Chapter 12: Easy

The voice memo in my pocket had been running since I crossed the lot.

I had pressed it with my thumb before I opened the garage door, and I had not told anyone.

Joanna came in through the half-open door, smiling.

She stopped when she saw me.

The smile stayed on, and her eyes went to the envelope on the bench.

"Caleb," she said. "Look at us. We keep running into each other."

"Hi, Joanna."

"Brett, why didn't you tell me he'd be here?"

Brett opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

I picked up the six pages and held them toward her.

"I wanted to ask about the insurance," I said. "I tapped Accept, in the motel, while I brushed my teeth. You said it was boring."

"It is boring. Every trip has one."

"Five hundred thousand dollars, accidental death. Beneficiary, you and Brett. Fifty percent each."

Her face didn't move.

"I'm sure that's a template," she said. "They put in the people you travel with."

"The policy was bought the day before the canyon. The permit was bought five weeks earlier.

"The flood alert reached your phone at 4:41, and you read it at 4:44.

"At 4:50 you signed the gate book that said nobody was left on the trails."

I said it slowly, because I wanted every word in the recording.

Joanna looked at Brett.

Brett was staring at the floor.

"You kept a copy," she said.

It was not a question.

Her voice had dropped, and it had lost all the sweetness.

"You kept a copy of it, you idiot. You couldn't just do the one thing."

"Joanna, I didn't," Brett whispered.

"Did you give it to him? Did you think he'd pay you?"

"I thought ..."

"You thought." She laughed, short and dry.

"He was supposed to go down the wash. It was one trail. He followed me for six days like a puppy."

I felt my heart go slow and cold.

"You wanted me to go down the wash," I said.

"I wanted you to be happy in the canyon."

"Joanna."

She looked at me then, and her face changed.

Keep reading free with an account. Start They Left Me at the Canyon, So I Came Back for the Wedding from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.