Augustus fell silent, staring at the bottle in his hands as if it held the answers he was desperately seeking. Lilia’s words hung in the air, a soft echo of the truth that neither of them could deny.
“I think that’s what hurts the most,” he finally said. “Knowing that she loved me, but never really feeling it. It’s like I was just another piece in her game. She used everyone around her.”
“She used all of us, Gus. We were all pawns in whatever game she was playing. But that doesn’t make what we had with her any less real.”
Augustus turned to look at her then; his brows were drawn tight, his mouth tipping down into a frown. “And what about us? Was that real?” he asked.
Lilia swallowed thickly. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me. Was it real?”
“You’re not mine, you never were. What we did is no better than what Willow did to you. It was a mistake.”
“Lilia”—he tilted his head town to meet her gaze—“that isn’t what I asked you. I don’t care about what you think you should say in order to not betray her. You don’t owe her anything—none of us do. Was it real?”
“Yes,” she finally said. “It was real, but it doesn’t matter because nothing can come from it. Especially not now. Not when you’re still hers. The last thing we need is for the cops to have their own case of some tumultuous love affair.”
He sniffed, a humorless laugh escaping past his lips. “How is any of this fair? She’s dead and somehow, she’s still pulling the strings. She still has us doing her bidding. When will any of us ever be free of her?”
Willow Montgomery was a master puppeteer, and they were nothing but mere puppets. Ready to comply whenever she wished to pull their strings.
And she was still pulling then, even now.
Even from the grave.
TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED CONVERSATION WITH AMELIA MONTGOMERY: 11/6/22
AMELIA: (pushing a cup of coffee toward Lilia) “Here.”
LILIA: “Thanks for meeting me.” (Pauses, looking at the open journal between them.) “Did she ever mention someone to you, a guy that she had been seeing?”
AMELIA: (shaking her head) “No. As far as I knew she was only with Augustus. She made it seem like they were in love—happy together. I would’ve never thought that she was cheating on him.”
LILIA: “She never left randomly, or acted suspiciously?”
AMELIA: (Toying with her bracelet.) “No. Willow was always keeping secrets though, you know how she was. It was a game for her. She liked to be in control.”
LILIA: “Do you remember the night that she went missing?”
(A pause.)
AMELIA: (quietly) “Yes.”
LILIA: “I’m sorry, that was insensitive. You don’t have to answer that. I was just wondering if she gave any signs that maybe something wasn’t okay.”
AMELIA: “She was happy that day, so excited about the party. She wanted everything to go perfectly. She had gotten her hair done—her nails. She took me with her to this boutique to buy some . . . intimate items.”
LILIA: “She brought lingerie?”
AMELIA: “I think she wanted the night to be special for her and Gus. It was their anniversary.”
LILIA: (softly) “I remember that much. It was all she talked about that day. She was vibrating with anticipation.”
End of transcript.
Chapter Ten
“What about this one?” Delilah asked, turning in front of the mirror. The dress hugged her curves in all the right places, but it was a bit too similar to the last one.
