Page 46 of Lies He Told Me

It only takes him thirty seconds to finish the message on the bright white wall.

Lulu is just finishing up the doggie treats when Tommy returns to the alarm pad. He sets the alarm once more,giving him forty-five seconds to close the door behind him before the alarm will turn to a loud shrill.

But he doesn’t close the back door behind him. He leaves it wide open.

It won’t take long now before he knows for sure.

FORTY-FOUR

KYLE JANOWSKI PULLS HIS car into the Bowers’s driveway, the second police vehicle to arrive. He checks the time before he bounces from the car. Coming up on eleven in the morning. The sun has decided to make a cameo appearance, causing him to squint.

Officer Ginny Risely is waiting for him on the driveway. She’s probably sorry that the Bowers family lives in her assigned district.

“Everything okay?” he asks her.

“Everything stable,” she says. “Okay might be a different story.”

“Tell me.” Kyle puts his hands on his hips.

“Normal home-intruder alarm call,” she says. “Hatch and I respond.”

Hatch, meaning Lee Hatcher, her partner.

“We beat the homeowner to the house. Mr. Bowers.”

“Mr.Bowers,” says Kyle. “David?”

“Right. So we’re first on the scene. The back door’s wide open,” she continues.

The door was left open? That’s odd.

“So we enter, right? An open door like that, we’re gonna go in every time.” She looks at him for approval.

“That’s right, Ginny. Keep going.”

“Well, Mr. Bowers is not far behind us. He walks in, and he’s pissed. Or maybe that’s too harsh. He’supsetthat we’re inside. He couldn’t get us out of that house fast enough, Sarge. He didn’t even want us to secure the interior. Most people, y’know, they’re spooked as hell — they want us to do a walk-through and make sure the bad guys aren’t hiding in a closet or something.”

“Right, right.”

Just then, Kyle can hear them coming around from the rear of the house through the backyard — Officer Hatcher and David Bowers.

Ginny hears them, too. She leans in closer to Kyle. “I saw something in there,” she says as Hatch and David come through the gate.

Kyle steels himself. It’s been a long time. It shouldn’t still affect him.

“Kyle, right?” David extends a hand.

“Hey, David. Good to see you.”

“Yeah, good to see you, too. I want to thank your two officers here, getting here so quickly. Totally professional.”

“Sure, sure. Just doing their jobs. Two of our best,” Kyle adds.

David rubs his hands together. “I can probably take itfrom here. No harm, no foul. No real damage. A little spray paint, some dumb kids.”

Spray paint. Kyle glances at Ginny. He’s getting the same vibe as she did. David seems awfully eager for them to leave. “Well, I’m glad to hear it was nothing serious,” he says. He turns to Ginny. “We have enough for a police report?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Ginny starts.

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