Living Lies

by Dawn Brown

  “Fine.” Paige sighed. So much for getting out of here tomorrow.

  “If we’re done, could you please move your cars?” Haley pushed her chair back.

  “All right,” Garret agreed.

  He stood and Haley followed. Paige went to fetch her coat from the end of her bed. The room was dark except for the light spilling in through the open door from the kitchen. She picked up her coat and swung it over her shoulders. As she slid her arms into the sleeves, she froze in mid-motion. Someone was at the window.

  Her heart leapt and her breath caught in her throat. She was certain she’d caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure peering inside. Or, at least, she had been sure. There was no one there now.

  Paige pulled her coat around her and went to the window. Leaning forward, she cupped her hands around her eyes to block the light.

  Outside, the gnarled, skeletal branches of two crab apple trees in the far corner of the backyard swayed in the blackness. Everything else was still.

  Relief turned her taut muscles to jelly. She’d probably just seen her own reflection in the glass. With the light behind her as she threw on her coat, the movement must have caught her eye.

  Paige wanted to laugh at herself for jumping at her own shadow, but couldn’t quite manage it.

  With trembling fingers, she pulled the thin cord, lowering the blind from behind the window ruffle. She turned the plastic wand, closing the slats and shutting out the dark.

  “Paige.” Garret’s voice made her jump. “We’re waiting for you.”

  “I’m coming,” she called. Her voice only warbled a little.

  Chapter Four

  Lara Williams gripped the letter opener in her sweaty fist, sliding the silver tip between the edge of the desk and the top drawer. With her heart pounding, she ran the thin blade slowly along the crack until the lock stopped her. After a quick glance over her shoulder at the closed study door, she jabbed the opener back and forth until the obstruction clicked and gave way. She was in.

  Carefully, she returned the opener to its allotted space, centered between the phone and the edge of the desk. She tapped the tip with her finger until it lined up with the top of the matched magnifying glass. Now her husband would never know she had been there. And saw what he hid.

  She ignored his date book and expense ledger, interested in only one thing. The same thing she always looked at when the guilt gripped her. Her fingers closed over a small, velvet ring box tucked into the back of the drawer. She lifted it out and opened the lid. The hard, winter sunlight, spilling in through the window, glinted off the solitaire diamond inside. The perfect symbol of her sin. Her heart ached with the thought.

  Was the ring a symbol for Jonathan too? Did it represent sins and a guilt all his own? It must. After all this time, why keep a ring meant for a dead woman?

  Heavy footsteps on the marble floor in the hall made her jump. She snapped the box closed and listened as the sound grew louder.

  Her breath came quickly as she put the box back with trembling fingers. She checked to make sure everything was as she had found it then closed the drawer.

  “Wondering where it all went wrong?” The voice was deep and male, but not Jonathan’s. Every muscle in her body sagged with relief as she lifted her gaze to meet the cruel mirth dancing in her brother-in-law’s pale blue eyes.

  “Something like that.” Lara rose from the large leather chair and tucked her hair behind her ear. She would wait until she was alone again to lock the desk with an unraveled paper clip. “What are you doing here?”

  Richard grinned and slung his suit jacket over his shoulder. “I wonder. You look good in black. You should go to memorials more often.”

  “This isn’t a joke. Michelle was my closest friend.” His tie was loosened and the top three buttons of his shirt undone. The familiar tug of need stirred inside her.

  “Clearly. Jonathan is an excellent example of just how close the two of you were.”

  “Shut up, Richard,” she snapped.

  He chuckled. “Why is it when someone dies they suddenly become a saint? Let’s face it, Michelle was certainly not that, as my brother could attest.”

  Her insides tightened painfully. “What do you want?”

  “You know what I want,” he said, closing the heavy oak door, shutting them off from the rest of the house. “Where’s Jonathan?”

  Lara’s heart rate quickened. This was such a stupid risk. “He left already.”

