Chapter 5

Natalie Hofstetter looked around Kristl's mother's house with an inward sniff. The tired kitchen sported dated and scarred maple cabinets, the floor was linoleum in a godawful pattern of orange, brown, and yellow pinwheels, and the jewelry of the room, the chrome fixtures, had been dulled by years of use, the finish failing. Yes, this was the house where The Sorority had spent so many high school sleepovers, but it hadn't aged well, and Natalie, being in the renovation business, started mentally ticking off all the things she would change if she lived here. Not that she ever would. It wasn't the kind of property her company looked for. It was too . . . well, cheap.

But it wasn't for sale anyway. It was owned by Kristl's mom and Natalie knew Kristl had no say in the matter. Her father had died about six years earlier and Natalie guessed that's when things really went to shit. Now, it was just beyond hope and though Kristl had made a few remarks that maybe Natalie's company could do some minor renovations and get her mother's house on HGTV and they could possibly get a stipend from the network or Nat's company itself . . . there was not an ice cube's chance in hell that this ratty house with its moss-covered roof and dilapidated garage could ever be considered. Natalie was in Portland looking for that special property to get herself back on TV, and there was a condo in Portland's Pearl District that was just perfect. Good bones, bad decorating, just crying for her help.

If Phillip would ever make a fucking decision in his life it would help.

She inwardly fumed. She'd dragged her husband through the last few renovations. He owned half the company but he didn't do jack shit. His one saving grace? He looked good on camera and so the producers were reluctant to go with just Natalie who, she could admit, was a bit tense on camera. But she was the one who did all the work!

Isn't that always the case? Having to haul the dead wood around?

She looked around at Kristl and Erin, checked her Apple watch and demanded, "Okay, so where is Leigh?"

"I don't know." Kristl's lips were pursed. Natalie wondered if choking out a laugh when Kristl mentioned her mother's house instead of taking her seriously had been the smart thing to do.

"Didn't you say she was coming right over?"

Resentment crossed Kristl's face. At least she'd lost weight and learned to put on some makeup over the years, Natalie thought. She'd been a real dog in high school, though all of the sisters had lied and told her she looked great. Maybe that was a mistake. That brassy red hair was now darker, an improvement. When Natalie had asked her if she dyed it Kristl had glared and snapped, "NO!" Touchy, touchy. It was just an innocent question.

You should be nicer. She spends every day taking care of her mom, who's spiraling down deeper into dementia every day.

"I don't know exactly when she's coming. She didn't give me a time," Kristl muttered.

Natalie cleared her throat and vowed to be more patient. "Well, let's call her. Find out where she is."

"Why don't you call her, Natalie?" Kristl expelled. "I mean, why do I have to?"

"You're the one who told Leigh to come late and spy on Mackenzie Laughlin."

"I did not!" Her face turned red. "I just said Mackenzie would be there and I hoped she didn't talk to Gavin."

"You told Leigh to follow her in and she did," Natalie reminded. "Caused her to trip. Isn't she supposed to be this private investigator or something? Well, if she is, she's the clumsiest one around."

"She is a private investigator," Erin clarified.

Natalie eyed her. Now, here was someone who had definitely changed for the worst, picking up the pounds Kristl and Leigh had shed. Erin also still had that little girl look Natalie found so unbearable. Round cheeks, mousy brown hair and wide eyes, and boring conversation about details no one cared about. Natalie had felt like slapping her since the minute she got back to River Glen, just to wake her up.

Kristl said, "I know we didn't do anything wrong. It's just that Gavin's been saying all this shit, like it's my fault Ethan died. Well, I did nothing to hurt him. I even . . . I was nice to him even when he was so mean to Mia with Roxie . . . and . . ." Her voice was getting smaller and smaller. Natalie had to lean in to hear her. "Well, we didn't kill his little sister," she suddenly burst out, startling Natalie. "He did it all by himself."

"Hmmm . . ." murmured Natalie.

There was an uncomfortable pause and Kristl looked like she was fighting tears.

Erin said, "Hey, it's okay. We all know you didn't do anything. None of us did anything. Gavin's just having a hard time over his brother's death, and I mean, that's why we're all here today. Because of Tim's death."

"Yeah," said Natalie shortly.

"Yeah," agreed Kristl on a deep sigh.

