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She wanted to scream at him, tell him he was being insane. Instead, she softened her tone and put an edge of fear into it she didn’t have to struggle to manufacture. “He’s not stupid, Chris. He knows there’s no reason for you to come rather than call. And when he puts two and two together, he’ll find a way to look into your call records, and I’ll be left with nothing.”
“No, you won’t. You have me. I can’t give you what Pete could, but we can live here, we can afford this no problem.” He gestured around the room. “You’re not like Naomie, you don’t expect the fucking world and all its trimmings, you came from a poor family like me. It’s time to tell Pete to go to hell and stop living in constant fear.”
She grabbed the glass of water again, scrambling for a way to buy a few moments. She’d been stupid, she realized. Unforgivably overconfident to think that her brain was any match for his insecurity complex, to think that putting him off, hoping another shiny object would catch his attention, would work. She’d played it wrong and she needed to come up with a way to deal with this, because that look in his eyes—it terrified her. When she was a little girl she’d had a dog who loved to play fetch so much that when he saw the ball he’d get a gleam in his eye and start snapping and jumping, so crazy she was always afraid he’d bite her to get it. The look in Chris’s eyes made her feel the same way. She needed to keep him balanced, but get him gone.
“But, honey, think about it. Pete isn’t the only problem. The police are watching me, too—”
“That freaked me out when you said it this morning. Why are the police watchingyou?” he asked.
His response gave her hope, and an idea. “It’s a long story, but they think I might have killed Naomie. If they see us together, if they put two and two together, they’ll find out we had an affair. And if they find out about that, they’ll think we killed her so we could be together. I can’t have you pulled into this.”
A smug, triumphant smile slid over his face. “Don’t worry, darling. I made sure they can’t prove anything.”
CHAPTERFIFTY-FOUR
Julia’s stomach clenched, nearly regurgitating the water and pills. “What do you mean they can’t prove— Chris, what are you talking about? Did you hurt Naomie?”
The smile dropped off. “Oh, no. I made sure she didn’t feel any pain.”
The room spun and retreated, like Julia was looking through some sort of kaleidoscope with Chris at the center. “What did you do?”
“I gave her a roofie. Madison, too.”
She gripped the arms of her chair, trying to fight back the dizziness. “You killed them? Both of them?”
“Of course. Buthumanely. I knew you would have wanted that, but it made it easier, too.” He leaned forward and grabbed her hand, clearly wanting her approval.
Julia snatched her hand away and struggled to draw breath. “Why? Why would you hurt Naomie?”
Chris’s smile shifted to confusion. “What do you mean, why? You know why. So we could be together.”
“I—I don’t—We broke up. We agreed it was over— What—” she gasped, reaching for words that wouldn’t come.
“We broke up because we were both married and it was only a matter of time before we got caught, and it was all too complicated. But now you and Pete are getting divorced, so you’re free. That changes everything, but I needed to be free, too.”
Julia shrank back. “Free? Why didn’t you just divorce her if you wanted to be free?”
He stiffened, his confusion now turning hard. “How could I be free once we had a baby? As it was I couldn’t afford to supportherwith the way she spends, let alone support achildon top of that. You saw the lists of things she was putting together that we supposedlyhad to have. Even if I could have gotten out of paying alimony, there would’ve been child support. But when I heard you were divorcing Pete right at the right time, I knew you were throwing me a lifeline.”
Her stomach clenched again, this time sending its contents up into her throat. Her breathing sped, so fast now she struggled to get oxygen. She tried to speak, but nothing came out.
Naomie’s face loomed up before her—Naomie, who’d devoted her life to helping other people—Naomie, who she’d watched grow from a little girl. Then Madison’s face appeared beside Naomie’s, so young and so full of promise, who’d fought so much injustice already in her life. The lost scholarship and ending up pregnant, but she was fighting to make her life better only to— And Helen— Oh, God, Helen—
“Why are you acting like this? You don’t seem happy.” His eyes hardened as he watched her.
She’d seen that particular look in his eyes before. Only once, because he didn’t lose his temper often. It was the look that convinced her she had to break things off with him, and looking at it now, any doubt he could kill faded far away. And if he’d turned on Naomie, he’d turn on her, in no time flat. If she didn’t pull herself together, buy herself some time to get out of this, she was sunk.
She forced a smile on her face, and took his hand again. “My love, I’m just trying to understand. The last few days have been beyond hard and I’m barely hanging on. You didn’t tell me you were going to do this, so of course I’m surprised and trying to take it all in. I can’t believe you’d—do this for me.”
His expression softened—slightly. “I’d do anything for you, darling. I wouldn’t just kill three people, I’d kill a hundred if I had to.”
His chest puffed with pride as he said it, and electric needles jabbed through her limbs. He was proud—actuallyproudof what he’d done. She faked a cough and grabbed the water glass, pretending to drink as she struggled to keep her true reactions off her face.Keep him talking, her mother’s voice told her.Keep him talking so you can think.
“But why did you kill the other two?” she choked out.
He preened. “It’s brilliant—that’s why they’ll never figure it out. They think it’s some random killer, someone who has some sick obsession with pregnant women and Satanic cults. There’s no connection between me and the other two women.”
Madison’s and Helen’s faces filled Julia’s mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing them away—she couldn’t think about that now, she had to get him out of the house and get to the police. Or at least distract him long enough to call the police. Her gaze flicked to her purse—it was too far away, there was no way she’d be able to get her phone out without him seeing.
