Lovely Girls

PRAISE FOR MARGOT HUNT Best Friends Forever “[Best Friends Forever] constantly pushes forward, asking readers to question every conclusion and warning them to never completely trust anyone . . . the characters are well drawn, speaking easily for themselves and standing out as unique people who feel real.” —Kirkus Reviews “Best Friends Forever is a page-turner of a read, delving into the often-fraught world of female friendships and the wreckage left behind when they implode. The women at the heart of this novel are full of secrets kept from loved ones, each other, and, most of all, themselves. You may think you know how this story is going to end. But trust me—you don’t.” —Amy Engel, author of The Roanoke Girls “Friends or husbands? Who do women tell more truth? Give more allegiance? Margot Hunt shocks and astounds as she explores these tugs of loyalty in Best Friends Forever, a psychological thriller that kept me off balance even after I turned the last page.” —Randy Susan Meyers, bestselling author of The Widow of Wall Street “Best Friends Forever is a clever thriller that asks how far we’ll go to protect our friends. Margot Hunt will keep you guessing until the final satisfying twist.” —Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Ex “Margot Hunt’s cleverly constructed thriller kept me guessing till the very end.” —Peter Swanson, author of The Kind Worth Killing and Her Every Fear “Margot Hunt’s richly drawn women wrap their hands around your throat and don’t let go. A suspenseful page-turner that kept me puzzling over who did it until the last few pages. Fantastic!” —Cate Holahan, author of The Widower’s Wife The Last Affair “This gripping psychological thriller explores the reasons two marriages are unhappy and the ways vengeance-seeking women pursue their target.” —Booklist “The action hurtles toward an astonishing conclusion. Fans of Paula Hawkins and Megan Abbott will be gratified.” —Publishers Weekly ALSO BY MARGOT HUNT Best Friends Forever For Better or Worse The Last Affair Buried Deep The House on the Water Tell Her Story This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Otherwise, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Text copyright © 2023 by Whitney Kelly All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Thomas & Mercer, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Thomas & Mercer are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781662504334 (paperback) ISBN-13: 9781662504341 (digital) Cover design by Amanda Kain Cover image: © happycreator / Shutterstock; © LUMIKK555 / Shutterstock; © Lumina / Stocksy For Sam Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. —Ralph Waldo Emerson CONTENTS PROLOGUE PART ONE Before She Died CHAPTER ONE VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER TWO KATE CHAPTER THREE KATE CHAPTER FOUR KATE CHAPTER FIVE KATE CHAPTER SIX VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER SEVEN KATE CHAPTER EIGHT VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER NINE KATE CHAPTER TEN VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER ELEVEN KATE CHAPTER TWELVE KATE CHAPTER THIRTEEN VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER FOURTEEN KATE CHAPTER FIFTEEN VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER SIXTEEN KATE CHAPTER SEVENTEEN VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER EIGHTEEN KATE CHAPTER NINETEEN KATE CHAPTER TWENTY VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE KATE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE KATE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR KATE CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX KATE CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT KATE CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER THIRTY KATE PART TWO After She Died CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE KATE CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO KATE CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR KATE CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE KATE CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX KATE CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN KATE CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT KATE CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE KATE CHAPTER FORTY KATE CHAPTER FORTY-ONE KATE CHAPTER FORTY-TWO KATE CHAPTER FORTY-THREE VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR KATE CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER CHAPTER FORTY-SIX KATE CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN KATE CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT KATE CHAPTER FORTY-NINE KATE CHAPTER FIFTY KATE CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER ABOUT THE AUTHOR PROLOGUE Jessie Garner and Sylvia Chen met every morning at seven o’clock to walk the beach. Despite both being in their late seventies, they made for an incongruous pair. Jessie was tall with long legs, an iron-rod posture, and a short shock of white hair she refused to color on the principle that aging was normal and everyone should get over it. Sylvia was of Chinese descent, had a sheath of shiny dark locks she was secretly extremely vain about, and was so much shorter than Jessie, she had to walk nearly twice as fast to keep up with her friend. Although friend might be stretching it. The two women didn’t have much in common, other than their fondness for early-morning exercise and a preference for walking with a companion. Sylvia occasionally doubted the latter. Jessie could be a handful. This morning, she was on a tirade about the condo board meeting that had been held the previous evening for the high-rise beachside building they both lived in. Sylvia was not on the board and so hadn’t been at the meeting. You couldn’t pay her to be on the board, especially after hearing all Jessie’s rants on the subject. “I proposed an amendment to the HOA rules that residents should be limited in the number of guests they can have at the pool at any given time.” Jessie swung her arms forcefully as she walked, her hands fisted. “Last week, Elizabeth McNamara had all five of her grandchildren at the pool, and they were running around like little hooligans.” “I don’t know,” Sylvia said. It annoyed her that she always felt obliged to keep her tone mild and nonconfrontational around