whole other kind of danger.
She pulled off her coat and boots and paced the floor in mismatched socks, her head spinning.
On a whim, she picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts.
“Need someone to post bail?” Her brother-in-law sounded haggard but amused.
“Hey, Kyle. I don’t need bail, but I do need some hypothetical lawyerly advice,” she said, wandering around the dining table.
“I’ve got five minutes before court reconvenes. Hit me.”
“Say a bad guy did something bad, but no one knows he did it, and no one knows he’s bad.”
“Okay. Squeaky clean bad guy. Got it,” he said over the din of voices.
“Say a good guy knows the bad guy committed the crime, but no one is listening to her. I mean him.”
“Unreliable witness,” Kyle filled in.
“Yeah. That. How does an unreliable witness protect herself and the victim of the original crime if no one believes her? Or him,” she added.
“What kind of crime are we talking here?”
She tapped her fingernails to her teeth. “Let’s say something along the lines of attempted murder.”
There was a pause on her brother-in-law’s end of the call. “Remi, what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she insisted, forcing a laugh. “I’m just helping a writer friend work on her thriller.”
“Are you sure?”
