JULIE
I look down at April lying on the floor, the broken pieces of the vase from my house splayed out around her head. She’s still moving, so I didn’t knock her out, but I knocked her down. I’ve never hit anyone that hard in my life. Zumba doesn’t quite prepare you for that.
“Julie!” Maria’s brown eyes are wide. “Oh, thank God!”
The knife April had been holding fell out of her hand when she collapsed. I see it on the ground, and before my brain can even react, my hand is reaching for it. I pick it up and grab it in my right hand.
April rolls over, clutching her head. There’s a drop of blood running down her temple. “Julie,” she murmurs. “What…?”
In the distance, I can hear sirens. It’s been about five minutes since I called Riley. He got someone here quickly. But it wouldn’t have been quick enough.
“Go downstairs,” I say to Maria. “Let the police in.” “Are you sure you’ll be okay up here?” she asks.
I nod. “I’ll be fine.”
More than fine. I look over at my hand holding the knife. It’s steady as a rock.
April watches Maria leave the room as she clutches her head where I clocked her a good one. The second Maria is out of sight, her eyes lock with mine. “Thank God she’s gone, Julie. She’s crazy. You have to believe me.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Julie…” April tries to stand up, but I shake my head at her and point to the ground. “Julie, you’re my best friend. You have to believe me. She… she murdered Elliot’s secretary and she’s framing me for it.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“She did!” April’s eyes fill with very real-looking tears. “She’s out of her mind. She’s been… torturing me. She has it out for me!”
I almost feel sorry for her. Does she really think she’s going to convince me? “I saw what you were about to do to her.”
“I was just defending myself!” She swipes at her eyes. “Because I thought she was going to kill me!”
“I’m sure.”
We can hear the sound of the front door opening. April’s blue eyes widen with panic. “Julie, please. Look at what she sent me.”
She fishes around in her pocket and pulls out her cell phone. It still has the message I sent her on the screen:
I know you are inside the house, April.
“It’s all been sent from a burner phone I found in her purse,” April says hurriedly. “She’s out to get me. Don’t you believe me?”
“Maria didn’t send you that message,” I say quietly.
There are footsteps on the stairs. Men’s voices. The cops. “Yes, she did!” April cries.
“No, she didn’t,” I say. “I did.”
April’s mouth falls open just as the police burst into the room.
It’s a good thing Riley is there to explain everything to the police who show up, because it doesn’t look great for me. I’m the one holding the knife. But between him and Maria, the truth quickly comes out. April broke into the house. She was threatening Maria. And I’m the hero.
“We have an eyewitness who can place April at the scene of the crime,” Riley explains to me after April is taken away in handcuffs. “They saw her white SUV following Brianna’s car, and they saw them both get out of the car. They didn’t see the attack itself, but considering she has a motive, no alibi, and there’s a witness who saw her there, we’ve certainly got enough to charge her.”
As I watch the police doing their job, all I can think about is how I wish I were the one trying this case. I can’t wait to get back in the courtroom. I’m itching for it.
But I’m not there yet. My old life is still very much in the present. “Do you need me here?” I ask. “I’ve got to pick up my sons from school.” I
should probably also pick up Bobby Masterson. God knows April won’t be doing it.
“Well, it would be good if you could stay…” He hesitates. “Any chance your husband could go pick up the kids?”
I snort. “Definitely not. And I’m not excited about calling him to ask any favors right now considering…” I take a breath. “I just told him I want a divorce.”
God, it feels so good to say those words out loud. I want to scream it from the treetops.
Riley’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really?” “It’s been a long time coming.”
He cocks his head to the side. “I can’t say I’m sorry. Like I said, I never got what you saw in the guy.”
Me either.
“Maria! Maria, are you okay?”
Sean came home and saw all the police cars in front of his house—and was understandably panicked. He sees Maria and runs over to her. I watch as he wraps his arms around her and holds her while she starts to cry. He whispers in her ear, and she clings to him. It makes me ache for what could have been if I had married a decent guy like Sean.
Of course, maybe things would’ve been different for April too if she had married a decent guy. But she didn’t. And now Elliot has to live with the mess he created.
“Go get your kids,” Riley says. “Call me later today, when you have a chance to come down to the police station. We’ll want to get your official statement on the record.”
“Okay,” I agree. “And… thanks. For your help. For rushing over here.”
“It’s my job.” Except it’s not really his job. His precinct is all the way over in Queens, for God’s sake. “Talk to you later?”
I nod. “Looking forward to it.”