  “Not attending together? He’s not even bothering to keep up the pretense of a real marriage. Ever wonder if your days are numbered?”

  “Leave me alone,” she said, but she didn’t mean it.

  He stepped toward her, his eyes bright and hungry. “Struck a nerve, have I?” He pulled her against him before letting his hands run up her thighs, under her skirt.

  She shivered and tipped her head back so his teeth could graze the column of her throat. His hands gripped her bottom and he edged her toward the desk.

  “Not here,” she murmured, taking a step away.

  “Yes, here.” He lifted his head and his dark satisfied gaze met hers, making her blood cold. “Here is just perfect.”

  The calm before the storm. Erin stepped into her mother-in-law’s kitchen, a tray of sandwiches balanced in each hand. The eerie silence that greeted her left her uneasy. Quiet in this house was just unnatural.

  She set the trays on the kitchen table while she cleared a space for them in the fridge. After sliding them both in, she stood back and admired her handiwork. The shelves were full, but only with the food she brought. Erin shook her head. What had Paige and Claire been eating for the past three days?

  No one had shopped. Claire never did, and Haley and Paige were at a standoff. Erin gritted her teeth at the thought of her sisters-in-law and their constant feuding. Poor Garret had enough to worry about without the added stress of his sisters’ squabbles. She closed the fridge harder then she meant to and the condiments rattled in the door.

  Perhaps she wasn’t being fair. After all, she had to accept some responsibility for Garret’s sleepless nights. The lies and secrets sat heavy on her shoulders. If things didn’t settle down soon, her knees would buckle and she would collapse under the crushing weight.

  So many times she had wanted to tell Garret the truth. The words had almost fallen from her lips, but fear kept her silent. And love. The same fear and love that put her in this position to begin with. As the years passed, she remained silent. She and Garret built a life together. A happy life. A loving life. And the secrets and lies faded, turning fuzzy, like a dream upon waking. But now, with Michelle found, those lies and secrets snapped back into focus as sharp and clear as ever.

  “I didn’t hear you come in,” Paige said.

  Erin jerked at the sound of her voice. Dressed in a stylish black suit that hugged her slender form, Paige looked like she was going to a business meeting rather than her sister’s memorial. Her dark hair was swept into a twist, away from the delicate features of her face. She would have been a pretty girl if it weren’t for her eyes. Dark and hard, they shone like shards of black glass.

  “Just putting some things in the fridge,” Erin said. Her muscles tensed and she hoped Paige would just go away. She wasn’t up for a confrontation now.

  Paige nodded and disappeared into her bedroom. When she returned, she was smoking a cigarette. The acrid smell assaulted Erin’s nostrils and stung her eyes. She frowned, but said nothing. After today, Paige would slither back to whatever life she led and everything else would return to normal.

  “Garret’s at the funeral home already,” Erin said in an attempt to make conversation.

  “I’m sure he is,” Paige muttered, flicking a stray ash from her skirt. “Anything to avoid Mother.”

  Erin sighed. “Why do you have to make everything so much harder than it needs to be?”

  “I don’t know. Why do you have to whine when you speak?”

  Erin’s jaw hurt from grinding her teeth. “
I’m going over to the funeral home, unless there’s anything else you need.”

  “See you later.” Paige blew a cloud of blue gray smoke into Erin’s face and watched her leave through the side door. A slow smile spread over her face.

  “That wasn’t very nice.”

  Paige turned to find Haley leaning on the doorframe between the kitchen and the front hall. “I wish you’d stop doing that. How long have you been there?”

  “Not long.” Haley flopped onto one of the kitchen chairs. “Could you have been any ruder?”

  Paige grinned. “Much.”

  “What’s your problem with Erin?”

  Where to start? “She’s a phony,” Paige said, opting for the short version.

  Haley rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously.”

  “I’m serious. She pretends to be all nice and sweet, but I’m telling you, she’s a calculating bitch.”

