He reaches over and takes my hand in his larger hands. I missed this feeling. “Or you could have dinner with me tonight.”
My lips stretch into a smile. “I’m going to have a late night at the clinic tonight.”
“I can wait.” He leans in towards me. “Also, I have a confession to make. I wasn’t entirely truthful with you.”
My stomach flips. Does he know what I did to EJ? “You weren’t?”
He grins. “The truth is, I knew you were going to be working today. Gloria told me. I asked her what days you would be in this week before I planned my schedule.”
That’s his confession—that he was trying to see me. My knees wobble with relief. I grab his shirt collar and pull him towards me, then I press my lips against his. The way he kisses me back, I know he’s been missing me as much as I’ve missed him.
He’ll never know what I’ve done. I’m going to keep it that way.
_____
Luke and I are meeting tonight at nine o’clock. I tried to finish up the clinic as quickly as I could, leaving behind a stack of paperwork at the end. I’ll probably have to come back tomorrow, but Gloria was nice about it. She knew I made plans with Luke, and she was practically shooing me out the door.
Luke is picking me up at my house, then we’re going out to a restaurant. As much as I’d like to have him inside the house, there’s no way I’m allowing him inside while that body is still underneath my floorboards. Even though the smell seems to have abated, I swear I can still detect a faint whiff of death, especially in my office. I can’t risk having him in the house. If he knows what I’ve done, he’ll never forgive me.
Eventually, I’ve got to get rid of the body. I’m dreading it. It’s like when I was a child and I used to smash a large insect with a heavy book. I knew eventually I would have to pick up the book and clean up the smashed insect. But I always dreaded it.
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?”