Page 22 of Perfect Liar

“An army couldn’t have moved him. John stayed because he wanted time with his brother.”

“And you…why did you stay?”

“He thought something might be stirring, and he was right. His instincts are quite good. And I would never willingly leave him alone to fight on his own.”

I sat and invited him to do the same.

“You mean this isn’t the first time?”

He stayed on his feet and nailed me with his dark eyes.

“It’s not my place to have this conversation with you. You need to wait for Will to tell you about all this.”

“Is he going to, though?”

My family had lied to me. They hadn’t trusted me with my own truth. And then they all left me. Now, Will was gone after promising to stay.

“Yeah, maybe just give him a minute.”

Ben and I stared out to the sea as we quietly drank the rest of our coffee.

A gull’s loud call filled the air just before it swooped to pluck a dead fish from the seaweed, helping to clean up what the storm ruined the night before. An awful smell came in with the breeze. I wrinkled my nose.

Ben broke the silence.

“Look, Ellie. I can’t give you his story, only mine. Our fathers were close friends, as we are now. I was a pilot with the Royal Air Force, and now I manage security operations for Will’s family.”

But before I had an opportunity to say anything else, John burst through the door.

“Mate, there’s a marked car sitting in front of the house.”

Ben drew a pistol from his belt.

“Go back inside and stand guard over Lissie,” he said.

Then he turned to me.

“Ellie, you must get the door. Do not allow the cop to come in. I’ll be close, but don’t look at me…don’t give me away. We can’t let the police know we’re here with you.”

“What if I just don’t get the door?”

“You will get the door. Because if you don’t, he’ll get a warrant. Go, damn it.”

“Okay,” I snapped.

Ben stayed close on my heels as I went to the front door. He stepped back just out of sight with his gun sighted on the door.

I swallowed hard. Then I opened the door.

Detective Parker flashed his badge and identification at me and apologized for the early hour, going on to tell me he’d recently transferred in from Mystic’s police department.

One of his hands gripped the doorframe, to keep me from closing the door, and the other pushed down into his pocket to jangle keys or coins or something metal.

My hands shook. I tried to make conversation.

“Of course, you’re new to Stonington. That must be why I haven’t seen you at Nick’s.”

He squinted.

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