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“Nope,” she says matter-of-factly. “What are we having for dinner?”
“I—I, um I’m not sure yet, sweetie,” I say, trying to make sense of things. Alex is staring at me. I know he wants to question her to death, but he can also see the look on my face pleading with him to let me handle this. “How about you go watch an episode ofHe-Manright now while I try to figure it out, okay?”
“Yussss!” She pumps her arm in the air then spins around and runs to the living room.
Alex grabs the envelope again, pulling the pictures out and tilting his head. “This is your bathroom,” he says slowly before walking out of the room and heading toward the stairs.
I follow behind him quickly, my stomach in knots and my heart about to beat out of my chest. “How? How would they get pictures in my bathroom?” I say in a hushed voice as we walk through my bedroom and into my en suite. “What are they going to do with them?” My stomach rolls and I feel like I’m going to be sick.
“My guess? Scare you with the threat—blackmail you.”
“Oh God.” I grab the edge of the sink, the room spinning. “This is so messed up.” I feel Alex’s hand on my back.
“Just breathe,” he says calmly. “They aren’t compromising photos, meaning they can’t extort you unless it’s just the threat of naked photos being leaked.” I give him a look as if to say,And that’s not enough?“I know that’s terrifying to think about, but these are clearly from a hidden camera and you’re in your bathroom. I think that’s more of the threat: Them letting you know they gained access to your home.”
“What are we going to do?”
Alex crouches down, running his hand along things and shining a flashlight everywhere. In a matter of seconds, he pauses on an electrical outlet. “You have a Phillips?”
“What?”
“A screwdriver,” he says more impatiently.
“Yeah.” I run down the hall to the utility closet and grab a pouch of tools. He rifles through it, finding the screwdriver, then removes the plate cover on the outlet. There in plain sight is a camera. He grabs it, yanking it from the wall and severing the connection.
“How the fuck did this get in here if it’s not Brett? He’s the only person who knew about Talia and had access to your home, Juliette.”
He stands up, holding the camera so I can see it, when it hits me. “I—I . . .Terry!”
16
ALEX
“Terry? The friend you casually mentioned the other day who gave Chloe a comic book?”
She shakes her head. “No, no, it couldn’t have been Terry. He’s my plumber. He’severyone’splumber in the neighborhood, and we all trust him. We’ve known him for years.”
“Jesus Christ, Juliette.” He grits his teeth, looking up at the ceiling. “That’s why the garbage disposal magically started working again?”
She nods her head, her eyes big and full of tears. “He has a key, and I just th—”
“He’s had a key this entire time and you didn’t think to tell me? God knows how many other bugs or cameras are in this house.” I step around her, marching toward her closet to make sure the integrity of my security system is intact. I grab the iPad and scroll back through the security footage.
“This him?” I turn it around to show her the older man unlocking her front door.
“Yes,” she nods, sniffing. “He wouldn’t,” she says again.
I watch the video, and only a few minutes after Terry enters, a shadowy figure in the distance crosses the street. The person is wearing all back, including gloves, a hat with a hoodie pulled over the baseball cap, and glasses. They also keep their head down as they make a beeline for Juliette’s front door, walking right in.
“You’re right,” I say. “It wasn’t Terry.”
“It wasn’t?” She watches the screen. “Oh my God, who is that?”
“I don’t know, but it seems Terry didn’t lock the door while he was in your house fixing the disposal. Whoever this is marched right in. My guess is that Terry was preoccupied and didn’t even notice. We both hover over the screen intently, watching as the person walks out only a few minutes later.
“Why’d you hide this from me?” I’m trying to contain my anger, but I know yelling at her won’t be productive. She’s clearly already feeling guilty and unsettled and I don’t want to upset her further.
“I knew you would be mad if I told you Terry had a key, and that you wouldn’t trust him. I know I shouldn’t have . . . I just didn’t think this would happen.”
