Cover of Listen for the Lie

Listen for the Lie

by Amy Tintera


Genre
Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Year
2024
Pages
317
Contents

Chapter Forty-Eight: Lucy

Overview

Lucy recovers a crucial piece of the wedding-night timeline and realizes Emmett lied about never leaving the reception. She also confirms that she and Savvy were happy and planning to run away together, undermining any idea that they left in the middle of a fight. Watching Emmett intimidate and physically hurt Nina deepens Lucy's suspicion of him, and his approach to Lucy triggers another major memory return.

Summary

Lucy strains to recover more of the night Savvy died, but the memory starts slipping away again. What remains clear is the emotional truth: Lucy and Savvy had been planning to leave Plumpton together for Los Angeles, and thinking about that lost future leaves Lucy devastated.

As Lucy looks through the art shop window, she sees Nina standing tensely in front of Emmett while he yells at her. That sight triggers another memory from the wedding night: Lucy distinctly remembers seeing Emmett drive away just before Lucy and Savvy left together.

Lucy immediately calls Ben Owens and asks about Emmett's timeline. Ben says Emmett claimed he stayed at the wedding until it ended around three in the morning and that witnesses placed him there, but Lucy insists she saw him leave down the dirt road toward the highway and that their eyes met.

Ben asks whether Lucy remembers what happened with Savvy, and Lucy says the memories are returning only in fragments. She does remember one important fact with certainty: she and Savvy were not fighting when they got into the car. Instead, they were happy and talking about leaving town together.

While still on the phone, Lucy watches Emmett's confrontation with Nina escalate. Nina flinches and curls inward, and Lucy recognizes the posture instantly as the reflex of someone bracing to be hit; when Emmett grabs Nina's wrists hard enough to make her cry, Lucy realizes he is hurting her. Nina breaks free and flees in her car, then Emmett comes to Lucy's window, and that moment jolts Lucy into another recovered memory.

Who Appears

  • Lucy
    Recovers key memories, challenges Emmett's alibi, and recognizes abuse in his treatment of Nina.
  • Emmett
    Claims he never left the wedding, then is seen angrily confronting and hurting Nina.
  • Savvy
    Appears in Lucy's returning memories as her happy partner in a plan to flee Plumpton.
  • Ben Owens
    Takes Lucy's call, checks Emmett's stated timeline, and presses her for recovered details.
  • Nina
    Stands up to Emmett at the art shop, then flees after he grabs her wrists.
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