  “Takes one to know one.”

  Paige detected no real heat in the insult, and relaxed a little when Haley smiled. “Oh, my, such scathing wit. Erin’s whole family’s the same. I can’t stand any of them.”

  “I don’t know how you can say that. Nate was Dad’s closest friend.”

  “He gives me the creeps.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, the man’s a saint. I would have lost the store if he hadn’t let me buy him out in installments, and small ones at that.”

  “You know, I caught him staring at my breasts when I was sixteen.”

  “You think everyone is staring at your breasts.”

  Paige glanced down at her chest. Possibly. “I’m not talking a sneak-a-peek here, I’m talking full on ogling. It was gross.”

  “I imagine you said something.”

  “Of course. I told him if I caught him again I would blind the son-of-a-bitch.” After she’d threatened to tell her father, but Nate had only chuckled. “Tell all the lies you want, Paige,” he’d said. “Your father would never believe that I would do something like that.” Even now, the memory sent a chill through her.

  “Charming.” Haley shook her head. “Where’s Mom?”

  “In her room I think.”

  “How is she?”

  “Strangely lucid.” And thank God for that. If Paige had to go through another one of Claire’s drunken sobbing fits, she’d put her mother through a wall.

  “I’ll see if she needs any help. We have to go soon.”

  “Haley.” Paige didn’t know what exactly she wanted to say. She should apologize or something, but this was the closest either of them had come to an actual conversation in four years, and she was afraid just mentioning Jason would lead to another blow out.

  Haley waited for her to continue, but the words stuck in her throat. “I’ll go warm up the car.”

  Haley shifted on the hard, wooden bench and kept her attention focused on the window and the fluttering snowflakes against the steel gray sky. If she looked away, or even thought of the people packed into the small chapel, her skin broke out in a cold sweat and she could actually feel the blood drain from her face. Was this an anxiety attack? Christ, she hoped not.

  She fought to push the thought away, while the minister’s words droned meaninglessly in her ears. She needed to keep all thoughts of Michelle tucked to the far recesses of her brain. Too late. Memories of her sister flooded her mind as if released by a great dam. Michelle, the sister she barely knew.

  Six years had separated them in age, and while it didn’t sound like a lot, when she was fifteen and Michelle twenty-one they lived in different worlds.

  What did she remember, really remember, about her sister? Her heart pounded and her throat ached as she realized she couldn’t remember what Michelle looked like. Fragments danced in her head. Michelle’s smile, her hair, the sound of her laughter. But she couldn’t get a clear picture of her.

  Haley let out a soft sigh and tried to find something else to focus on. She glanced back over her shoulder and her gaze locked with Samuel Williams. He sat on the opposite side of the chapel, flanked by his sons, Richard and Jonathan.

  What was he doing here? According to rumor, he rarely left his home since retiring. He hadn’t even liked Michelle. When she and Jonathan had dated, he made no secret of his feelings.

  Samuel’s pale gray eyes held hers until she finally looked away. A shiver crept up her spine.

  She shouldn’t be surprised. Michelle had been a town legend for more than a decade. Haley doubted anyone even briefly connected with her family would miss this.

  So this was how it ended for her sister, whose image she couldn’t quite conjure, entertaining the whole town while her killer roamed…somewhere.

  Suddenly, she desperately needed to be away. Away from the room packed tightly with people and the hot oppressive air she could barely breathe.

  She stood abruptly and the minister’s words halted. She glanced his way and shook her head then eased past Garret and Erin toward the far side of the room.

  Garret gripped her arm. “Where are you going?” he demanded in a harsh whisper.

  After yanking her arm free, Haley ignored him. She could feel people’s stares as she made her way to the nearest exit. Even with her head lowered she couldn’t miss the curious looks and raised eyebrows when she passed. Oh, they’d talk about this for a while. So what. She’d certainly given these people more interesting things to talk about over the years.

