“Those costs were already paid,” Heather said in a quiet voice. “I can’t withdraw that much—the police would notice.”
“What about the life insurance?” I said. “I’m sure you’re getting a big chunk of change from that.”
Julie glared at me, as Heather said, “I haven’t got the insurance money yet—it takes time. Look, I can pay you all back.”
“Don’t be silly, this isn’t just your problem—we’re in this together,” Julie said in a firm voice. “We’ll all pay.”
“We should split it evenly,” Alison said. “If we each contribute five thousand dollars we can pay him off.”
“I’ll find it somewhere,” Heather said.
I snorted. “Oh, I’m sure you’ve got some portable wealth—all you have to do is sell some jewelry.”
“Or we could sell it for you,” Julie said. “You have to be very careful that the police don’t catch wind of this.”
For a few minutes none of us said anything, just sitting there wrestling with the implications of the decision. I poured another shot of whiskey and this time Julie spoke up. “Don’t have another one or you won’t be able to drive home.”
“I’m fine,” I said, but Alison snatched the cup away, splashing whiskey onto the wooden table and across the snow-covered ground.
“You’re not fine; you’re drunk,” she said. “You think we haven’t noticed? Get a grip and sober up—you’re risking everything with this behavior.”
“Me?” I spluttered. “How is this my fault? If she’d just had the common sense to leave him.” I pointed at Heather, who flushed under the scrutiny.
“Stop it,” Alison said. “This isn’t her fault.”
“It’s nobody’s fault,” Julie said. “Let’s all just calm down.” Ever the peacemaker, she didn’t point out that I was telling the truth.
Alison closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “We have five days to collect the money,” she said when she opened them. “It’s just one more hurdle—we can’t give up.”
No one said anything to contradict her, but the light was going, so I put away the thermos and we pocketed our letters and walked quietly back to our cars. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Julie asked me. Alison was busy getting George into the back of her car and she and Heather didn’t hear me say, “I told you, I’m fine.” But I know they all saw me peel out a minute later, leaving sooner and faster than everyone else.
As night fell, so did my mood. I took a long route home, trying to figure out where on earth I could get $5,000 without Eric finding out about it. What had possessed Alison to suggest that we split it evenly? This wasn’t some girls’ night out, we weren’t splitting the cost of dinner or a bar bill—this was $20,000. Julie and Heather could find this money pretty easily, but what about me and Alison? Count on her to act like some goody-two-shoes Girl Scout.
We tended to dance around finances in our friendship. Of course, we all knew that Heather and Julie had more money than Alison and I did, but the closest we’d ever come to having tension over that difference was last year. About six months before our youngest kids were starting elementary school, Heather mentioned that Viktor wanted to send Daniel to Sewickley Academy, a private school, instead of Sewickley Elementary, the public school where all of our kids were enrolled. That got Julie talking about enrolling her kids there, too, even though Owen was already in third grade at the public school. I have to admit that I got a little huffy about that, making a few pointed comments about some people thinking they were better than everybody else. Things had been tense for a little while, but in the end Daniel went to Sewickley Elementary and Julie enrolled Aubrey there as well, and the talk of private school and tuition just died away.
Until that decision to split the extortion cost evenly, money hadn’t caused any serious problem among us. Later, Alison texted me to say that if we weren’t careful, this tension could cause a crack in our friendship. We had no idea how much worse things could get. And Alison didn’t realize that the crack was already there, just waiting for the catalyst to push us apart.
chapter twenty-five
JULIE
There was a part of me that wanted to run away and leave the others to deal with this mess. I’d won one of those top-producer prize packages from my agency—a two-person trip to Cancún—and I called Brian to propose that we use it right away. He’d just gotten back to his hotel room in Kansas City and sounded exhausted.
“Now? Hon, I’d love to vacation with you, but this is the worst time of year for me, you know that.”
“Think about it—sand, warm sun, cocktails on the beach. People waiting on us, instead of us waiting on them.”
“But what about the kids?”
“Your mom would watch them, or my sister. She’s offered before. I know she’d take them if I asked.”
“But it’s the middle of the school year. Why not wait until summer and then we can all go away together?”
It made perfect sense, of course it did, but I didn’t want sense, I wanted to escape.
“Hon? Are you okay? What’s with this sudden travel bug?”
“Nothing. I’m just tired.”
Brian sighed. “Tell me about it. If I have to listen to another presentation on biotech software I might seriously kill someone.”
The word made me recoil; I was glad he couldn’t see me. “Would you ever?” I asked on impulse.
“Would I ever what?”
“Kill someone. Would you ever?”
Brian laughed. “What is this? Are you messing with me?”
“No, I mean, it’s just a question. Could you ever kill someone? If they were hurting you or me or the kids?”
“I guess I could—especially if you or the kids were being threatened. But seriously, Jules, you’re acting weird—what is this?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing. Just too much to drink tonight, I guess.”
“Yeah, I think so.” Brian chuckled a little. “I miss you, hon.”
“I miss you, too.” My eyes and my voice filled with tears, surprising me as much as him.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’ll be back in a few days.”
“I know, I know.”
“Is it the kids? Are they bugging you? Because I’m going to give them holy hell if they’re giving you a hard time.”
“No, it’s not the kids, they’re fine. I just miss you when you’re away, that’s all.”
I wanted to tell him—I needed so much to talk to someone other than Sarah, Alison, or Heather—but I couldn’t do it. Not now. Not after what we’d done. No one could know.
*
We had only a week to gather the money. Getting mine was pretty easy; I took $5,000 from the private account that I’d set up as a vacation fund. When I asked for that amount in cash, the bank teller, a blue-haired old woman whom I’d known for years, raised an eyebrow and asked with a cackling laugh if I was planning a little retail therapy. I hoped she wouldn’t make that joke the next time she saw Brian.
Sarah was the one I was worried about most. I knew that she and Eric shared all their accounts and he handled all their bills and record keeping. How was she going to manage to pull together $5,000 without him knowing about it? I wanted to offer to pay her half, but I knew that could cause problems between us, and what about Alison? Her finances couldn’t be that much better than Sarah’s, but it wouldn’t have been fair to offer to pay Sarah’s share and not Alison’s.
Two days after we met at the park I ran into Sarah, relieved that she seemed sober and had taken some furniture she’d inherited to an antiques dealer. “A solid Sheraton dining room set, oak bookcases, and a glass-topped side table and they only gave me twenty-five hundred dollars,” she complained. “They’re going to turn right around and sell the dining room set alone for over a thousand dollars. Thieving bastards!”
“Can you raise the rest?”
“I’ll find it somewhere,” she said. “What choice do I have? But I’m screwed if Eric wants to go to the storage locker any time soon. He won’t miss the furniture, but he’ll sure as hell miss the money I should have from its sale. Last night he asked why I was so jumpy—if he only knew.”