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Back One White Lie Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. DEDICATION
  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. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. Acknowledgments
  59. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Who else but Davis would know what that scarf meant to me? To anyone else, it was nothing more than an old stained thing. What if Davis had killed John, stabbed him with the knife he kept in his pocket, then snuck back into the cottage, put Dusty in danger, and taken my mother’s scarf so I’d get the message? Taken the photos and the note, too, just to fuck with me?

I grabbed my phone, trying Ellie one more time, desperate to know.

After five rings, she answered. ‘Can you stop calling me? Put me on whatever Do Not Call list and leave me alone.’

‘Ellie,’ I said. ‘It’s me.’

A quick, sharp breath.

‘This is you? Jesus Christ, I didn’t know. Are you okay?’

I swallowed, my lips trembling as I struggled to ask the question. ‘Did you tell him?’ I asked, the words tumbling forth. ‘Did you tell Davis where I was?’

The line went quiet, taut between us. A tightrope.

‘Ellie, tell me. Please.’

‘What do you want me to say?’ she asked.

‘You promised,’ I said, my voice pleading. ‘You promised you wouldn’t.’

‘He’s my brother,’ she said.

‘Ellie.’

‘He’s my brother, I had to.’

Without another word, I hung up the phone.

Davis was here, he had found me, and I didn’t have another second to spare.

It was time to go.

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TWENTY-SEVEN

I pried up the floorboard, a splinter digging sharp beneath my skin, then stared at my things – my life, all that made me who I was, in a handful of items. Easy to travel with, at least.

I checked everything twice, then packed it all into my tote, the same one I’d taken up here, back in September, and set it next to my suitcase, already filled to the brim with my clothes.

My mother’s missing scarf tugged at me – I hated to leave here without it – but there was nothing to do about it now.

‘What do you think, baby?’ I asked Dusty, trying to force some levity into my voice so as not to freak him out too much. ‘Want to go on another adventure?’

I checked the time on my phone. It was just past noon. Vera was probably still wrapping everything up with the guys at the funeral parlor. If I left now, she wouldn’t even see me go. I had two missed calls, spaced five minutes apart, from a local 845 number. Part of me wanted to answer, just to see who it was, but another part feared it was Davis, having gotten my new number somehow, calling me from a local bar – or a pay phone, even, if any of those still existed.