Listen for the Lie
by Amy Tintera
Contents
Chapter Forty-Three: Lucy
Overview
Lucy finally forces herself to revisit the wedding venue with Ben and Matt in hopes of recovering more memories from the night Savvy died. The trip confirms a gap in Lucy’s movements and revives a crucial hidden memory: Lucy slipped outside during the reception and was caught kissing an unidentified man by Savvy. The discovery opens a new mystery about who was with Lucy that night and shows that Lucy is still withholding important information.
Summary
Lucy calls Ben and orders him to bring his microphone to the Byrd Estate because she has finally decided to test whether revisiting the wedding venue will force more memories to return. When Lucy and Ben arrive, Trudy reluctantly allows them to look around. Ben then learns that Lucy also invited Matt, because Lucy wants someone who was present that night to reconstruct the sequence of events.
Matt starts in the parking lot and explains that he and Lucy arrived before Colin and Savvy, briefly making small talk with another couple before going inside. In the reception room, Matt remembers that their table was near the bar, which triggers a flash for Lucy: Colin joking about the convenient seat and Savvy in her pink dress, alive and beautiful instead of the bloodied body from the crime scene photos. The overlap between those images unsettles Lucy and makes the memory feel dangerously close.
Matt admits that much of the reception itself is blurry, but he confirms that Lucy and Savvy spent most of the evening together while Lucy and Matt were not getting along. Matt also repeats a key detail from his police statement: at one point Savvy was back at the table without Lucy, and about half an hour later Lucy was still missing. Ben reminds Lucy that no guest has ever come forward to explain where Lucy went during that gap.
As Ben leads the group toward the restrooms, Lucy becomes fixated on a side door and goes outside instead. The outdoor alcove triggers a sharper memory: Lucy had slipped out there and was kissing an unidentified man against the brick wall, with his hand on her breast and her dress strap fallen down, when Savvy found them and sharply told Lucy to come with her. Lucy still cannot see the man’s face or remember what happened immediately after, but Lucy now knows the man was not Matt. Even so, Lucy lies and claims she remembers nothing, and Matt clearly realizes Lucy is hiding the truth.
Who Appears
- LucyProtagonist; revisits the wedding venue, recovers a hidden memory, and conceals it.
- Ben OwensPodcaster recording the visit and pressing Lucy to confront gaps in her memory.
- MattLucy’s ex; helps reconstruct the wedding night and notices Lucy is lying.
- SavvyAppears in Lucy’s recovered memory, interrupting Lucy’s encounter with an unknown man.
- TrudyByrd Estate staffer who reluctantly lets Lucy and Ben tour the venue again.