Page 121 of The Five Year Lie

As he crosses into the West End, he spies a sushi restaurant that he and Ariel always meant to try, but never did.

He pulls out his phone and checks for an acknowledgment from Ariel. They don’t ever text, but he broke that rule today because it’s crucial that he gets the opportunity to say goodbye in person. He’s rehearsing his speech as he walks.I’ve stirred up some trouble. I’m sorry to complicate your life, but I can’t explain. It’s better if you don’t know the details. I’m going to stay with an army buddy for a little while. I hope you can forgive me.But it’s not over between us. It will never be over.

Leaving her is going to tear him apart.

She hasn’t replied, though, so he taps her number, dialing her. She doesn’t answer. And when it goes to voice mail, he hangs up and powers down the phone.

He’s confident she’ll see the missed call. She’ll check her texts. She always takes a lunch break, and he’s still got almost an hour to meet her in the park. There’s still time.

The farther west he walks, the more beautiful the buildingsget. Stately old homes with bay windows and slate-tiled roofs. The Chadwick Street house has a corner lot, and he can already see the second story. He studies the windows and wonders which of them was Ariel’s.

He never got the chance to find out.

Rein it in, he reminds himself. He needs to stay alert now. He slows his steps as he approaches the Cafferty property from Pine Street, at the rear of the house. He hears a screen door slam, but a tall hedgerow of lilacs hides both doors from view.

The sound might not even have come from the Caffertys’ house.

A car’s engine cranks to life. And then the glint of a rearview mirror penetrates the hedgerow for a split second. He pauses on the sidewalk as he picks up the sound of tires rolling slowly down a driveway.

Well, shit.If the driver is another Chime Co. employee, he could be spotted, depending on which route the driver takes after he pulls out onto Chadwick. He leans down, sliding his backpack onto the sidewalk, and kneels down to tie a shoe that doesn’t need tying.

It’s not the most brilliant disguise, but it doesn’t even matter. When the car—a very shiny Mercedes with darkly tinted windows—comes into view, it doesn’t turn onto Pine. It heads straight up Chadwick and quickly disappears.

He rises again, shouldering his pack beside a row of lilac bushes—the same one Ariel described to him when she explained her method for approaching the house off camera.It was easy. I came through at the break in the hedgerow, ducked under the window of my father’s office—in case he was up late—and hopped onto the front porch from the side.

Sure enough, he arrives at the break in the hedgerow and stepsthrough. He doesn’t duck, though, as he’s not trying to avoid Edward. Instead, he glances up at the window to the office—the same one he invaded on the Fourth of July.

In spite of the sunlight’s glare on the window, he can see the collar of Edward’s crisp white shirt. But something about the angle of the boss’s head is strange. As if Edward is bowing to his desk.

Curiosity brings him two paces toward that window for a better look.

44

ARIEL

I’m at Hannaford supermarket pushing a cart through the produce section. Like a zombie, I stack ten watermelons in my cart. Because I will not fail Buzz.

But inside I’m screaming.

“Hey.” I look up to see a handsome, bearded man aiming a lazy grin at me. He glances into my cart. “Nice melons.”

On any other day, I’d give him either a smile or the finger, at my whim. But I do neither. Instead, I push the cart a little farther into the store, toward the dairy aisle.

Take Buzz and run.My senses jangle every time I think of that four-second message. Whatever happened to Zain, he somehow took a moment from his last night on earth to leave that message.

Did he know Zarkey was a killer? Had he figured it out? There had to be some reason he left that message.

If I’d told Officer Barski a long, weird tale about a five-year-old cybercrime last night, could I have prevented this somehow?

Did he hear them coming? Or did he fall asleep at his desk, and feel nothing?

I blink, and I’m still at Hannaford with ten watermelons. But my senses are dialed up into the red zone. Because my gut says I need to heed Zain’s warning. I know too much. I need to take Buzz and run.

Thewhyswill have to be sorted out later.

I grip the cart’s handle and let out a breath. I feel only two percent calmer.

Pushing the cart toward the premade foods, I pick out some sandwiches. Then I hit the snack section and grab a box of Buzz’s favorite granola bars.