“Our kids are fine,” she told him.
The pleased look on Michael’s face disappeared as Natalie shared what had happened at the Oakmont Athletic Club.
“Tina … I can’t believe it. She’s gone?”
“Gone,” said Natalie. “Died instantly when she hit the side of the pool.”
They talked more about Tina and Audrey and the gruesome scene the police had found at the club; about Natalie’s dislocated shoulder and the cut she’d sustained to her arm, which needed twenty stitches to close. She told him, too, about how Kate Hildonen got on the first flight out of St. Louis when she’d heard the news reports.
Then Natalie made her confession.
“I wasn’t ever charged with Audrey’s murder, just so you know. Kennett and I came up with the plan. We set it all up. Did it to try to trap you, make you think I was going to go to prison for something you did. We were playing to your conscience when we weren’t even sure you had one.”
“He played me well this whole time,” Michael admitted. “So, I confessed, did I?”
Natalie answered with a nod. “Yes, you did it to save me,” she said. With that, she broke into tears, heaving and sobbing, fighting for each breath, just as Michael had done when the tubes finally came out. He put his hand on hers.
“Is it too late to save us?” he asked. “Are we done, too? The doctors are pretty sure I’m going to get out of here alive, so you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Michael coughed again. His throat felt like sandpaper.
Natalie touched his face. He saw love in her eyes—not a flame, but a spark, a hint that something could ignite again.
“We can talk about that later,” she said. “When you’re stronger, healthier. Now isn’t the time.”
“I need you to know the truth about me,” Michael said. “I won’t recover well if I’m holding it inside. Nat, I have to talk. Now.”
“Michael, I don’t—”
“Please,” he begged again. “Please.”
Natalie took time between his request and her response.
“Okay,” she eventually relented. “Talk. But before you do, I think you should know that your mother got in touch with me. She wants to come and see you.”
“That would be good. Great, even,” Michael agreed. He coughed, wincing through the pain. It hurt to take in air. Every breath felt like someone was pounding a fist against his ribs, but the pain he experienced now was nothing compared with the suffering he had caused others through his numerous lies.
“I had an affair,” he blurted out. “It was brief. It was stupid. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but you deserve the truth. I’ll take the consequences of my actions.”
An inscrutable look came over Natalie’s face. If she felt relief or anger at getting confirmation of her long-held suspicion, it wasn’t for Michael to know.
“Do I know her?” she asked, sounding more curious than upset.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I met her at the gym. That part is true. She works for your company, that’s true, as well. Does corporate investigations.”
“Sarah Fielding?” Natalie spat out, disbelieving.
“Yeah, that’s her. Sarah Fielding. You do know her?”
Natalie told him about meeting Sarah, and how she may have used the lie of protecting the company as a veiled excuse to protect herself.
“She was probably worried that if I went looking on my own I would have very likely connected her directly to you,” she told Michael.
“Good way to hide the evidence—doing the investigation yourself.”
“But instead of a cover-up, she discovered what she thought was your affair with Audrey and more of your secrets. She wanted me to know everything. I think that’s why she wrote her confessional.”
“The note you hid in your shoebox,” said Michael forlornly. “I found it while pulling apart the house looking for reasons why you ran.”
Natalie returned a grim nod.
“She said it was to apologize, but really I think she wanted me to know you were unfaithful, hope that I’d leave you.”
“She’d do anything to get back at me for breaking it off with her,” said Michael. “She wanted our marriage to end, and maybe she got her wish. That night you went to Audrey’s house, the night she was murdered, I was with Sarah. I’d already ended things with her, but she refused to accept it was over, and I was trying to talk sense into her before she did something destructive to you and me.”
“I was sure you were with Audrey that night,” said Natalie. “Were you two ever in contact?”
“We did exchange messages,” Michael revealed.
“About what?”
“Audrey and I have been in touch for years. She knew I changed my name, but didn’t know who I became. I kept everything very close to the vest. For my sake, our sake, the less she knew about my new life the better.”
“She didn’t know about me?”
“Not until you showed her my picture,” he said.
“I see,” answered Natalie.
“She thought of me like a big brother. In fact, I was the one who told her to apply for a job at Dynamic Media when she decided to relocate to the area. I encouraged it, and maybe even greased the wheels a little.”
“Greased the wheels? How?”
“One night when Tina came over to the house for dinner, I pulled her aside, told her a friend of mine was lamenting the loss of his best employee who was trying to get a finance job at Dynamic Media. I asked her if an Audrey Adler had applied for a position there. So when Audrey went to interview she was already well endorsed because Tina loves you … or she did.”
“Why did you want to help her so much?”
“Because of this.”
Michael held up his wrist to show her the scar that he always hid with his watchband.
“The only blood on that knife is mine,” he said. “After my arrest, I tried to kill myself. Made the cut, but I couldn’t go deep enough. I wiped a lot of the blood off the blade, and then hid the knife. I forgot about it when I moved out of the house. I guess my mom found it, and naturally she thought the worst.
“I was going to try again, but I called Audrey instead. Audrey came to where I was staying and talked to me for hours. She told me that Brianna always loved me, and that if it weren’t for their mother, she would never have ended things. She also said Brianna would want me to live. She was certain I didn’t kill her sister, and believed that someday the truth would come out. I couldn’t stop crying. I was so scared, but I didn’t go through with it. Audrey saved my life that night. I truly believe that.”
Natalie took Michael’s hand.
“I need to know something, for my own sanity. Did you meet her at a McDonald’s?”
“I did,” Michael said, sounding surprised. “How did you know that?”
“I followed her there,” Natalie admitted.
“We were trying to figure out what to do now that you were involved,” he said. “We didn’t want you to get hurt.