Another pause ensued and Natalie's bid for patience ended. "Can we be real for a minute? I know we're all tense and yes, we went to Tim's funeral, but we're really here to do damage control. I've got a TV career, and I don't want these dumb leftover rumors from high school turning up on TMZ ."

"What's TMZ ?" asked Erin.

"Seriously?" Kristl swung her head at her. "Celebrity gossip show? Oh, c'mon. You've seen it. You have to have seen it."

"All I'm saying," Natalie broke in, "is that we're all here to put this chatter . . . these rumors, to bed. And if Gavin's the source, then we need to deal with him, and that's why I want to know where the fuck Leigh is!"

"Could you stop saying . . . the F word," Erin said, bunching her shoulders.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. "

"Natalie," Kristl muttered on a sigh.

"Well, c'mon. Let's stick on the hot issue here. Leigh was supposed to let us know what Mackenzie knows, about Gavin or whoever. What he's saying, what other people are saying. Is this a hot button, or is it just really old news? That's all I want to know. I've got things to do. We all do. We just need to move on."

Kristl's face darkened. "Gavin's been blaming me for a while. He's centered on me right now and it sucks."

"Who's he been talking to?" Natalie demanded.

"Everybody!"

"Is he on social media? Is he telling friends? Classmates?"

"Well, he told Tim, and Tim told me what he'd been saying!" Kristl's lips tightened. "And now Tim's dead . . ."

"None of this is our fault," reminded Natalie, once again.

Erin pulled her shoulders in and said, "Maybe it would be better to leave Gavin alone."

"There's an idea," agreed Natalie.

"It was Tim's funeral today and it just feels like we don't care enough," Erin added, a bit timidly. You never quite knew which way Natalie would jump.

Natalie sucked in a calming breath. "Look, it's terrible. I would never be a police officer. Too dangerous. I'm sorry Tim's gone. I didn't know him that well, but he always seemed like a nice guy. Big smile. Big heart, too, I guess. But let's be honest, we went to the funeral to see what Gavin was up to. He's the real reason we went."

"Krissy . . ." a feeble female voice sounded from down the hall. "Krissy?" And all three of them turned to look in that direction.

"Mom," Kristl explained unnecessarily, heading toward the hallway.

Natalie watched her go and asked Erin, "Is it Alzheimer's?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe. Some kind of dementia, anyway. She's gotten a lot worse since Kristl's dad died."

"Hmmm . . ."

"It's hard. It's really hard when your parents start to fail," said Erin.

She was looking at Natalie as if she had something more to say. Taking the cue, Natalie asked politely, "What about your parents?" Her own had divorced long ago and were happily living separate lives in separate states. They'd both congratulated their daughter on her one television season, but neither had they been as impressed as Natalie thought they should be. She bet they didn't even know she'd been put on hiatus, a nicey-nice term for cancellation .

"They're doing okay. They sold the house and bought a smaller one in Laurelton. Dad plays golf."

Natalie couldn't have cared less. Being alone with Erin made her want to pace the room and work off nervous energy. She wished Kristl would get back here and Leigh , for shit's sake. Where was she? She, at least, had money and could possibly make some kind of deal with Natalie, or maybe just put money into renovating another property. That would be just fine. A good start. Everything was just too damn expensive in San Diego and Phillip could just rot there. Natalie had decided to come back to the Greater Portland Area where she grew up and start a new show. Rose City Renovations , or maybe just Rose City Ren-o .

"But what if it does comes out?" Erin asked suddenly.

"What?"

"That you had us all pledge to kill Ethan by a car accident and that's exactly what happened to him."

"C'mon, Erin. It was a joke! A fucking joke! How could we engineer that? We were all just mad at him for Mia's sake."

"But it's weird, and the way things happen on TikTok and Insta . . .? I mean. I can just see this going viral. One of those Dateline s that asks . . . Were they all in it together? You know what I mean. And you, the television star? Don't you see it?" She threw out her arm like she was revealing a breathtaking vista. " ‘Natalie Hofstetter orders a murder.' No. ‘Natalie Hofstetter and The Sorority pledge to kill high school classmate . . . and do .' "

Natalie gazed on Erin's cherubic face with distaste. "You're giving me a stomachache with all this bullshit. I don't know how many times I have to say it, it was a joke. Okay, a bad joke, but it was a joke. A JOKE. And you put your hands in, too. You pledged."

