Want to Know a Secret? (69)

What is my husband doing with one of those phones?

Of course, I’m not stupid. The answer is pretty obvious. He’s cheating on me. It’s not like my husband is some kind of spy.

I flip it open and I see a string of text messages. Some are from Keith and some are from the other party. I take a second to scan through them.



Do you want to meet tonight?



I can’t wait.



Is your wife around? Can you get away?



I’m on my way to see you.



I want to be furious, but somehow, I’m not. I’m not even surprised. But then again, I can’t exactly let him get away with this. I calmly type into the text message screen:



This is Keith’s wife. You’re busted. Don’t contact him again if you know what’s good for you.



I get distracted from the phone by the sounds of shouting coming from outside. I shove the phone into my pocket, then I rush to the window, where I see Leo and Bobby in the backyard, screaming at each other. Then I watch as Bobby picks up the soccer ball and hurls it right at Leo. It smacks him right in the face, and my son lets out a howl and clutches his cheek.

I go running.

By the time I get to the backyard, Leo is sobbing. Bobby is standing nearby, shifting between his little legs. I ignore him and pry Leo’s hand off his cheek. I can see right away there’s going to be a bruise there.

“He threw the ball at my face on purpose!” Leo sobs.

“No, I didn’t!” Bobby says. “It was an accident. We were playing soccer and it accidentally hit him.”

I whip my head around to look at Bobby. His blue eyes are wide and earnest. If I didn’t see the whole thing myself, I would swear he was telling the truth. Like mother like son.

“It was an accident,” Bobby says again. “It wasn’t my fault!”

“I saw you,” I snap at him. “I was watching through the window upstairs.”

Bobby opens his mouth again like he’s going to protest my eyewitness account, but then he thinks better of it and hangs his head.

“Say you’re sorry,” I hiss at Bobby.

“Sorry,” Bobby mumbles.

It’s the least sincere sorry I’ve ever heard, and I’m raising two little boys. I can’t even look at Bobby right now, so I send him into our house to watch TV while I stay out in the backyard with Leo, who is still crying.

“I hate Bobby!” Leo sobs. “I don’t want to play with him anymore. He’s always mean to me and taking my stuff.”

I know about the latter. At first, I thought Leo was just misplacing his things. But then I found one of his toy trucks that we had been looking for days in a drawer at April’s house. Bobby clearly took it from him and hid it. As I said, that kid is not a good influence.

“You don’t have to play with him anymore,” I tell Leo. “I promise.”

Leo wipes his eyes and winces at the pain in his cheek. Keith’s burner phone buzzes in my pocket—an apology from his mistress? I don’t want to know. “If you tell him that,” Leo says, “he’s going to make everybody gang up on me at school.”

My heart is breaking for my son. I wish I had never moved into this neighborhood. I wish I had never met April Masterson.

Maybe she’s going to get away with killing Courtney Burns. But she’s not going to get away with terrorizing my son. I’m going to have a talk with her about Bobby. And she’s going to listen.





Chapter 43


I know I have to go talk to April the next morning, but it’s hard to work up the nerve.

Instead, I take far too long rearranging the huge display of flowers Keith brought me last night when he came home from work. Clearly, he found out that I discovered his phone and decided to be proactive. The flowers are very beautiful. He got my favorite—lilacs in several different colors. He handed them to me last night, smiling nervously as he waited to see if I would confront him about the phone.

I decided not to say anything. After all, if he’s messing around with another woman meant I didn’t have to touch him, that was fine with me. But I kept the phone.

Finally, I grab my purse and head over to April’s house. She’s surely back from school by now, so she’ll probably be looking for something to do. We’ll have a cup of coffee, and I’ll talk to her about Bobby. I’ll try to be nice. I’m not going to outright say her kid is a monster. Even though that’s what I think.

I cut around the back to get to April’s house. She and I have a back door sort of relationship right now. April always says friends come in through the back. Of course, maybe I should come in through the front then. Maybe that will be a message.

Except when I get outside the kitchen, I see April isn’t alone. She’s got a man in her kitchen.

It’s Mark Tanner. And oh my God, they’re kissing.

No, not just kissing. They’re making out. She’s got his arms wrapped around him and he’s got his hand sliding up the back of her tank top. This is a prelude to sex. April is going to have sex with Mark Tanner.

Well, I guess she got back at Kathy Tanner for telling everybody she got kicked out of culinary school.

I reach into my purse and pull out my cell phone. I point the camera at the window to the kitchen and snap a couple of photos. It seems like it might come in handy.