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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

‘No one but me, my husband, and my daughter, and I’m sure you’re not implying that either of them would …’

‘No,’ I said. ‘No, of course not. Thank you.’

My eyes darted around the room as I hung up. Someone had to have found a way in here. Maybe she was bullshitting me. Maybe she hadn’t changed the locks at all. Opening a new page on my phone, I googled her company, Jennifer Moon Real Estate. As promised, a Yelp page turned up. She wasn’t lying. There were loads of five-star reviews. It was difficult to read through the cracks in my screen, but, squinting, I did.

Incredibly professional!

A pleasure to work with.

Takes safety very seriously.

Jennifer has the best rentals in the area.

And then, a longer one.

We worked with Jennifer Moon to get our cabin in tip-top shape before renting it. Her husband is an amazing local contractor, and she got us a great deal on all the necessary repairs to bring things up to snuff. We ended up getting a far higher monthly rental rate than we’d anticipated. Can’t recommend enough!

I paused. Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right at all.

Heart pounding, I found the field that would let me search within the reviews as I remembered what Vera had said, early on.

He’s a top contractor in the area – through his business, he’s become friends with a bunch of lawyers, even a judge ….

Fingers shaking, I typed in contractor. Like that, three reviews appeared, relevant text highlighted and bolded.

She’s married to a great contractor in the area

Her contractor husband was a life-saver before we sold

The last one on the list was the one that made my heart stop, that turned everything I thought I believed – about Davis, about John, about all of this – upside down.

The one that made me realize I had gotten it all terribly, horribly wrong.

Jennifer set us up with her husband, contractor Sam Alby of Alby Construction

Penguin walking logo

THIRTY-SIX

I headed to Vera’s immediately, snowflakes catching in my hair. I walked as quickly as I could manage, careful not to slip on the slick road. I told myself the threat of exposing that photo was enough to hold Davis off, but how could I really be sure? I had spent so many years under his control – it was hard to believe it would end just like that. Davis could have changed his mind, or this could all be part of his plan. Perhaps he wanted to watch me squirm a little more before hurting me again.

As soon as I reached the farmhouse, I banged on the front door like my life depended on it. And, fuck it, maybe it did.

Vera opened the door after twenty seconds or so. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked frantically. ‘God, did Davis come back? Did you finally contact the police?’