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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

Hands nearly shaking, I looked over my shoulder, making sure Rachel wasn’t there.

It’s nothing, I told myself. It’s probably nothing. So many envelopes look like this.

Carefully, I opened it.

I saw the photographs first. All extremely up close, so close they almost seemed intimate, snatches of brown hair and a salt-and-pepper beard catching the light.

Then there, in front of them, a small scrap of paper.

And the familiar handwriting of a dead man.

I’m sorry about the other night. Please don’t tell Vera. I’ll call you soon.

Penguin walking logo

FIFTY-ONE

‘What are you doing?’

I turned, clutching the envelope in both hands.

Rachel stood in the doorway to the closet, a thin steel knife in her right hand. She followed my gaze to the knife, then looked back at me. ‘I was slicing up a plate of cheese,’ she said, forcing a smile. ‘I couldn’t find you.’ Her eyes caught on the envelope. ‘What have you got there?’

‘Nothing,’ I said.

She only smiled wider. ‘You better give that to me.’ When I didn’t move, she reached out her hand. ‘Now, Lucy.’

I handed it over. Rachel glanced inside, checking its contents.

‘How did you –’ I asked, hardly able to make sense of what was happening. ‘How did you get those?’

Rachel cleared her throat. ‘It doesn’t really matter, does it?’

I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry, and Dusty began to whine. ‘I don’t understand.’

Rachel rolled her eyes. ‘Vera gave them to me. Now, come on –’

I shook my head. ‘Why would Vera – you weren’t even friends with her anymore.’

‘Don’t grill me about my friendship with Vera,’ Rachel said. ‘Please.’

‘What do … what do you mean?’

She laughed bitterly. ‘Let’s just say one of us was a shitty, backstabbing friend to her, and it sure as hell wasn’t me. John was never in my bed, I can promise you that.’

I closed my eyes, shaking my head as I remembered waking that morning, drapes opened wide. ‘You saw us?’

Her eyes bored into mine. ‘If you didn’t want anyone to see you betraying the friend you supposedly loved so much, maybe you should have pulled the curtains shut.’

A weight, heavy in my stomach. Poison in my blood. Rachel had been there, Rachel had seen us. Not Vera, but Rachel.

‘You don’t understand,’ I said desperately. ‘We were drunk. It was a stupid mistake. It was just a kiss.’

Rachel’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘Funny you hang on to a note like that, tucked away in your drawer, if it’s just a harmless little accidental drunken kiss.’

I stared at her, this woman I’d thought was on my side, after everything. Vera would never have given those things to her. ‘Did you – did you come into my house?’