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“No problem,” the owner said with a thinsmile.
“You’re the only pawn shop in town, aren’t you?” Hunterasked.
“Yup. Been here thirty yearsnow.”
“Right. Sorry to bother you,” I murmured, turning away. The edges of my vision had turned dark, and I felt as if a thick rope had wrapped around my chest, pulling tighter and tighter until I couldn’tbreathe.
Hunter grabbed the necklace and followed me out of the store. He checked the car for any sabotage again, and then he opened the passenger door to let mein.
I sat down, stomach churning as I stared at thedashboard.
Hunter got in next to me. My eyes remained on the dash, but I could feel him looking at me. “Are you okay?” he said softly, reaching over to squeeze myleg.
Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision. “No,” I said. I took a deep breath and finally turned to look at him. “My momlied.”
17
Laney
“She’s been lyingthis whole time.” I buried my face in my hands and took a deep breath. “I can’t believeit.”
Hunter put his hand on my knee and squeezedit.
“I just don’t understand,” I went on, heart hammering as cold shivers raced down my spine. “My mom couldn’t have hurt Lindsay. She would never hurtanyone!”
I already knew what we were both thinking—what I just said wasn’t technicallytrue.
My mom was definitely capable of hurting another person. After all, she was the one who lay the final death blow on my father all those yearsago.
But that wasdifferent.
Mom and I were scared for our lives that night. What we did to my father was self-defense. It didn’t mean either of us were capable of killing a teenagegirl.
“I’m starting to wonder how well we know anyone in our lives,” Hunter finally said, slowly shaking his head. “Wherever we look, people are lying and covering shitup.”
My face crumpled as tears stung my eyes. “Fuck…” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “What if Mom actually did it? What if she pushed Lindsay and stole thenecklace?”
“Can you think of any reason why she might do something like that?” Hunterasked.
I sucked in another deep, shuddering breath as part of an old conversation drifted back to me. “Do you remember Lindsay accusing her of theft not long before shedied?”
His brows furrowed. “I don’t thinkso.”
“Apparently she thought my mom stole some cash and jewelry from her room, and she kicked up a huge fuss overit.”
“Oh. I don’t remember, but I never really get involved with household politics, so I probably wouldn’t have heard about it anyway,” he said. His frown deepened. “Do you think that could have something to do withthis?”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” I said. “I never would’ve thought my mom would hurt someone over a stupid accusation, but now… I don’t know. She lied about the necklace. So what else is she lyingabout?”
“It doesn’t look good, but there could be an explanation for it,” Hunter said, laying a hand on my shoulder. “An explanation that doesn’t make her amurderer.”
“Likewhat?”
“Maybe she found it on the ground somewhere not long after Lindsay died, and she decided to take it instead of telling myfamily.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” I said, wiping under my eyes with two fingers as the tears slippedout.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out the truth,” hesaid.
