I am certain I heard something though. It almost sounded like a tapping sound.
I adjust my boxer shorts as I step toward the bathroom door. Gingerly, I pull it open and gaze at the master bedroom. Not surprisingly, it is empty. For a moment, I am reminded of my favorite poem, “The Raven,” by the famous Edgar Allan Poe.
Darkness there and nothing more.
I let out a breath and march over to the closet, where I throw Eve’s shoes inside. Last night was stressful, and I slept poorly, so it should be no surprise that my ears are playing tricks on me.
I jump into the shower and let the scalding hot water rain down on my bare skin. I have a busy day ahead of me. After breakfast, I have a stack of papers I need to grade. After that, I may go out for a bite of lunch. Perhaps I’ll make a stop at the supermarket.
And then after that, I’ll be calling the police.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Sixty-Four
ADDIE
I DON’T SLEEP. Not even one minute.
Instead, I lie awake in bed, tossing and turning. Every time I close my eyes, I see Mrs. Bennett’s dead body lying at the bottom of that grave in the old pumpkin patch, those angry red marks around her neck.
My mother arrives home in the early hours of the morning. She slips quietly into my room to check on me, and I keep my eyes squeezed shut, pretending to be asleep. I can’t deal with her right now. She’s going to take one look at my face and know something is wrong.
I lie in bed until it’s nearly lunchtime, and then I’ve got to get up. I’ve got to face the day and possibly force myself to eat something.
I throw my legs over the side of the bed and reach for my phone. There’s a message waiting for me from Hudson:
Are you okay?
No, I am not even a little bit okay. But I don’t feel like dealing with his questions this morning. I owe him a lot, but I can’t face him. Especially since on Monday morning, when he discovers Mrs. Bennett went missing, he’s going to put two and two together.
Nathaniel’s plan seemed like a reasonable idea last night, but now, in the light of day, I can’t imagine how we are ever going to get away with this.
I open my Snapflash app, hoping to see a message from him. After everything that happened last night, he owes me some sort of explanation, right? But there’s nothing there.
I tap out a message of my own:
What happened last night? Please tell me what’s going on.
I press Send, but instead of the message going through, an error flashes on the screen:
The account you are sending to no longer exists.
What?
I feel like I’m going to throw up. Nathaniel deleted his account. How could he do that?
But I shouldn’t panic. It makes sense that he would want to delete his account. Really, I should do the same. There can’t be any sign that the two of us were having an affair, or it would incriminate us both.
Yet I can’t bring myself to delete it. Even though his messages are all gone, vanished after sixty seconds. I want to keep the account in case he needs to talk to me again.
I stumble downstairs to the kitchen in my bare feet and throw some bread in the toaster. I’m not even the slightest bit hungry, but my body thinks otherwise—my stomach is growling. I’ve got the house to myself, because my mother is sound asleep, exhausted from her night shift.
Nathaniel knows what he’s doing. He didn’t delete his account to torture me. He did it because we need to cover our tracks. Mrs. Bennett is dead—there’s nothing we can do about that. But if we get caught, we could both go to prison for the rest of our lives. I have to remember what Nathaniel told me:
Deny everything.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Sixty-Five
NATE
THE UNMARKED POLICE car pulls up in front of my house at four in the afternoon.
Calling the police was a risky move on my part. Calling the police to report the disappearance of a person who I know that I killed and asking them to locate a body that I buried myself… Well, it takes guts.
Yet at the same time, it is a calculated move. I can’t pretend that Eve has simply been home for days when her car is sitting at the commuter rail lot. My best bet is to play the role of the bewildered husband. Fortunately, I have taken several acting courses in my lifetime, and for this role, they will serve me well.
I am wearing a sweater and a worn pair of blue jeans when I answer the door. I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard. It is imperative to show the exact right amount of concern.
When I open the door, I discover my luck has served me well once again. The police officer standing before me is female. My charms invariably perform well on the opposite sex.