"Do you think Gavin could know that?"

"Who cares? It was a JOKE!!"

"I care. And you care."

Natalie held onto her temper with an effort. "Who would tell him?" she snapped. "No one knew but us."

She nodded, then said in a small voice, "Maybe Roxie?"

Roxie. Roxie Vernon. Natalie thought about the rogue member of The Sorority with mixed feelings.

"For fuck's sake, I need a drink. You think there's any wine around here?" She walked over to the refrigerator and peeked in. A moment later she slammed the door shut and moved to the cabinets, flinging open and throwing closed doors one by one.

* * *

"I'll get you a glass of water," Kristl told her mother, fighting back the huge sigh that wanted to overtake her. Her gaze turned to the window. She could draw a straight line from here across all the residential houses and commercial buildings to that bar on Eighth Street. That's where she wanted to be. Not here with her mother, who grew more addled every day, and not with the Sorority, who'd never really been her friends though at one time in her life she'd thought she'd die without them. She'd been fat and freckled and dying for a boyfriend and it still made her shudder to think of how pathetic she'd been. Now she looked better, lots better. She'd worked out and found a healthy diet and kept snacking to a minimum and shed the pounds. Makeup tamed the freckles and she'd started dyeing her hair a less brassy shade of red. At the bar, which was frequented by mostly men, a lot of cops, she could slide onto a stool and get all kinds of looks and offers of free drinks. Sometimes she'd tune into a guy, let him run his hand down her leg, maybe wrap his fingers around her inner thigh, maybe go to his place. Sometimes she'd be aloof. Sometimes she'd hit on the bartender, Rob Something, and end up fucking in the storeroom behind the bar. Rob always zeroed in on her when she came in, and she could read the jealousy on his face, the tightening of his jaw, whenever she flirted heavily with someone else.

But the bar was off-limits now . . . now that Gavin Knowles had decided she was to blame for Ethan Stanhope's death. It was insane! She'd become friends with Tim at the bar and though they hadn't had sex, they'd been working up to it. She really liked Tim, even thought she could fall for him. Things were looking good. But when Tim mentioned to Gavin that he knew her, and then Gavin just started spouting all those old rumors from high school about Ethan's death, Tim had carefully moved away from her. The last few times at the bar he'd lifted a beer in acknowledgment from across the room. And then he started acting like he didn't even know her. Like maybe she was poison . . . like maybe she was a killer.

It burned right down to her soul.

"Where are you going?" her mother asked in that whiny voice that made Kristl want to climb the wall.

"To get you water. I just told you that."

She walked back to the kitchen to find Natalie throwing open drawers. A bottle of red wine, her best bottle, was on the counter. "You want an opener?" Kristl asked, a little miffed.

"Yeah. Where is it?"

Kristl walked to the other side of the room, threw open a drawer, and collected it for her, irked at Natalie's high-handedness, but then when had she been anything else?

She took her mother the water, though Mom had closed her eyes now and was breathing shallowly. Kristl looked down at her, wondering if she might die. She set the glass on a cardboard coaster she'd brought back from Lacey's, the cop bar. A flutter of regret filled her chest. She was sorry Tim was gone.

Back in the living room, Natalie was pouring glasses of wine and Erin was looking anxious, as always. Kristl took a moment to study them both. There was no need to be intimidated by Natalie anymore, Kristl told herself. She'd toned down her black hair a bit and she'd traded her alternative lifestyle for commercial success as a home renovator with her husband. They lived in San Diego and had done a season on HGTV, with mediocre results, according to Erin, who kept up on those things—but not TMZ , God!—but she was now living in Portland, at least temporarily, trying to reignite that career.

Natalie's dark eyes swept toward Kristl, who then said to Erin, "Maybe try Leigh again."

Erin sighed heavily. "I have. I've texted her, too. I don't know what else I can do."

"Just try."

Natalie handed both Kristl and Erin a glass of red wine. She then glanced at Kristl and said, "You've got some house maintenance ahead of you." She was facing the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard wooden deck, currently slick with rain and greenish alga gunk.

"I know." Kristl was short.

Erin set her glass down, tucked in her chin, and angrily punched numbers into her phone. She put it on speaker and let it ring on and on until Leigh's voice mail kicked in. Holding up the phone to them, she shot them both a See there? look, as Leigh's tinny voice asked them to leave a message, then disconnected the call.

