Want to Know a Secret? (48)

“I’m about to be arrested.”

There’s a long silence on the other line. I’ve gotten his attention.

“Arrested? For what?”

“Shoplifting. But I didn’t do it.”

“What?”

“They found these earrings in my bag,” I say quickly. “They must have… I don’t know, dropped inside somehow.” I’m not going to tell him my theory about Maria right now. He probably won’t believe me anyway. And I can’t tell him about the text messages. “And now they’ve got me in this back room and they’re calling the police.”

“Jesus, April,” he breathes. He pauses for a long moment. “Okay, look, they’re not going to arrest you. It’s just a pair of earrings. They’re just trying to scare you.”

A lump rises in my throat. “He’s calling the police! I can hear him!”

“Right, but they’re not going to take you to jail for shoplifting some earrings. They’re probably just going to give you a summons.” He exhales loudly. “Whatever you do, don’t say anything. Don’t sign anything. Just come straight home.”

“But what if they take me to jail?”

“It won’t happen.” He sounds very confident. I wish I felt that confident. “But if they do, just call me right away. We’ll figure it out.”

“Are you coming home?” I ask in a small voice.

“Yes. As soon as I can.”

“Okay, thank you.” I squeeze the phone in my hand. “I love you, Elliot.”

“I love you too. Remember—don’t say anything and don’t sign anything.”

Bill comes into the room at that moment, so I hang up the phone. He is gigantic. His biceps are straining at the fabric of his button-down blue shirt. He could probably crush me with one hand if he decided to.

“Listen.” Bill sits down across from me at the folding table. The folding chair creaks threateningly under his weight. “I spoke to Maria. She’s saying we don’t have to press charges.”

Oh, thank God! “Thank you so much.”

“But obviously, you’ll be banned from the store permanently.” He reaches into his back pocket and retrieves a white piece of paper. “I’ll also need you to sign this statement.”

“Statement?”

He waves his hand. “It just says that you attempted to take an item, and you understand you won’t be allowed to return to the store.”

I looked down at the paper in front of me. I skim over the fine print, which seems to be essentially what he just told me. But Elliot just told me not to sign anything. “Um…”

Bill puts his hand on the paper and starts to pull it away from me. “If you don’t want to sign, I’ll go ahead and get the police to come.

I get a flash of panic in my chest. “No, it’s okay. I’ll sign it.”

I’m sure Elliot meant not to sign anything the police gave me. The best thing is leaving the police out of it.

I take the pen Bill offers me and scribble down my name. There. Now I can at least be done with this thing. Two accusations of theft in one day is enough for me, thank you very much.

“Can I go now?” I ask.

“Hold on. Just wait here another minute.”

I sit in the room, tapping my feet against the ground. I just want to go home already. I never should’ve come here in the first place. What was I thinking?

Bill is taking forever to return. I gather up my purse and get to my feet. I did what they wanted me to do—I’m getting out of here. But then I hear the voices outside around.

“Is she in there?”

“Yes. She signed this confession for us.”

My hands start to shake. What’s going on here?

Before I can get out of the room, they come inside. It’s a policeman. My mouth falls open. Why did they call the police? Bill told me if I signed that stupid form, they would leave the police out of it.

Bill was scary, but the police officer is even scarier. Not because he’s big, but because of what he represents. He’s wearing a dark outfit and there’s a gun on his holster. I can see it. And handcuffs. Oh my God, are they going to handcuff me? Am I going to be led out of Helena’s wearing handcuffs?

My legs are back to being jello. I feel myself swaying on my feet. I might pass out.

“April Masterson?” the officer says.

I open my mouth to say yes. But before I can get the words out, I start seeing spots in my vision. And the next thing I know, I’m on the ground.





Chapter 29


The police officer ends up being very kind to me. It could have been worse at least. Officer Clark helps me into a chair, asks Bill to get me something to drink (water), and most importantly, he doesn’t arrest me. Even though Bill hands him my signed confession.

The officer even walks me to my car. He seems apologetic as he writes me the citation.

“It was all a misunderstanding,” I tell him one last time, hoping maybe he’ll rip it up.

“I’m sure it was.” Officer Clark pats me on the shoulder. “Happened to my wife once. She forgot to pay for something at a store. Honest mistake.”

I nod. I haven’t shared my conspiracy theory with him. I don’t want him to think I’m crazy. I know I’m right, but I don’t expect anyone to believe me. It’s better to pretend I’m just some scatterbrain who forgot to pay for the earrings.