Never Lie (67)

I may not be perfect, but I’m not a psychopath. I didn’t want to kill EJ. He gave me no choice.

I drive down the dark path to my house, keeping my eye on the clock. I’ve got an hour to shower and change before Luke arrives. I’ll come up with an excuse for why he can’t go inside the house. Perhaps I had it newly painted. I’m sure he’ll believe whatever excuse I come up with. I may be good at detecting lies, but he is not.

And eventually, I’ll have to get rid of the body for good. Maybe in a few more months. Nobody will be looking for him by then.

As I draw closer to my house, I see an Audi parked in front. My agent Paige’s car. I wonder if she’s come to beg me to take her back. If she has, she’s wasting her time. It’s far too late for that.

But then I see a dark figure leaning against the car—one I haven’t seen in four months and hoped to never see again. A figure with long, shapely legs and silky blond hair that gleams in the moonlight. It’s Patricia Lawton. I forgot she drove the same kind of car as my former agent did.

I park my car next to the Audi and kill the engine. I stuff my keys in my purse and get out of the car. I don’t know what Patricia wants, but I don’t have time for it. I need time to look my best for Luke.

“Hi, Dr. Hale,” she says. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yes…”

Her teeth almost glow in the moonlight as she smiles. “I was hoping we could talk.”

I glance down at my watch pointedly. “I’m in a bit of a rush.”

“It’ll just take a moment.”

I nod. “We can talk out here. You’ve got one minute.”

“I just…” She chews at her thumbnail, which is gnawed down to the quick. “I’m nervous about what we did. What if somebody traces it back to us?”

“That won’t happen. It’s been months. Nobody is looking for him.”

“They might. If they find the body.”

“They won’t.”

“You don’t know for sure. And I’ve been thinking about it…” Her lips twist downward. “There’s video footage in the casino. If they find out when he disappeared, they could look at the footage and figure out I was the one talking to him right before. They might see us leaving together. Or maybe they’ll have footage from the garage.”

She might be right. It’s another reason Patricia has become a liability. I’ll have to do something about it. But not now. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I just want to know…” Her eyes lock with mine. “What did you do with his body?”

“What?” I almost choke. “Patricia, I am not going to have this discussion with you. Trust me. Everything is fine.”

“I want to know where the body is. I need to know. Please tell me.”

I grunt in disgust. “Your minute is up. I have to go.”

“Is it in the house somewhere?”

I hesitate a beat too long, and her eyes widen. “You have the body in the house?” she gasps. “My God. Where is it?”

“I can’t discuss this with you.”

“But, Dr. Hale—”

“Look.” I pause one more minute to address her. That’s all she gets—I can’t babysit this girl any longer. “The only people who know about this are the two of us. All we have to do is keep the secret.”

Patricia’s eyes don’t blink once as she stares into mine. “My mother always says the only way two people can keep a secret,” she says, “is if one of them is dead.”

And then her fingers bite into my arm. A cold feeling comes over me, and I realize I have made a terrible mistake. I should never have gotten Patricia involved in this. I knew exactly how dangerous she was.

And now I am going to pay the price.

Please forgive me, Luke…





Chapter 50


TRICIA



Present Day




Adrienne Hale is hardly the first person I have killed. Not even close.

The first was a girl named Whitney Young. She tormented me when I was sixteen years old, like only teenage girls do. She spread rumors about me all over the school and stole my best friend. She even convinced a cute boy named Victor (who I later discovered was Whitney’s boyfriend) to ask me out on a date, then brought everyone to the coffee shop where we were supposed to meet so they could laugh at my humiliation when he stood me up. The funny part is that it was Victor who took the fall when Whitney’s body washed up in a nearby river. We could all agree they both deserved it though.

Then Cody and Alexis—Megan was unfortunate, but it couldn’t be helped. And then Grammy, of course. But she was so old, we can’t really say if the heart pills would have saved her, even if I had given them to her.

For all her pompous attitude, Adrienne went down easy. Not as easy as Grammy, of course, but my goodness, even Whitney put up more of a struggle—that girl fought like a banshee.

I buried Adrienne’s body just off a deserted dirt road, about a two-hour drive away from here—somewhere nobody will ever find her. I was smarter than her about that. I wouldn’t put a dead body in my own home, for God’s sake. Right below the floorboards. How stupid could you possibly be? You don’t need to be an MD or PhD to know not to put yourself in danger that way.