"I think we're all overreacting to Gavin and Mackenzie Laughlin talking," said Natalie.

Kristl swirled her glass and watched the red fingers of wine travel down the inside of the glass. Were they?

"You're the one who got upset," reminded Erin, carefully.

"Gavin just watched his brother lowered into the ground. He's processing. People grieve all kinds of ways. It's not some big conspiracy between the two of them."

Erin looked doubtful at Natalie's rationalization.

"They were commiserating with each other," agreed Kristl. She took a long swallow of her best wine, the bottle Natalie had so carelessly opened. She didn't have a lot of good wine.

She could have asked.

"But . . ." Erin began.

Both Kristl and Natalie swung their heads her way.

"But what?" Natalie's staccato question hung in the air.

"It's just that Leigh said that Gavin's been talking a lot about Ethan again—"

Kristl groaned. "We know that."

Natalie gave an unintelligible growl and tipped back her glass.

"You just said yourself, that's why we're here," Erin reminded her unhappily.

"Call Leigh again! I want to talk to her," Natalie demanded. "No, give me her number. I don't have it in my phone. I'll call her."

Erin reluctantly told Natalie the digits for Leigh's cell, and both Natalie and Kristl entered them into their phones. Natalie stabbed the numbers onto the screen, then held the cell to her ear with her left hand and threw her right arm across her waist, waiting.

Once more Kristl could hear Leigh's recorded voice mail greeting. Natalie said in a brittle voice. "Hi, Leigh, it's Natalie. We're all here. Where are you? Call me back as soon as you can . . . please." She rattled off her number and ended the call. She shook her head and muttered angrily, "Why are we even still talking about Ethan?"

Because you told us how he was going to die , Kristl thought. She looked at Erin, who was clearly thinking the same thing. Erin swallowed hard and tried to avoid eye contact. Kristl inwardly sighed. Erin was weak. She still didn't want to go against Natalie and well, Natalie was tough.

"Leigh didn't say she overheard them talking about Ethan," reminded Erin.

"Well, good. Would it affect my show, my business, if it came out that we jokingly pledged to kill him? It wouldn't be good. And we didn't kill him. But I don't love the idea of having to explain it."

Natalie finished the last swallow of her wine and set the glass down on the counter with more force than necessary. Kristl started, worried she'd break the stem. They weren't expensive but they were all she had— all Mom has , she corrected herself.

"God, I just don't need this," muttered Natalie. She looked down at her nails. They were a glossy, dull red, but the pinky finger on her right hand was chipping. She worried it a little with her opposite thumbnail. "Anybody want another glass?"

"No, thanks," Kristl said dryly, since her glass was still half full and, well, it wasn't Natalie's wine. But Natalie, being Natalie, didn't pick up on her tone as she moved to pour herself another.

"Shit!" Nat yelled suddenly. She'd spilled on her black dress.

"It doesn't show," said Erin as Natalie refilled her glass, emptying the bottle.

"I paid a fortune for it," Natalie muttered, swiping at her dress with a paper towel.

They were all dressed in black, but Natalie's dress fit her like a second skin and was severely cut. Something about the red nails and red wine reminded Erin of Nat's Goth days even though now she looked more like a cutthroat executive. Her dark hair was swept into a tight bun and her eyes were outlined in black with thick, sweeping lashes. Her mouth was a slash of dark red. And of course she'd worn smooth black Louboutins with their bright red soles winking to the crowd whenever she moved, even though the heels had partially sunk into the mud. Natalie had kicked them off and rinsed them in Kristl's kitchen sink without asking. Her gall still amazed Erin, but then in high school she'd made them all promise to kill Ethan and they'd agreed, which was mind-boggling in itself.

But who was she kidding? This was the question that kept Erin awake at night. Ethan Stanhope had died just the way Nat had described. Nat had been so furious with him, blaming him for breaking up their sisterhood it had really seemed like she'd wanted him dead, even though Roxie was as much to blame as Ethan was. And what about Mia? In one of her rare visits home, Mia had met with Erin and Leigh and confessed that she'd been a little relieved Roxie had helped her break up with Ethan that spring. "I didn't love him," she'd told them to their collective surprise. "I wasn't even sure I liked him. He was so full of shit. So full of himself. And then he died and I couldn't say anything bad about him. I'm not a monster. I'm just being honest here. Let's face it, I especially didn't want to bring up anything and put attention on us."

