Ashley shook her head. “Stop,” she said. “I don’t understand.” Her certainty was unraveling, thread by thread. Rowena spoke gently. “You couldn’t have,” she said. “But it’s time now.” Ashley felt suddenly off balance, as if the ground beneath her had shifted.
Bill finally spoke, his voice low. “We knew each other from work. I gave Simone a ride home,” he said. “She’d just come from a fitting.” Ashley looked at him sharply. “A fitting?” Bill nodded once. “She had the dress with her. In a garment bag. She was nervous about it getting wrinkled.”