BooksBarbecue
Back Falling
Chapters (29)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Epigraph
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. ALSO BY CHRISTOPHER PIKE
  29. Copyright Page

She lost her smile. “I know your torture but you don’t know mine. Let me die, Matt. If you like, I can walk across the street and pass out in the park. It will be over before help can reach me. It’ll be better that way for both of us.”

He saw she was serious. He tried to force his own finger down her throat but she bit him. “You cannot do this!” he shouted.

A wave of fatigue swept over her and she sagged against the wall. He shot out a supporting hand and she rested the back of her head on the blue wallpaper with the white angels. Once again he was struck by how beautiful she looked. The thought of her laid out in a coffin smothered him with grief. And ten minutes ago he had wanted to kill her.

“I feel funny,” she whispered.

He grabbed her by her hair and forced her face toward the toilet. “Stick your finger down your throat this instant!”

She did not resist him but she did not cooperate either. On her knees, she muttered under her breath. “How can we be happy while he lives?”

The question weakened him as much as her suicide stunt. Because it was so true. He could never relax while David was in the world. He would never be free of the fear that she would go back to him. That did not say much for his trust in her—it was just reality. David and Amy were connected in the same way he and Amy were connected. The triangle felt ancient to Matt. Amy understood the strength of the button she pushed in him. Slumping beside the toilet bowl, she reached up and took his hand and kissed it.

“I will live if he dies,” she said. “It’s the only way.”

“We will never get away with it.”

“You will never get caught.”

Matt sighed. “All right. He dies.”

FOURTEEN

FOURTEEN

Kelly had no trouble planting her bugs in Matt’s apartment. The day after his discovery of Amy’s infidelity, she took him out for dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She intended to pay but figured he could afford it if he insisted on being a gentleman, which he did. As they were being seated, she acted chilled and rushed to get her coat. The valet had seen them together seconds before and did not hesitate to give her Matt’s keys. Once in his car, in the parking lot, she made an impression of his apartment key. The following morning, she flashed her badge at a locksmith in Santa Monica and got two copies made.