  Haley hurried through the foyer, pushed open the heavy glass door and burst out into the cold. With deep, gulping breaths, she sucked in the icy air as if she’d been suffocating. God, she must have looked like a crazy woman.

  Shaking her head to herself, she started down the cement steps to the path and followed the winding concrete, crusted with frozen slush, to the parking lot where she would wait for Paige and her mother. The small heels of her boots wobbled dangerously on the slick ground and she wondered enviously how Paige managed to make much higher heels appear like mere extensions of her feet.

  Twice she nearly fell, only barely managing to keep her balance and stop herself from tumbling face first into a snow bank. Concentrating on her shuffling feet, she followed the path until it opened into a large square lot at the rear of the building.

  The sound of someone else’s footsteps in the hard packed snow made her look up. The man from the Java Joint hurried toward one of the cars.

  “You,” she said, as her feet slid out in two different directions, pitching her forward. Her arms pinwheeled wildly in a desperate attempt to keep her balance, but it was too late. She landed with a solid thump. Pain shot from her right knee up her leg. Her hands slid forward in the wet, brownish snow until they scraped against the pavement below.

  “God damn it,” she muttered, pushing herself back on her knees. She wiped the gritty slush from her burning palms on the front of her coat. The side of her knee throbbed, and through a nickel-sized hole in her nylons the skin had turned dark red. She would no doubt have an ugly bruise there later.

  “Here,” the man said, thrusting his hand at her. Oh God, he was still there. Her cheeks grew hot when she thought about the spectacle he’d just witnessed.

  She tilted her head back and looked into his face. Where did she know him from?

  His hand closed over hers, warm and rough with thick calluses.

  “Thanks,” she said, as he helped her to her feet.

  He shrugged and started to turn away. Who was he and how did she know him? The answer hovered in the back of her brain the way a song title danced at the tip of her tongue after hearing the first few notes on the radio.

  “Did you know Michelle?” she asked quickly.

  He stopped and faced her, his expression impassive. “I did.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she studied the sharp angles of his face, his light green eyes, and the dark hair curling over his jacket collar.

  “Were you a friend of hers?” She stepped closer, as if proximity would somehow make him more recognizable.

  He took a step back and glanced
quickly over his shoulder. She followed his gaze. People from the memorial were trickling into the lot. “I was.”

  “How did you know her?”

  He turned away and walked to the black Maxima parked near the road. “From a long time ago.”

  “I’ve seen you before.”

  “No, you haven’t,” he said as he climbed into the car.

  Oh, but I have and more than once too. Haley watched as he drove off.

  “I want to talk to you.”

  Haley looked up as an angry Paige gripped her elbow and dragged her toward the far end of the parking lot.

  “What is your problem?” Haley asked, trying to shake her sister’s hold while her feet slipped and skidded beneath her.

  Paige hauled on her cigarette. “What were you doing?”

  “My God, is that all? I started to feel claustrophobic inside, so I decided to wait for you here.”

  Haley watched Garret help their mother into his van while Erin stood by the open passenger door staring at her and Paige.

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” Paige said. She dropped the well-smoked cigarette butt and ground it into the snow with the pointed toe of her boot. “I’m talking about who you were with.”

  “You know him?”

  “Erin saw you, Haley. She told me who you were talking to. I want to know what the hell you were doing with him.”

  “Who is he?” Haley asked. How did everyone else seem to know who he was except her?

  “Dean Lawson,” Paige said. Contempt dripped from her voice like icicles in a thaw. “Michelle’s killer.”

  Haley’s insides turned cold and her stomach dropped to her shoes. “I thought he looked familiar.”

  Chapter Five

  Haley sat on the sofa, wedged between Mr. Greene, Michelle’s high school science teacher, and her mother’s neighbor, Nancy Yolken. Only half listening to Mr. Greene’s awkward condolences and Mrs. Yolken’s probing questions, she hoped she made the appropriate responses in the right places.