Page 6 of The Wives of Hawthorne Lane
In bold block letters, the wordLIARhas been printed in red ink, like a slashed wound across the white page.
Hannah’s fingers start to tremble and her vision swims; the letters jumble and blur in her hands.
“Hannah?”
The sound of Mark’s voice just over her shoulder nearly causes her to jump out of her skin. She whirls around to face him, holding the offending paper in one hand, the other rising to her chest to still her thrashing heart. “You scared the life out of me.”
“Sorry. I thought I’d heard you come in.” He takes off his glasses, wipes them with the hem of his shirt. “What are you doing down here?”
His eyes lower to the piece of paper clutched in her hand, and she quickly crumples it in her palm before stuffing it into a garbage bag with the rest of the junk mail, burying it beneath wads of peeled packing tape and bubble wrap.
“Nothing,” she says, forcing a smile onto her face. Her lips tremble at the corners, but she’s hoping that it’s too dark for Mark to read the lie behind her teeth. “Just thought I’d tidy up a little before calling it a night.”
“I have a better idea,” he says as he takes her into his arms and lifts her onto the counter. “It’s our first night here”—he nuzzles her neck—“all alone in our new house.” He moves between her thighs as he continues, his teeth softly grazing her earlobe, “Why don’t we christen the place?”
Mark trails his fingers down her arms, and Hannah feels herself softening beneath his touch. That letter could have come from anywhere. Maybe it wasn’t even meant for her. She tells herself this as Mark lifts her top over her head, reaches for the clasp of her bra. She tells herself that she has nothing to worry about. But then again, Hannah is a liar.
Halloween Night
Transcript of interview with Shelby Holt
October 31, 2024
Detective Olsen:So, Ms. Holt, I understand you’re the one who found the body earlier tonight. Is that correct?
Ms. Holt:Y-yes.
Detective Olsen:That must have been very upsetting for you.
Ms. Holt:It totally was.
Detective Olsen:And how old are you, Shelby?
Ms. Holt:Sixteen.
Detective Olsen:Do you live on Hawthorne Lane?
Ms. Holt:No, I was just there for the festival.
Detective Olsen:And how did you come to be in the woods?
Ms. Holt:Oh, I…
Detective Olsen:Don’t worry, you aren’t in any kind of trouble, Shelby. I’m just trying to piece together what happened out there.
Ms. Holt:Well, see, a lot of kids go up to those woods at night. To, like, hang out or whatever. My friends and I made a plan to ditch our parents during the fireworks and meet up on the main path. When I got there, I saw someone lying on the ground. At first I thought it was one of my friends or something, maybe one of the boys just being stupid and trying to play a prank. Like, they were going to jump up and scare me or whatever. But when I got closer…
Detective Olsen:Would you like a tissue?
Ms. Holt:No, no, I’ll be fine. It’s just, I’d never seen a dead body before. And the blood, so much blood…
Detective Olsen:What happened next?
Ms. Holt:Well, I screamed, obviously. And then I ran out of the woods to find my mom. I was yelling that someone was dead, that we needed to call the police. People started just going crazy after that. Like, everyone started running, trying to get away from there as fast as they could.
Two Months
Before
