Page 80 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

“Addy, you don’t understand. Your husband is a very dangerous man.”

“You think I don’t know that?” My eyes had welled up with tears. I quickly blinked them away. “Ben, I know that better than anyone.”

“This is bigger than you. I’m not trying to diminish what he’s put you through. I want to kill him myself. But, Addy, it’s bigger.”

“It’s not. He’s an insurance collector. He…”

“Do you really think that’s true? That’s not even a real job title.” He pulled out his phone and typed something on it. “This is your husband.” He handed me his phone.

He had pulled up an article. About a serial killer that they had dubbed “The Doctor.” I didn’t need to read it. I got the gist from the headline.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” Ben asked.

“You think this doctor fellow is my husband?”

“Yes. I’m 99 percent sure it’s him.”

“What a ridiculous name,” I said with a laugh. “My husband is too stupid to be a doctor. He barely got his bachelor’s degree.”

“That’s all you have to say? Addy, this is serious.” He tapped his phone. “He’s killed over 20 people and left zero evidence. The man’s a freaking ghost. He’s untraceable. A tiny breadcrumb led me here, but I have nothing. And we’re running out of time. He’s about to disappear. Again.”

“And who are you, Ben Jones?”

“I’ll tell you everything if you promise to help me.” He put his hand out for me to shake.

I knew my husband was a killer. I had seen it with my own eyes. And I knew exactly what he did as an insurance collector. I wasn’t sure I could help Ben become 100 percent positive though. There wasn’t any evidence in our house or on his computer. I had looked. Of course I had looked.

But the safe. I didn’t know what was in the safe. Maybe Ben could break into it. It could have what he was missing.

“If I help you, he’ll go to prison?” I asked.

"Yes. And not just for a few years for domestic violence. For life. And depending on the laws of the places where he did the murders, he could get the chair, Addy.”

I looked at the items on the coffee table. That plan seemed complicated. This new plan seemed easy. I could just sit back and relax while Ben broke into the safe. I liked uncomplicated things.

“You’ll answer any questions I have?”

“Yes.” He lifted his hand again.

This time I didn’t hesitate to shake it. I had just freed up my next two days to finish packing.

Chapter 39

I looked down at our intertwined hands. It seemed too good to be true. I slid my hand to his wrist and pinched him.

He jerked away from me. “What was that for?”

He is real. I had been putting off doing that for awhile because I was scared I was imagining him. Or am I supposed to pinch myself? I pinched myself too just in case. It hurt. It didn’t wake me up from a coma or anything, though. “I just wanted to make sure this was really happening.”

He stared at me incredulously as he rubbed the inside of his wrist. “My feelings for you are real. I didn’t lie about any of that.”

I was glad he had misunderstood me. I was testing to see if he was actually real. As a person. Not his feelings. But I was glad to hear him say his feelings were real. Because mine were too. There was so much else to ask him, though. I could finally get answers to all the questions I had. I knew exactly what I wanted to ask first. It’s all I had wanted to know for days. “Did you go on a date with Sally Ann?”

“That’s your question?”

“My first question. You said you’d tell me everything I

wanted to know.”

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