"It wasn't our fault he died," Leigh had quickly corrected her.

"He died in a car accident," Erin said.

Mia had given them both a look that said they all knew better, which was not the truth! Both she and Leigh had been disturbed and afterward Erin had gone home to her apartment and gathered her cat, Chili, close, feeling vulnerable.

Now, here they were discussing Ethan and Ingrid Stanhope's deaths again and feeling responsible somehow, though none of them had forced his car off the road. Sure, they'd agreed on it, but that was meaningless. Ethan had taken a corner too fast and lost control. That's what killed him . . . and Ingrid.

"We can't be blamed for wishing Ethan dead," Erin said, echoing what Leigh had pointed out to Mia that day. Mia hadn't answered her, and Erin had gotten the impression she might not feel the same way. Leigh had doubled down on their being innocent, but Mia had remained silent.

Now, Kristl said, "Of course we can't. Life's full of tragedies that are no one's fault."

"Optics, ladies." Natalie glanced over her shoulder at them. "We all agreed to kill him and that's what people will remember, if it should ever come out."

You were the one who posed the car accident, Nat!

Erin felt a small spurt of anger. She barely managed not to blurt out what she was thinking.

"Wishing someone dead isn't a crime," said Kristl, impatiently.

They all grew silent, sipping their wine, none of them really relieved by their attempts to minimize the odd and eerie way Ethan had died.

Erin sent Natalie and Kristl a sideways look, not wanting to appear that she was staring, sizing up, cataloguing. She was a little envious of Kristl's new svelte figure. She looked absolutely great. She'd mentioned there was a workout room at the back of the garage now, and she apparently used it regularly while Erin sat home with Chili and a bowl of ice cream or popcorn. She'd picked up some of those pounds that Kristl had shed. Just looking at Kristl and Nat, Erin resolved to cut down on the calories.

"Should we open another bottle?" asked Natalie, already pulling one from the cupboard. "Uh-oh. It's your last one. Unless you have more somewhere?"

"No. That's it." Kristl was curt.

Erin could tell she was sort of pissed but that didn't deter Nat in the least. She opened the bottle, filled her glass and Kristl's, then looked at Erin. Erin tipped her goblet and swallowed the last bit, holding out her glass, too. The diet starts tomorrow , she thought, watching as Natalie poured the pinot noir into her glass, the red wine catching the light, emitting a dark carmine glow.

"I don't have any appetizers except cheese and crackers," Kristl said.

"That would be great," said Erin, her resolve fully crumbled.

Kristl shot a glance at Natalie, who seemed completely disinterested in food. She then went to the refrigerator and cut pieces of cheddar cheese into small orange squares and ringed them with Triscuits on a plate. Erin reached in and placed the cheese atop the cracker and took a bite. She didn't care that they weren't super special hors d'oeuvres. She understood that, like her, Kristl was not floating in money like Natalie and, well, Leigh, she thought as she munched away.

Natalie was just finishing off her latest glass of wine when they heard tires crunch on the gravel drive. Erin hurried to the front window. "She's here!" she said in relief.

Leigh entered a few moments later. Like Erin, she'd always been a bit soft and round, maybe not as round as Kristl had been, but now, like both Kristl and Natalie, she was slim and trim, having shed the doughy pounds. Her hair was blonder and seemed to make her eyes bluer. Erin felt like a failure among her friends. If not for Leigh, she wouldn't even have a job.

"Well, there you are," said Natalie.

"Sorry. I didn't really know we were having a meeting." Leigh eyed the wine bottle as she set down her large black purse on the counter, but she didn't pick up one of the empty glasses. "I thought you were all trying to get rid of me at the funeral."

They all chorused a "No, that's not true" on that, then Natalie said, "You almost blew it when Mackenzie tripped."

"I didn't trip her. I just tried to duck out of sight, like you all told me to."

"We didn't tell you that." Kristl frowned.

"Then why was I the one chosen to hide from her like a criminal?"

"We just needed intel, Leigh . . . Elayne ," Natalie exaggerated. "So, what did you learn?"

"I don't know why you're all so worried about Mackenzie. She's a private investigator, I guess? She doesn't know anything, and there's nothing to know anyway."

