BooksBarbecue
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

‘Don’t look so shocked, Miss King. I told you from the very beginning I was. I might not be a big-city detective, but I’m no hack, either. There were reasons we held out on arresting you. We had other irons in the fire, always.’

A silence hung between us, broken only by shuffling in the hallway, the clatter of rolling carts – hospital sounds.

He stood. ‘Your DNA came back this morning on that set of underwear, by the way. Is there anything, anything at all, that you feel the need to tell me? About the day Mr Nolan went missing – about your relationship with him? Or about your ex, who you say broke into your house? The truth is for the good of all of us, Miss King.’

McKnight stared, and for a second, I swore he thought he’d finally cracked me, that, perhaps, coming so close to death had opened me right up. But he was wrong about the truth – it wasn’t for the good of all of us, not in the slightest. The only people who believed that were motherfucking choirboys.

I held his gaze. ‘I’ve already told you everything I know.’

Vera was in the waiting room when they released me that day, wearing a black sweater and black leggings, hair secured away from her face haphazardly. She pulled me into a hug. ‘Thank god,’ she said. ‘Let’s get you home.’

We rode in John’s truck, her beautiful Mercedes smashed beyond repair. ‘I’m sorry about your car,’ I said as she took the exit for the highway that went to Woodstock. ‘I know you loved it.’

‘Stop, Lucy,’ she said. ‘It’s only a goddamn car. I’m just glad’ – her voice broke – ‘I’m glad you’re okay. After your parents’ accident – god – I can’t bear to think what would have happened if I hadn’t found you.’ She sped up, the truck’s engine revving beneath the weight of her foot. ‘I’m the one who should be apologizing, anyway. I was drunk, I was being stupid, lashing out at you even though you didn’t deserve it; I’m embarrassed at everything that happened that night. I should have agreed to go home when you wanted to. I was in shock from what you said about John. I’d never heard that, and I wasn’t in a place to take it in. I still don’t believe that about him, but in the moment, hearing you say it, knowing that even a part of you believed it when you’ve been the only one through all of this who seemed to care about us, it was too awful. I like to act like I don’t care about what anyone thinks, but I do, especially you. If things had been worse, I don’t know how I’d have been able to live with myself.’

‘They weren’t, though,’ I said.