It was only by chance that I noticed Dr. Hale’s old house had gone up for sale. I asked Judy about it when I saw the house on her website, and she said she was getting it cleaned up right now, but it would be ready for showings shortly. I got a chill down my spine at the thought of Judy having free rein on that house. Then I thought about the number of people that would go in and out of that house before it was sold. I calculated the odds that somebody might run across Jamison’s dead body, wherever Dr. Hale hid it.

I don’t know how long the video recordings are kept of the casinos, but I was convinced there was a way to connect me and Jamison. I wasn’t about to risk giving birth to my baby in prison.

That’s when I knew what I had to do. I had to search the house and get rid of the body. Before anyone else could find it. So I picked the night of a blizzard to go out there, hoping Judy would have cleared out because of the weather, knowing I’d have a couple of solid days to search the house.

When I found the hidden room, I thought for sure I had hit the jackpot. I hadn’t. But I found something even more important. If anyone heard that tape of Dr. Hale blackmailing me, I would be finished. They would hold me responsible for her murder and Jamison’s. Nobody can ever hear this tape except me.

And now I know where she stashed the body. But unfortunately, I don’t think I can move it. It was one thing to throw Adrienne Hale in the trunk of my car just after I killed her, but I don’t think I can go anywhere near that rotting corpse. The vomit wasn’t an act. It was sickening.

And then there’s Luke Strauss. The boyfriend, who I didn’t know was squatting in this house. I'm the only one who knows for sure he wasn’t the one who killed Dr. Hale. He probably really did love her.

He knows about the dead body. And he knows it isn’t Adrienne Hale’s body. Luke is a smart guy.

I have to plan my next move very carefully.

Chapter 51

It’s been well over an hour and Ethan still isn’t back yet.

I’m getting worried. The temperature has dropped precipitously over the last hour, and the snow is turning to ice. What if he slipped and hurt himself? What if he’s lying out there in the snow, unable to go for help?

And it would be all my fault. After all, I’m the one who brought us here. And I didn’t even do what I meant to accomplish. Jamison’s body is still lying underneath the floorboards.