"It was an accident," said Kristl in a singsong voice, echoing Nat.

Natalie waved that away. "She was talking to Gavin at the grave site."

"Gavin doesn't know anything," said Leigh, shaking her head as Kristl held the bottle above her glass.

"I'm sick of Gavin accusing us all of stuff he knows isn't true," Natalie said firmly.

"I'm just sick of him blaming me ," added Kristl.

Leigh shook her head. "It doesn't matter. He tried to hire Mac, but I think she thinks he's a nut job." She shrugged out of her black coat and laid it over the edge of the couch. Beneath was a black dress with a white collar that Erin had seen in a magazine and knew cost a small fortune.

"He tried to hire Mac?" Natalie repeated.

Erin just wanted them all to quit talking about that damn pledge. "It was a nice service," she said, trying to steer the conversation in another direction, though actually it had been a very sad affair. She would be haunted by the looks on Mr. and Mrs. Knowles's faces for days.

"Well, what did Gavin say about Ethan?" persisted Natalie.

" Nothing ." Leigh looked exasperated.

Erin glanced away from them, knowing that she was bad at holding her thoughts to herself. Her expression always gave her away. That wasn't what Leigh had been saying before. She'd worried to Erin that Gavin's continued probing about Ethan's car accident was like a tongue obsessively searching the hole left from a missing tooth.

"After the service, I went to see her," Leigh admitted, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Mackenzie?" Natalie snapped, her eyes wide.

Kristl asked quickly, "You went to see her? Why? Where?"

"I went to her apartment because a) she's a friend and b) I couldn't hear everything she and Gavin were saying, so I thought I'd just ask her." Leigh then shook her head and grabbed a glass and the wine bottle, delivering a healthy pour to herself. "You all act so scared."

"Concerned," corrected Kristl.

"Very concerned," echoed Natalie. "Did you ask her point blank what she was talking about with Gavin?"

"Yeah, I did, as a matter of fact. They were apparently discussing his brother's death, which makes sense. We were at Tim's funeral. I did press her, but she didn't say anything more." Leigh sighed. "It was really sad today. I felt really bad for the Knowleses."

"The Stanhopes were there," said Natalie.

They all looked at her, but no one was surprised. Gavin and Ethan had been good friends.

"The Stanhopes have become really religious," revealed Leigh. "They lost two of their children graduation night."

No one said anything for a while after that. Finally, Leigh put in, "Have any of you heard from Mia lately?" They all shook their heads and she added, "Me neither." She then ran a finger over her lower lip and said, "I was going to keep this a secret but I can trust you guys to keep it from Parker. I asked Mackenzie to find out what happened to her."

"You hired Mackenzie?" Natalie looked appalled.

"Just to find Mia. What's wrong with that? If you're all so concerned about her, at least I'll be in contact with her. I don't know if she's going to do it, though. She's thinking it over."

They all plied Leigh with more questions after that revelation, but she didn't have much more to add other than that she and Mia had kept in fairly close contact until recently, and that suddenly there was no communication between them at all.

"What about Roxie? Anybody heard from her?" Natalie asked after they exhausted the subject of Mia.

"She was never part of our group," remarked Leigh, her mouth turning down.

"Well, yes, she was," Kristl disagreed. "Until the Ethan thing."

"Mia said Roxie maybe did her a favor. She said she didn't even like Ethan that well," revealed Erin.

Nat snorted. "Easy for her to say that now. Like that's going to absolve her of agreeing to kill him."

"You said it was all a joke," Erin reminded her anxiously.

"Relax, Erin. Once again, I'm joking." Natalie rolled her eyes.

"Well, Mia sure cared about Ethan when Roxie went after him," reminded Leigh. "None of it matters anyway. Ethan's gone, and now Tim Knowles is gone, too . . ."

"And Ingrid," Kristl said quietly.

"And Ingrid," Natalie repeated after a moment.

Ethan's little sister's death was the real tragedy.

Natalie was the first to seem to shake herself back to the present. "Well, as long as no one's trying to blame us for anything, fine. I just don't want to hear that Gavin's suddenly going all in again on Ethan's accident. He did that when it first happened, and it was grief talking. We were all upset. But now again after his brother's death . . . this blame game is not okay."

"It was before his brother's death," said Erin. They all looked at her. "Well, that's what you said," she reminded Kristl.

