Page 78 of Such a Quiet Place
She blinked rapidly, as if it hadn’t occurred to her. “He wasfine,” she said. “I would have.Obviously.”
But I could tell I had rattled her. “I think you don’t understand the things you see,” I said.
She narrowed her eyes. “I understood just fine. I see more thanall of you. I mean, Preston livesnext door,and he flirts with my sister, who iseighteen. And no one says anything. You know he brought her home once? Last year?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know that.” But I had learned to stay quiet, that the best defense was a strong offense, and that’s exactly what Molly was doing. She was revealing it all—what everyone fought to keep hidden—to justify her actions.
“She went to some party at the college, and I guess he broke it up, found her there. Brought her back home.”
“That sounds like the responsible thing to do,” I said.
“Does it?” she asked, making a face. “Rumor at school is that there’s a guy in security who will come to the party to break it up. But sometimes he doesn’t. He just acts like he will.”
I SEE YOU.
That note I’d found in the Seavers’ upstairs office had definitely been left for Preston. Me, Margo… and Preston. That was the common thread. We had each testified in Ruby’s trial.
The threat was implied:Say it was Ruby. Stick to your statements. It had to be Ruby.
There was so much here that we wanted to keep secret, and she was reminding us of the one fact we’d always been sure of: Any one of us could turn into a suspect. If it wasn’t Ruby, it might’ve been one of us.
“None of you are paying attention,” Molly continued. “Watch him. Ruby was.”
“Ruby was watching him?”
“She knew. She asked me about it once—I had her for class, you know. She asked me, and she asked Whitney, if there was anything we wanted to tell her. Promised us that she was someone we could tell, and she’d make sure no one found out it had come from us.” She rolled her eyes. “But knowing Ruby, I’m sure she just wanted to screw him over.”
Preston knew she’d been watching him, and he didn’t trust her. Maybe he thought I knew as well. Maybe Ruby had told Mac about it when he went to visit her. And he’d come to me after, to see what I knew.
Maybe I was being paranoid. Seeing danger everywhere, in everyone. Doubting every motivation, every interaction. As if the foundation of this entire neighborhood had been built on half-truths and white lies.
“You took his picture?” I asked.
“He shouldn’t be talking to my sister. Should he even be allowed to live here?” She put her hands on her hips, channeling power. “You think people will be mad atmewhen they find out?”
“Yes,” I said. Because it wasn’t just Preston. “I think people are going to be very angry.”
Molly handed the photo back to me like a reminder: It was time to go, and I needed to remember who had the power here. But I wasn’t done.
“Ruby told you both she was someone you could always turn to,” I said. “I remember that.”
“Yeah, well, good thing I never did.”
“She left a spare key out back,” I continued, “told you where you could find it.”
Molly swallowed, saying nothing.
“I know Whitney was out that night,” I said. And Molly must’ve known, too. Charlotte knew. They all knew. Casting suspicion outward to protect someone else.
There was a duffel bag packed up to get her daughters out of here after Ruby’s return. To keep them away. Just like they’d been sent to their father’s after the Truetts’ deaths. Not just because of the dangers Charlotte feared for her daughters. Because of what she feared they might have done.
Molly lifted one shoulder in an exaggerated shrug. “She goes out, meets friends from the other side of the lake. So what?” But her eyes cast to the side.
“Molly… what did you do?”
“Me? Nothing.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, don’t act like Ruby was so innocent. Don’t you dare. She was an ex-con.” I heard an echo of her mother then. “She had you all fooled. But you know what she’s been doing? Messing with you all.”
No,I thought,she’s been watching you. Trying to work out what happened. Coming to terms with the truth. And now she was dead.
