Page 82 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

“Was there a match?”

“No. Unfortunately not.”

I guess he wouldn’t have needed my help if there had been. “Is there anything else I should know about? You know…that you did to investigate me?”

“A few things, yeah. Just try to put yourself in my shoes for a second. I think you’ll see that I deserve the benefit of the doubt.”

“Okay.” I could tell it was going to be bad.

“Nothing major. I went through your trash to see what pills you were on. I took images of your fingerprints when you were sleeping because there were none in the database. I went through your purse and I’ve run a DNA test. I did a thorough analysis of your phone and called all of your contacts to make sure they were legit. Before we set up the cameras, I was spying on you with those binoculars you saw at my house. And I did have a key made to your house. This wasn’t the first time I’ve been here without you knowing.”

I stared at him. “Is that all?”

“Oh. And the Advil I gave you were actually pretty strong sleeping pills so that I could snoop around your house.”

“What the hell, Ben? I’ve been taking those non-stop.” No wonder I keep feeling so tired.

“When I realized that, I switched them out. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were still taking the ones I gave you until I saw them on the surveillance cameras. I assumed you’d swap them out for the ones you liked.”

I thought about the bottle on my nightstand. How it had changed. “Did you find anything interesting when you were snooping around?”

“Nothing but the files. And that safe. What’s in it?”

“I have no idea. But I think it might contain the evidence that you need. I asked my husband about it and he was really evasive. And he was down there all weekend.”

Ben shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t get any footage of him. I think he was on the screen when you taped the lenses, but you can’t really make it out.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Not as sorry as me.” His eyes traveled to the bruise on my jaw. “I didn’t see any photo albums or anything around. If you could give me a picture we could run it in our system. Maybe stop him before he strikes again.”

“I don’t have any photos.”

“None?”

I shook my head. “He’s weird about having his picture taken. And I don’t…I didn’t…” I let my eyes meet his. “Why would I ever want to look at his face when he was away?”

“This will all be over soon, Addy. We’re close. I can feel it.”

“What is it exactly that you do? I mean, who do you work for?”

“The FBI.” He sighed. “You weren’t supposed to learn my real identity. My cover’s been blown. Technically I should call this in. I should pack everything up and let someone else finish this.”

I bit the inside of my lip. “Please don’t leave me, Ben.”

“I’m not going to. We’re going to bring this son of a bitch down together.”

I glanced toward the coffee table strewn with murderous tools.

“Not that way, Addy.” He grabbed my hand. “The right way. You never answered me. Do you have a copy of your marriage certificate?”

“No. The last house we lived in burned down. We lost everything.” Maybe that’s what happened to my box. I couldn’t actually picture it in this house. Was it really that long ago that I

had given up hope of him going to jail? The thought was numbing.

Ben lowered his eyebrows slightly. “The files downstairs are dated as far back as five and a half years ago…”

“They’re copies. I don’t know if he has a storage unit somewhere or what. But they aren’t the originals.”

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