"I don't know when he started blaming me, he just did." Kristl pressed her lips together.

The conversation moved off Ethan Stanhope's death to catching up on their current lives: Natalie's TV aspirations; Leigh's job with her husband's company, Parker Flooring; Kristl's care-giving for her mother and her mulling over a career; and Erin's dud of a love life. Erin would have preferred not to talk about it, but Leigh nudged her and she admitted that she'd been sporadically dating but every guy she met was a loser.

Kristl asked, "Are you on dating apps? That can be really rough."

"How'd you meet your guy?" Erin asked Kristl, who straightened as if goosed.

"I'm not dating anyone."

"I thought I heard you were."

"How? I've got Mom," Kristl reminded her.

Leigh slid her a look from beneath her lashes. "I heard you were seeing the friend of someone else you were dating."

Kristl flushed. "That was before. It just kind of happened and then it was over."

"Sounds a lot like Roxie and Mia . . ." Natalie smirked.

"It wasn't like that at all. Mike and I were already through. We were just kind of friends and so we were open to meeting other people. It just happened to be Stu."

"You and Mike still friends now that you're with Stu?" asked Natalie.

Kristl pursed her lips. "I'm not with Stu. I'm not with either of them."

"Still, it was poaching," said Nat.

"Jesus," Kristl muttered. "They were just guys at a bar."

Natalie pointed her finger at her in the shape of a gun. "That's what I'm saying."

Erin thought that was no excuse for bad behavior. "Roxie went after Ethan when he was still with Mia. Maybe Mia didn't like him anymore, but Roxie didn't know that. She just went after him."

Leigh said, "Mia liked Ethan a lot. She just said that to us to cover up that he basically dumped her for Roxie."

Erin thought of their friend with her shaggy blond hair and fresh-faced look. Her big smile. What a lie Roxie Vernon had been. She wasn't sorry they didn't see her anymore.

"Where is Roxie?" asked Natalie, as if reading Erin's thoughts.

"Don't know. I only care about Mia," said Leigh. She kind of sounded like a sourpuss, which warmed Erin's heart. She liked Leigh and wished they hung out more together. She and Kristl lived in town and Leigh was in the neighboring city of Laurelton, and now Natalie was in Portland, at least for a while, drumming up business. They could restart The Sorority. She said as much and everyone kind of went silent and didn't look at each other.

"So, I guess that's a no," Erin said, disappointed.

"We're all still kind of in it whether we like it or not," remarked Kristl, not sounding like she enjoyed it all that much.

"Is your husband joining you?" Erin asked Natalie now.

"Doubtful," she said through a smile. "I may just stay here and leave Phillip in San Diego."

"Seriously?" Leigh looked a bit scandalized, but then Leigh was married to Parker, who was kind of a bastard himself, according to her. According to others, his business ran on Leigh's family's money, but Erin had recently gotten a job at Pickwick Lighting on Leigh's recommendation, as Pickwick and Parker Flooring did a lot of business together, and Leigh being half owner of Parker Flooring had some sway. Erin felt indebted to her and didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. Leigh had apparently had to pull some strings with Parker to make it happen.

"I'm just exploring options," said Natalie. "It's kind of good to see all of you guys again."

Did Nat really feel that way? Erin wasn't sure.

"Wish Mia was here," said Leigh.

"And Roxie?" asked Kristl with a devilish smile.

"None of us want to see Roxie again," said Erin.

Natalie's smirk returned. "Maybe we should make a pact to kill her . It worked last time."

Erin laughed uneasily, but Leigh and Kristl chortled as if they found that really funny.

"Once again, I'm kidding, Erin. Kidding." Natalie looked exasperated.

"I know," said Erin quietly.

"Can no one take a joke around here?" Natalie clutched her empty glass and looked a bit sadly at the finished bottle of wine.

"I have some cheap stuff in the garage," Kristl said after a long moment. She didn't sound all that excited about sharing another bottle.

"Fine. Let's get drunk." Natalie shrugged. "The sisterhood's back together again."

Kristl left, her shoulders tight, and returned with a bottle of Chardonnay, the label Erin knew well as it was within her price range.

Natalie made a moue with her lips, then took her glass to the sink, where she rinsed it out. Erin thought she was done, but when Kristl opened the bottle of white, Nat filled her drink halfway and said, "To the Sorority," lifting the glass high.

