Page 83 of The Stone Secret

I frown, gently grab her shoulders and pull off my chest. This close, I can make out her features. Black eyeliner circles puffy, bloodshot eyes. Her lips are red and glossy.

“Who will kill you?” I ask.

“Hewill.”

“Harris? Dr. Taylor will kill you?”

“No, no, no…”

“His wife? Janet?”

“No.” She snaps, frustrated.

God, I hate drunk women.

“You can’t—I can’t … he can’t find out,” she attempts to collapse into my chest again, but I hold her in place.

“Who?”

“Johnny,” she wails.

“Detective Stroud?”

She nods feverishly.

“Why? Why would he be mad?”

“He’s—we’re together…”

Nofuckingway.

“No one knows,” she continues.

Secret lovers, then. I repeat—no fucking way. Gloria and Detective Stroud are dating. Meanwhile, Gloria is secretly meeting up with her neighbor, Dr. Harris Taylor.

I ask, “How long have you and Stroud been—”

“None of your damn business,” she snaps. “Just keep your mouth shut.”

“Okay.” I release her, step back.

It registers that the woman hasn’t even asked my name or what I am doing in the woods behind the Taylors’ home, but I have no doubt she will tell Dr. Harris about our encounter. Not Detective Stroud, because she obviously doesn’t want him to know she’s part of the local sex club. No, I can imagine that Stroud’s fragile ego would not take this well.

I need to get out of here.

I take another step back, and another. Gloria is swiping the tears from her face. She’s realized her makeup has smeared and this has become her number one priority.

I slowly retreat, keeping my eye on her, until I am finally able to make a break for it, not looking back as I jog back to the truck.

My head is throbbing as I exit the woods and pull onto the dirt road that leads into town.

A pair of headlights emerge from the corner ahead.

I glance at the clock—12:17 a.m.

In the handful of times I’ve been to Deep Shadows, I’ve never once passed a vehicle.

I shift lower in my seat.

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