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Back Lying Next to Me Save as PDF
Chapters (87)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CHAPTER SEVEN
  13. CHAPTER EIGHT
  14. CHAPTER NINE
  15. CHAPTER TEN
  16. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  17. CHAPTER TWELVE
  18. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  23. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  24. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  65. CHAPTER SIXTY
  66. CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
  67. CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
  68. CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
  69. CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
  70. CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
  71. CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
  72. CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
  74. CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
  75. CHAPTER SEVENTY
  76. CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
  77. CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
  78. CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
  79. CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
  80. CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
  81. CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
  82. CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
  83. CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
  84. CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
  85. CHAPTER EIGHTY
  86. EPILOGUE
  87. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“You think he did it?” she asks.

I look away for a second before returning Marcy’s gaze.

I let out a sigh. “I hope so.”

The word hope hangs in the air.

Marcy is wholly bewildered. “Is everything all right?” she asks after a beat, scooting herself closer to the edge of my desk.

I measure my thoughts carefully. Part of me wants to speak to someone about Connor and what might have happened the night we arrived at the Hood Canal cabin. It feels very much like a checklist for murder: the blood, his shoes, and the missed time.

Marcy can see that I’m worried. She can read me only to the extent that I let her.

“You don’t think he did it,” she says.

“Let’s focus on Barringer,” I say.

“Why don’t you think he did it?” she asks.

“Marcy,” I say, “just leave it. Please. Let’s focus on work.”

When we take a break just before lunch, I think of reaching out to the detectives on the Sophie Warner case. What would I tell them? My suspicions that Connor might have done something so vile, so out of character? His police record in California was a DUI, not a violent offense.

I drink coffee and look at the Seattle Times story about the manhunt for Jim Coyle in connection to Sophie Warner. If they have evidence to charge him, I wonder what it could be. As I scroll down, there’s a story about a man from Tacoma who had a wife there and two more in Spokane and Yakima.

The audacity of his deception doesn’t shock me as much as it apparently shocked those quoted in the article.

I know something about being completely hoodwinked.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

KRISTEN

I sit there reading the bigamy article, and liars fly at me as though launched by a hurricane. Pinocchio. Any politician. Martha Stewart. Lance Armstrong. Bernie Madoff. Kenneth Lay. My mother, when she said I wasn’t up to the task of being a lawyer like my father.

And at the top of the list, my husband.

My body tenses, and my knuckles go white.

Him.

A long needle stuck in your abdomen isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you, though it’s pretty bad. I’ve watched YouTube after YouTube on fertility. I’ve seen women get more needle pokes than a pincushion. And for what? Nothing sometimes. But as I have told myself time and again, that isn’t the worst thing that can happen.

Learning that your husband is a cheat is worse. Finding out that it’s more than sex, something—and really I want to laugh out loud about this—deeper, is an almost cosmic wound.

Yes, that’s the worst.