Leigh raised her own glass and looked at Erin, who shrugged and tentatively lifted her empty one. She had a job she was settling into and still had to put in an appearance later today. Even though she was with Leigh, her friend wasn't her boss. Seth Halliday was, and he wouldn't appreciate Erin coming to the office half drunk.

As if reading her mind, Leigh said, "I'll text Seth and tell him you're out for the day. It'll be fine. Don't worry."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," Erin said gratefully. She didn't want to go back. It felt a bit dangerous to be back with her friends, friends she knew had always been more popular than she was, but she wanted to ride it out. She'd considered herself lucky to be part of their group back then, and would have done anything to stay there . . . even when she'd half believed they were going to kill Ethan.

"To The Sorority," they all chanted, clinking their glasses together, though with less enthusiasm than in their younger days.

"So, we all agree we're going to kill Roxie, right?" asked Natalie.

"Shut up," groaned Kristl.

"You have run that into the ground," agreed Leigh.

Kristl then reversed what she'd just said, by announcing, "I'd kill her. Gavin already thinks I killed Ethan, so what's another one?"

Natalie started laughing, nearly spitting out some wine. "I love you guys!"

"Me, too!" Erin declared.

She meant it. They added color to a pretty drab life. And she wanted to be with them, to be one of them. It was important. Nevertheless, she could feel anxiety building in her chest. Their toasts to the death of another always made her squirm. Like they were tempting fate or something.

It was only much later when she was back in her apartment, in bed in her pajamas with Chili wrapped in her arms and purring in her ear, that she could feel that knot of anxiety loosen.

* * *

Mac's cell rang in the middle of the night and she dragged herself up from the depths of sleep, surprised by the noise as she generally turned her phone off when she retired for the night unless she was actively working a case. She realized dully that she'd fallen asleep in the chair, having not wanted to move after Taft left. Now she fumbled around in the dark for her cell, twisting her ankle further in the process. She yelped in pain, swore, then swept up the phone, catching it on its third ring.

Gavin Knowles.

Shit. Damn. This wasn't going to work out. She should've never given him her number. Her finger hovered over the button to disconnect, then clicked on.

"Gavin," she answered coolly, calling herself an idiot. Do you know what time it is? She almost went with the cliché but didn't have a chance as he yelled into the phone, "Mac, I'm being followed! They know I talked to you!"

"Gavin . . . who? I don't think—"

"I know I'm being followed!"

His voice sounded a bit slurred. "Have you been drinking?"

"Was with my folks, but they're—Shit, those brights! Those brights in my mirror! I can't see!"

"Gavin, if you're driving, pull over."

" WHAT THE FUCK! "

"Pull over! Right now. Stop!" She tried to throw off the blanket she'd tossed over her legs and got caught up in it somehow. His terror ran through the phone line to electrify her. She was wide awake. She half fell out of the chair, bit back another cry of pain that infuriated her as her ankle screeched at her.

"Oh, shit . . . Oh, shit . . . ahhh . . . they went around me," he said.

Mac snorted, annoyed, settling herself back in the chair. "Good. Now, listen. Stop. I don't think you should be driving. Pull over. Where are your folks now? Can you catch a ride? Uber or Lyft? Or is there someone you can call?"

"I called you."

"I realize that," she said patiently, "but I mean, is there someone else? Someone who could come pick you up?"

"They know I talked to you. They're afraid you'll find out who killed 'im. They wanna get rid of me 'cause I keep bringing it up."

"Ethan . . .? Gavin, you don't want a DUI on top of everything else. Park the car."

"I didn't drink that much. We were just talking. Tim's death was wrong place, wrong time. But Ethan was killed . . . maybe Tim was, too . . . I doan know . . ."

"Gavin."

"I know you doan believe me, but I'm right. I'm always right. Oh, holy mother . . . oh, fuck, oh . . . fuck . . . They're coming back! THEY'RE COMING BACK! "

She heard the rev of an engine. "Gavin . . . Gavin?"

"I'm going, I'm going! THEY'RE COMING BACK! "

"Don't drive! Gavin! "

"AAAARRRHHHHHH!"

"GAVIN!"

CRASH!

The sound was horrendous, even through the phone. "Gavin! Gavin? Can you hear me? Gavin? Are you there?"

The line was dead.