Page 87 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

If you figured out who I am, it’s only a matter of days now until you know the truth. It comes back in a wave. An intoxicating rush. Don’t fight it. There’s no point. It’s easier if you embrace it. Not all problems are meant to be solved. Not all issues can be fixed.

All I can do now is delay the inevitable. I hid what you’re looking for. I promise it’ll all make sense soon. Enjoy your last few days of sanity. It goes away in the blink of an eye. And the worst is yet to come.

XOXO,

-Dr. Nash

Well, the joke was on her, because I literally had no idea what any of that meant. All I knew was that Dr. Nash was trying to ruin my life. Just like my husband was. I wanted to scream.

The safe was supposed to have the answers. Instead I was left with riddles from a psychopath. And I was never going back on my medicine. If this letter was here to convince me I was crazy, she had done a terrible job. It just made me think she was crazy.

I started pacing back and forth in the room as I reread the letter. Running out of time. She was the one that was out of time. And the joke was on her. I was finally finding peace. In Ben. She could keep my husband. I had found someone so much better. Someone who treated me right. Someone that was going to help me escape all of this.

I slammed the safe closed. The next time I saw Dr. Nash she’d be behind bars. Maybe I’d visit her and tell her she was the insane one. Maybe I’d visit her every day and reinforce that fact. I’d ruin her life like she tried to ruin mine.

The words echoed around in my head. I hid what you’re looking for. That was the only thing in the letter that mattered. She had hidden the evidence that my husband was a killer. And I was going to find it. I went up the stairs. I just needed to think about where she’d put it. If her and my husband were working together, maybe they hid it together.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Where would the two of them hide something? I was always here. They wouldn’t have hidden it in the house. I looked out the back window at the woods. But my husband didn’t know I was scared of the woods. I turned back to the kitchen. Where? I looked back down at the letter. Where, you crazy bitch?

No. I looked up from the letter and back out the window. My husband didn’t know I was scared of the woods. But Dr. Nash did. I told her about the time I went running. How I had gotten lost and screamed for help.

No one had been able to hear my cries. I had wandered around for hours until I found my way back. She buried the evidence in the woods.

It was rational to wait for Ben. But I was so close. I was so close that I could taste victory. I opened up the back door and walked down the steps. It would be easy. They wouldn’t have wandered far.

This time the crunch of the leaves made me cringe. Without Ben’s hand, I wasn’t calm. If anything, I was frantic. I turned around in a circle. There’d be a freshly dug patch of dirt if they had hidden it recently.

I walked a little farther into the woods and turned in another circle. I’d find it. I had to.

Chapter 43

I had just walked past that tree. Hadn’t I? I wasn’t sure how long I had been looking, but I didn’t know where I was. The sun was starting to set and the trees seemed to be closing in on me. Each time I turned around, the woods felt smaller.

Focus. There wasn’t much light left. I needed to find it. A mound of dirt caught my attention. I dropped to my knees and started digging. I was about to give up when I was elbow deep in soil, but then my fingers brushed against something hard.

I pushed the dirt away to reveal a box. Just a regular shoe box. But I instantly recognized it. My box. The box full of pictures of my abuse. Enough evidence to put my husband in jail even if we couldn’t put him in for life. I opened up the lid, expecting to see the stack of photos. I wasn’t expecting an unaddressed envelope on top of it.

I remembered what Dr. Nash had said. That she had been to my house. That she had looked for the box. I didn’t remember her coming. What if it was because she did come and did find the box and then made me forget? What if she gave me the perfect cocktail of prescription drugs to mess with my mind? Because that bitch had clearly found my box. And decided to hide it from me. And made me feel insane for not remembering.

I took a deep breath. I had a feeling this would be filled with more riddles. But maybe it held the truth. She had said she'd hid what I was looking for. And I was looking for answers. I tore open the envelope to find another letter.

Adeline,

You didn’t deserve it. No one deserves it. But that doesn’t excuse what you did. We both know that. What you don’t realize is that this isn’t what you’re truly looking for. Not even close.

The only thing these photos do is prove that you’re guilty. Yes. You. I know you don’t believe me. You’re probably tempted to show the photos to the police. But it is my professional recommendation that you wait a couple of days to make that decision. Because if you found this box, you have less than 48 hours until you know the truth.

You’ve held onto your secrets this long. What’s one more day? And if you don’t believe me, the proof is in the images.

XOXO,

-Dr. Nash

Professional recommendation my ass. I looked down at the first picture. It was an image of myself staring back at me. With a black eye. The proof was in the images. The proof that my husband was monster. I turned it over. My handwriting was scrawled on the bottom, dating the image. It was from nine and a half years ago. The very first picture I had taken of the abuse. When I still thought there was hope of escaping him.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and answered Ben’s call. “Ben! I just…”

“There’s nothing here,” he said.

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