“So why didn’t she want you to talk to the show?”
Laurie could tell that Sean was on the fence about revealing a private conversation. “Fine, I’m telling you, because it’s for her own good. She and Casey are practically sisters. They shouldn’t have secrets between them. Angela didn’t want me talking to you because she never told Casey that she was in love with Hunter.”
“She was in love with him? She and Casey both told me that it was just a couple of dates. They even joked about it.”
“Trust me, I heard that comedy routine, too. No, it was definitely more than that. Casey was so concerned with all those high-society women swooning over Hunter that she never noticed the way her own cousin looked at him. But I did. One day, I caught Angela staring dreamily at his picture in the newspaper, so I confronted her, point-blank: ‘Do you have feelings for your cousin’s fiancé?’ She tried denying it initially, but when I told her that I couldn’t continue a relationship with her if she wasn’t honest with me, she came clean. She said that at one point she had really loved him. She made me promise never to tell Casey.”
“You stayed with her, even after she lied to you?”
“Well, she didn’t lie so much as not tell me the whole truth.” Laurie couldn’t help but think about her own bump in the road with Alex-or was it the end of the road? She forced herself to focus on Sean as he continued to explain. “Ironically, knowing about Angela’s past relationship with Hunter made me feel closer to her. Her love for Casey was stronger than anything she ever felt for Hunter. She wanted Casey to be happy and didn’t want to do anything to cause a problem in her marriage. I admired her selflessness. But I can’t believe she’s still hiding this from Casey after all these years. Why does it matter anymore? If anything, it shows how much Casey meant to her. But once she told me, it felt like a wall came down between us.”
Laurie pushed away thoughts about her own wall, the one between her and Alex. The one she couldn’t seem to drop.
“So why did you break up?”
“Because being a little closer isn’t the same as true love. I think Angela really did try to love me, but I wasn’t him.”
“Hunter, you mean.”
He nodded. “I felt horrible when he was killed. To be honest, I used to wish something bad would happen to him, knowing Angela was still carrying a torch for him. I hoped she’d finally be over Hunter and let me into her heart after he was killed. But then one night I was going through her hallway closet, searching for a replacement bulb for her dining room light. I found a box she had kept from her time with Hunter-like a ‘memory box’ or something. I gave her an ultimatum. I told her she needed to get rid of it if we were going to stay together. She became enraged. I’d never seen her like that before. It scared me, frankly. She taunted me and said that I’d never be as good a man as Hunter.”
Laurie could tell that the words still stung all these years later.
“That was the end of our relationship. You just can’t get past that.”
No, Laurie thought. There are some things you can’t get past. She hoped that wasn’t the case with Alex.
“It worked out fine, though,” Sean said, his voice becoming cheerful. “Met the real thing two years later. I can’t imagine life without Jenna and the kids.”
Sean’s description of Angela was at complete odds with the impression she’d given Laurie. What she described as a few casual dates with Hunter had obviously meant much more than she’d let on. If the relationship had ever been serious, certainly Hunter would have mentioned it to Casey. And neither Hunter’s father nor his brother mentioned Hunter ever dating Casey’s cousin. Instead, it had been a running joke that Hunter and Angela would have made a terrible couple.
But maybe Angela hadn’t agreed. Maybe she was faking the laughter, while she kept a memory box devoted to Hunter in her closet. Laurie pictured Angela, short on modeling work and with no other career plans-removing the contents when she was alone, sitting on her bed and dreaming about a reality where Hunter Raleigh III had chosen her instead of her younger cousin.
“Sean, that box you found. Did it happen to contain a picture of Hunter with the President?”
He smiled. “You guys are good. How did you find out about that picture?”
60
Charlotte and Angela had decided to take a “divide and conquer” approach. Charlotte left her friend to continue working on the “home” set upstairs, while Charlotte circled back downstairs to decide the exact layout of the exercise-themed set on the ground floor.
She unpacked the yoga mats and hand weights from the bins Angela had used to transport them from the office. She was always impressed by Angela’s ability to find savings in a budget. They were renting the larger equipment like treadmills and Pilates machines for the show, but Angela was the one who’d raided Ladyform’s on-site gym for these smaller items.
Charlotte was trying to decide between two different layouts she’d sketched, but found her mind wandering as she looked at her sketch pad. She paused to read all of the notes that Angela had taped around the first floor for the set builders. She found yet another use of the term and also.”
She reached into her briefcase for her iPad, opened her email, and searched for archived messages from Angela. As she read through them, certain sentences jumped out at her in a new way. I confirmed with the light company. And also we need to discuss music. Let’s go to Lupa tonight. Best pasta! And also there’s a shop two blocks away I want to scope out.
And also. That was the phrase Laurie had highlighted from many of the negative comments posted about Casey online. Charlotte had never noticed, but Angela seemed to use the phrase, too. Maybe it was common, she thought. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but replay Laurie’s comments that afternoon. Angela may have already had suspicions. She was worried it would come to this. Neither one of us would be in this situation if she’d told us from the beginning she had her doubts.
Maybe Angela had known all along that Casey was guilty but didn’t want to tell the police. Casey and her parents had been Angela’s only family after her mother died. She could imagine Angela feeling torn about whether to turn on Casey if it meant losing not only her, but her aunt and uncle as well. But to post negative comments anonymously online while pretending to be her most loyal defender? To let Charlotte plead Casey’s innocence to Laurie, even as she carried her own doubts?
Charlotte could not believe that Angela would be so deceitful. She was tempted to ask her directly, but in the likely event she was wrong, she didn’t want to pile any more stress onto her friend’s plate.
Then she realized there might be another way to put her concerns to rest.
61
Laurie called Paula Carter from the sidewalk outside Sean Murray’s house. Paula picked up after one ring. “Oh, Laurie. Please say you’ve changed your mind. Is there any way you’ll cancel the show?”
“No, but it may be better than that, Paula. I may have found a lead on the missing picture. But I have to ask you a question. Two nights ago, Casey called me at home, asking me not to mention the details of the photograph missing from Hunter’s house. She said that withholding that detail from the show was something she, you, and Angela discussed.”
“That’s right. Of course, I tried once again to get her to call the whole thing off, but she ignored me as usual.”
“But the idea of not mentioning the picture of Hunter and the President: Exactly whose idea was that? Can you remember?”