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

But I couldn’t break down now. I had to keep her talking. Keep her focused on anything but the knife in her hand. ‘Why did you break into my cottage in the middle of the night and leave that note for me? Why make it look like Sam did it?’

Rachel bit her lip. ‘Because you were about to report your break-ins to the police. If they started digging, they’d figure out that the locks were never changed. I needed to point you to Sam, at least long enough for me to get the knife to Vera. Show her that Lucy, her supposed best friend, had killed her husband. I was saving the note and the photos for after you were arrested. I knew, once she saw them, learned that they were kept preciously in your underwear drawer, she’d realize you were never a friend to her at all. That my falling-out with her was just a blip, and I was right all along. Once she could truly see who John was, who you were, once he was no longer around to twist the truth, to gaslight her, she’d come back to me. We’d be friends again. Best friends, like we used to be.’ She pressed her lips together, then gripped the envelope tightly. ‘I haven’t figured it out yet, but I will, trust me. I’ll find a way to use this, to make the police finally understand exactly who you are, what you did to her.’

‘You can’t,’ I said. ‘I won’t let you.’

Rachel laughed. ‘What are you going to do, attack me like you did her? They won’t buy the whole self-defense song and dance twice.’ She studied me. ‘She loved you, she gave you everything, and you destroyed her.’

‘I’ll call McKnight,’ I said quickly. ‘I’ll tell him what you did. I’ll find a way to prove it. I’ll tell him you showed me the note, and you still have those photos somewhere. I’ll tell him it was you who planted my underwear. I’ll tell him everything …’

‘Will you? If you do, if they for some reason believe your ever-changing story, what are you going to tell them about what you did to Vera?’

‘I didn’t – I didn’t mean to – It was an accident.’

‘No, Lucy, you very much did mean to. Because I know Vera, better than you ever will. She never got physical. Her words could be cutting enough. No way on earth did she attack you first. It was you, your anger, your inability to control yourself, just like your inability to keep your legs shut. You meant to kill her. Just like I meant to kill John.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘No, I didn’t.’