Page 37 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

There were tally marks. Dozens of them. No, hundreds of them. She was counting something. Or counting down to something. A chill ran down my spine. Maybe she was counting down the days until she took action. The days until she murdered her whole family. Because the only thing more alarming than the tally marks etched into the wood were the words carved in the very center.

“The only escape is death.”

Chapter 15

Violet

I pulled my warmest sweater over top of a long-sleeved shirt. Maybe I’d pick up a new coat while I was in town today, if I could handle walking through the whispers for that long. Sometimes I’d drive an hour away just to avoid the gossip. Leaving town always felt liberating. I could walk around without anyone staring or pointing.

But I didn’t have that luxury today. While Zeke was at school I needed to go to the exact same store we had originally gotten Lizardopolous from. I had no idea what kind of lizard it was, but I knew where in the store we had found him. Plus, if that didn’t work, I had the receipt. It wasn’t detailed with the species, but hopefully the shop owner would be able to tell me what kind of lizard I had bought if I couldn’t find it myself.

Backup plans always made me feel better. But today’s plans hadn’t helped calm me down at all. There had to be a suitable replacement or I was royally screwed. Doubling down and lying to my son all weekend? There was no going back from that.

I had even snuck outside a few times and searched for him at night. And called for him, which was ridiculous. The little lizard didn’t know his name. He was a lizard. Zeke and I had also destroyed the house “searching” for him.

Today could have gone a little smoother if I had at least gotten an early start. I had learned to go shopping as early as possible if I had to do it in town. Grocery shopping was one of those things. Food spoiled when you drove around with it for an hour. But I hadn’t gotten an early start. I had been cleaning up the mess we’d made all weekend in our fake search. It wouldn’t have taken that long, but I wasn’t doing well today. Physically I felt fine. But I couldn’t seem to stop counting. I had stood in front of the couch fluffing the same damn pillow 96 times. I had practically beaten the thing to death.

I knew I was just nervous about going out. But the longer I waited the worse it would be. My logic hadn’t stopped me from deciding to clean the house instead of leaving, no matter how much sense it made. Once I started something, I had to finish it though. So the house was finally spotless hours later. And I was ready to go. I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Ready to go just after I washed my hands three more times.

Stop it, Violet. I took a deep breath. My hands were clean. Everything was clean. Soon there would be lunch traffic. There was nothing worse than people in a rush during lunchtime. But my body wouldn’t leave the bathroom.

Get a hold of yourself. You’ll only be gone for thirty minutes tops. Lizardopolous 2 will be at the store just waiting to be adopted. If you hurry. Someone else might snatch him up if you don’t hurry.

My pep talk worked. I was out of the bathroom and down the stairs in record time. I started humming, distracting myself from the feeling of doom in my stomach. “Going to get Lizardopolous,” I sang as I slipped on a pair of boots, gloves, and a hat. “And Zeke’s never gonna know the difference.” I shook my hips as I closed the front door behind me. “And he’ll live happily in ignorant bliss.”

I hoisted myself into my truck and stuck my key into the ignition. It sputtered lifelessly and made a terrible churning noise.

My stupid cheery song disappeared from my mind in a flash. “Shit!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Fucking fuckity shit!” I slammed my hands against the steering wheel. God, I had finally forced myself out of the house and now my truck wasn’t going to start? What did I do to deserve this torture? I turned the key again and it made the same terrible sputtering noise. “Damnit!” I slammed my hand against the wheel again. And again. And again.

I didn’t have time to call a repairman who wouldn’t come. Or a tow truck. Or any of that. You could call Tucker. I ignored the voice in my head. But it was like the voice was on repeat, saying it over and over on a loop. Like I was standing there fluffing that stupid pillow for half an hour straight again. Fine, universe. You win, you ungrateful, hideous ogre.

I climbed out of my truck and slammed the door as hard as I could. It closed slowly, its hinges squeaking with rust. I couldn’t even slam the door properly. Piece of junk. I kicked the tire and then silently cursed when it hurt my toes.

I tried to take a few deep breaths, but nothing would calm me down. Before I could back out, I pulled off my gloves and typed in Tucker’s number. Hopefully he’d pick up this time. If he had answered my call a few days ago, all of this could have been avoided. I pressed the phone to my ear. It rang several times and then the voicemail kicked on.

I was pretty sure I was about to have a panic attack. I couldn’t keep lying to Zeke. I needed to get Lizardopolous 2 today. Now.

The voicemail beeped, signaling it was time to leave a message.

“Hey, Detective Reed.” I didn’t try to lather my voice in fake honey. I said it exactly how I was feeling. Like I wished I was calling anyone else in the world but him. And that my morning wasn’t going well. And that I was on the verge of tears because everything around me was falling apart. Including me. “I changed my mind. Not because I want to see you again, but because my shitty truck won’t start and I have zero other options for a ride. But I need you to call me back right now. And I don’t mean that figuratively. I mean it literally. Like right this second.” I started pacing. “We have to go immediately or I can’t go at all. It’s almost lunchtime and I can’t be out during lunch. I don’t know what your schedule looks like, but maybe you could take an early break or something? Just…get here or else....” The voicemail beeped, cutting my message short.

Get here or else? Seriously? That made it sound like I was threatening him. I debated whether or not I should call him back. But as I went through my message in my head I started to panic. I hadn’t left my name or number. I hadn’t even mentioned the pet store. He’d have no idea who was calling. I dialed his number again and held the phone back up to my ear. It went to voicemail again.

“I wasn’t threatening you,” I said after the beep. “I got cut off. I was going to say, get here or else it’ll be too late and we’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Which can’t happen, because Zeke is already suspicious of my lies. This is Violet by the way.” How many Violet’s does a detective know? “Violet Clark. Call me back if you get this before eleven, otherwise don’t bother. But you owe me. Please. I need you.”

I need you? I hung up before I said anything else stupid. Why on earth had I said that? I didn’t need him. I wanted nothing to do with him. Now he was going to get that message and get all so

rts of weird ideas about my intentions.

This day couldn’t get any worse. I sat down on the cold ground and leaned my back against the tire. Tears started to stream down my cheeks before I even realized I had started crying. I was officially losing it. It wasn’t just the fact that I was nervous about going into town. Or that I got stuck in my head this morning. Or that my car wouldn’t start. It was more than that. All the lies were tearing me apart. Lie after lie after lie.

Big lies have big consequences. I heard my mother’s voice in my head.

Lying to Zeke about his pet was protecting him. It was a white lie. A small nothing lie. But that was the problem with lies. They stacked on top of each other until they became one big unbearable lie. I felt like I was drowning in my own secrets.

Chapter 16

Tucker

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