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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

She nodded. ‘I know, I know I have to. I didn’t want to start anything, bring even more attention to Claire. She’s been through enough, and if it was her dad that killed John. God, I can’t even think about it.’

‘You need to tell them. Even if you’re wrong, and there was some sort of explanation, if Sam got the same idea you did, they have to know.’

‘There’s not another explanation, Lucy.’ She lowered her eyes before meeting mine again. ‘But I will. I’ll call McKnight tomorrow.’ She drained her wine. ‘Do you want another?’

All I wanted was to be home with Dusty, to have a moment to process what she’d told me: Could it really be true? Could John have been that far from the person I thought he was? Could everything I’d believed about him be a lie?

‘I should get home,’ I said, standing up. ‘While I can still drive.’

‘Okay,’ Rachel said. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all of this.’

‘Promise me you’ll tell the police, though,’ I said.

‘I swear.’

I shrugged into my coat and grabbed my car keys.

She stood, too, and followed me to the door.

‘Lucy,’ she said, once I was outside.

‘Yeah?’

‘Be careful, okay?’

‘What do you mean?’

She leaned against the doorjamb. ‘If you’re right about all of this – and the more you tell me, the more it sounds like you are – Sam can be a very angry guy. You called his wife asking about keys. You followed his daughter out of John’s memorial.’ Her eyes caught mine. ‘Yes, I saw. Just, be as safe as you can. Stay the night with Vera, if you have to.’

I paused. ‘With Vera?’

‘She has a guest bedroom, doesn’t she?’

‘Yeah,’ I said slowly. ‘It’s full of John’s things, but yeah.’

Rachel nodded. ‘All I mean is, you don’t want that man trying to take anything into his own hands, especially if you haven’t reported this to the cops. Keep yourself safe, above everything else.’

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THIRTY-NINE

I woke to Dusty barking.

My heart raced as my eyes struggled to adjust to the dark. The drapes were drawn tight, and my mouth was sticky with the wine I’d had at Rachel’s – plus the two glasses I’d had upon returning home, too shaken from what she’d told me to do much more than drink.

Dusty’s bark turned to a growl, and I flinched, muscles tensing, then tapped at my broken phone. It was just after three a.m. He growled again, then jumped off the bed, barking viciously at my shut bedroom door.

Between the punctuation of Dusty’s defensive howls, I strained to hear a muffled noise coming from the other room, a shuffling, almost like footsteps.