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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

Kristen starts to break. I can see it in her face. In the way her hands are now clenched. She’s hurt and angry.

“You shut up, Connor,” she says. “You don’t say that to me. Ever. I don’t know how long I knew about an affair, but it has been in my mind for a long time. It haunts me even now. I think about how we ended up at those cabins in the first place. How you must have stalked her.”

“I didn’t,” I tell her. “It was your idea to go there.”

She brushes my words aside. “I don’t remember it that way. All I remember is all the goddamn blood. All the lame excuses you had for whatever it was that you were doing. Or who you were doing it with. Something went wrong, Connor. She dumped you. You got mad. You paid her back, and you will not drag me down with you.”

My voice cracks. “I never would do that.”

“Look,” Kristen finally says, “I’ll stand by you. I’ll be the wife at your side. I’ll get you the best lawyer in Seattle. I’ll do all of that to keep you alive. But you’ll need to do the right thing. You’ll need to stop being a selfish little boy and grow a pair.”

Keep me alive? I have no idea what she’s talking about.

“I don’t know you right now,” I say. I don’t. She’s hard. She’s a block of limestone, and she’s holding me with a cold stare that eviscerates me.

“The Mason County prosecutor told me she’ll ask for the death penalty, Connor. Neither one of us wants that, right?”

I don’t answer, because I can’t even breathe.

“You’ll plead guilty. That’s what you’ll do.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“Your DNA and your lack of an alibi, Connor, will get you a needle in your arm.”

“But you’re my alibi.”

My wife’s head drops, because either I’m not listening to her or I don’t understand.

“Am I? I can’t say for sure where you were, Connor. And, unlike you, I can’t lie to the court.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

LEE

I sit at my desk and leave a voice mail for Adam after several failed attempts. I could’ve waited to talk to him when I see him later at the cabin, but it felt wrong to withhold the news. And I want him to know that I never thought he was involved, that I knew he was innocent from the moment I saw him by the concrete bulkhead at the cabin on Hood Canal.