This Story Might Save Your Life(91)

“But I don’t understand. If you knew where she was this whole time, why keep it a secret?”

“Because I had to! I told you, if I said anything, it would all fall apart.”

“But what does that even mean? What would fall apart?”

“I didn’t know it was going to blow up like this. She was safe. That was all that mattered at first. She was supposed to come back when she was ready. I thought maybe a day or two. And then Xander was found dead, and how would it look if I suddenly said, Oh, hey, I actually know where Joy is?” Luna’s crying now. “When she stayed longer, I thought—I don’t know, I thought maybe it was good she didn’t learn about Xander right away. After everything she’s been through. Maybe it was better to protect her from having to deal with that for a little longer.”

This isn’t an answer. Why not save me from my misery? Why let the police think I was involved? If she didn’t have something to hide she wouldn’t have kept her mouth shut for seven entire days. And then I realize there’s one huge question I haven’t yet asked. “Luna, how did Xander die?”

“You already know how he died. He drove his car off the road.” She averts her eyes. “He was probably looking for Joy.”

“He had a head injury,” I say, working through what I’ve learned. My brain hits a snag, and then something occurs to me, something I should’ve caught sooner. I narrow my eyes at her. “When did you visit Joy on Tuesday morning?”

“What?”

“You told Keller you visited Joy on Tuesday morning. But when I got there to record, Xander had only just left. Joy said we’d just missed him.”

“So?”

“So you wouldn’t have been making these plans in front of him.”

“It was a quick conversation,” she says, crossing her arms. “Out by my car.”

“Then why did you need to tell the police you were there? Why did you need to have your fingerprints taken?”

“What are you…” Her voice cracks.

I hold up a hand. I’ve just realized something else, and it’s so damning I have to catch my breath. “Cameras.” I steady my gaze on my ex-wife and add, slowly, “You’ve been saying cameras. Plural.”

Luna takes a step back.

“The camera we found was above Joy’s desk,” I continue. “Did you know about that one?”

She doesn’t respond, but I can tell by her eyes that she did not.

“Luna, where are the other cameras?”

“I … I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But she’s lying. And all at once everything snaps into place. Why she needed her fingerprints accounted for. Why she so quickly listened to my late-night episode pleading for help. Why she kept talking me out of my theories when Joy and Xander first went missing. Why she kept Joy’s whereabouts a secret for seven days. She didn’t need to lie to Keller. She didn’t even need to tell us Joy was getting a divorce, not if she knew Joy was alive. She’s had one foot in this investigation from the start, letting us all get sidetracked by money transfers and audio files and search parties and fire extinguishers. I’d all but convinced myself Joy was dead, and all the while Luna said nothing. She knew exactly where the other cameras were, and she made sure to remove all of them. And I can only think of one reason why.

“Luna, what did you do?”

As I’m saying this, the sliding doors open, and through them Sarah calls, “They have news.”



* * *



SARAH HAS ALREADY convinced the doctor we’re family, so we’re able to get the full update. Joy has suffered extreme blood loss due to an incomplete miscarriage. They attempted to manage the bleeding with dilation and curettage, but this was complicated by several large uterine fibroids. Removing these led to further complications, at which point the bleeding was so severe it was determined the only course of action was an open hysterectomy, which they’re performing now.

Sarah presses a calming hand to my back. “Is she going to be okay?”

Beneath the doctor’s blue surgery cap is a hint of fire-red hair. She rubs her clavicle with a dry, cracked hand. “She’s lost a lot of blood. It’s good you found her when you did.”

It’s a nonanswer.

“Incomplete miscarriage…” I say, thwacked with the memory of my last moments with Joy. Why did you start talking about divorce in the first place? she asked. Was it the baby stuff? Because you wanted kids and she didn’t? I’d had no idea what she was asking.

“Did you know about this?” I ask Luna. “Did you know she was pregnant?”

Her jaw is slack. She shakes her head.

“I’ll keep you updated,” the doctor says.

I watch until she’s out of sight.

By the time I turn around, Luna is gone.





Joy Moore


Day Seven

I feel as though I’m floating. An odd sensation, considering I can’t move my limbs. The nurse, or doctor, or whoever was just here, asked if I knew what day it was and I laughed. Laughed! I don’t know what day it is. I haven’t known what day it is for days. This too strikes me as funny. I’m strapped to things, bleeps and tubes, and this is the best I’ve felt in ages. I’m not sleepy at all. I could stay awake for …