Page 7 of The Liar

I’d search for evidence.

Guilt churning inside me, I padded into our bedroom and halted in front of his nightstand. I reached for the drawer but then stopped. I shouldn’t. It would be wrong of me to break West’s trust by going through his belongings.

He lied to you.

Okay, so that was true. But maybe there was a good reason for it.

Damn it.

I opened the drawer. Nothing looked out of place. I quickly checked through the items inside and then searched the two drawers beneath. Glancing over my shoulder to make sure I was still alone, I went to the dresser and sifted through his clothing. Except for the wad of emergency money I already knew he kept in a sock, everything was in order.

I sat on the bed and wracked my mind. If I were unfaithful, what evidence might I leave behind? The financial trail would be obvious, but we didn’t share a bank account. What else? A second phone, perhaps? Had I ever seen him with one? I didn’t think so. But perhaps he’d just hidden it well.

I sighed and allowed myself to consider a more important question: What would I do if he had been unfaithful?

Divorce him?

The idea left a sour taste in my mouth, but it was the only option. If he was running around behind my back with another woman, I couldn’t get over that. Maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal to some people, but I’d been raised on fairy tales and happily-ever-afters. I wouldn’t bounce back from a betrayal like that.

But what if Hanson was right and I’d read too much into what I’d seen?

I buried my face in my hands. There was no way around it. If I wanted to keep myself from losing my mind, I’d have to ask him about it.

Decision made, I went to pour myself another glass of wine and settle in to wait for him to return home. His shift ended at midnight, so I put a true crime documentary on the TV and half-watched it while I counted down the minutes.

Finally, a little before one in the morning, a key scraped in the lock and the door swung open. West stepped inside and shut the door behind himself. When he turned and saw me sitting on the couch, his forehead furrowed with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

2

WEST

Joanna was clearly upset about something. She’d been behavingstrangely earlier, and now here she was, waiting for me to get home. I moved toward her, eager to take her into my arms and comfort her, but she held up her hands as if to ward me off.

“Don’t,” she snapped. “Stay right there.”

My heart almost stopped. “What? Why?”

Why wouldn’t she let me touch her? I couldn’t just stand over here and let her hurt without doing anything about it.

“Just don’t.” Her shoulders hunched inward, but then she released a shuddering breath and forced them back.

I frowned. What the hell had happened?

I knew she had a new case today. Perhaps it was a particularly gruesome one, or something about it had struck too close to home.

“Talk to me, Joanna,” I urged. “Tell me what’s going on.”

She crossed her legs and raised her chin. “I want to know something.”

“What? I’ll tell you anything.” At least, anything I could.

“Is our marriage exclusive?”

My jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

She stood, holding herself rigidly. “You heard me.”

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