Page 139 of The Five Year Lie

He makes a face. “It burns me up that I never fingered Zarkey.”

“Zain didn’t, either, though. Or maybe he did, and didn’t get a chance to tell me. But he must have tipped the Zarkeys off somehow. And you’resuremy father wasn’t in on it?”

“Pretty sure. He wasn’t a programmer. And I’ll bet Ray had big plans for LiveMatch. As a new, separate venture.”

“Oh.”That makes sense. I think about how my father treated Ray, capturing a majority stake in the company for a tool that Ray invented. “Ray would never share another business with his brother. Not a second time.”

“Right. So that was my shortcut—tell your dad, make it his problem, and then leave town for a while. I thought I could watch the heads roll from a distance.”

“So you wouldn’t get arrested for identity theft?”

“Yeah.” He clears his throat.

I withdraw my hand from his. “That’s not what happened, though. You just left. And faked your own death so you didn’t have to get involved. That obituary stunt was cold.”

“Whoa, there.” His eyes widen. “That wasn’t a stunt. That was athreat. I didn’t publish that obituary.”

I stare. “You didn’t? Who did?”

“Probably Ray,” he says, watching Buzz throw the ball. “It was a message to me—that he knew where I was, and what I was doing. I assume he hired a PI to find out everything he could about me. The essential facts of my life were right—they knew I had a motorcycle, they knew I was living in North Carolina. They even knew my dog’s name at the time.”

“So...” My head reels. “They published an obituary for Drew Miller. As in—here’s what we’ll do to you if we ever see you again?”

“Yeah.” He shrugs. “It’s clever, you’ve got to admit.”

“Sure, if you’re into really fucking evil humor.”

He laughs suddenly. “I’ve missed your snark, lady. And I cannot believe you and Zain found all that stuff—the judge. Ernie’s death. The video of Amina...”

“We got it by sort of following you around the network. Well, Zain did. Oh my God.Poor Zain.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t believe he’s gone.” Drew sighs. “That’s fuckingawful.”

My eyes get wet again.

On the lawn, Buster drops the ball. He lifts his head and lets out a single bark. His tail begins swishing back and forth.

A bearded man crosses the lawn toward us, his hand raised in greeting.

“Woody,” I guess as he approaches. “Army vet. Bowling fiend.”

“That’s right, and you must be Ariel.” He’s older than Drew. Maybe forty. “I heard we got a situation. Who’s the little guy?” He jerks a thumb at Buzz.

“His name is Buzz,” Drew says. “So it would be helpful if you didn’t call me that for a while.”

“Buzz.” Woody’s forehead furrows. “You mean to tell me...?”

Drew nods. His lips quirk into a smile.

Woody turns to stare at Buzz, who’s seated in the grass now. The dog comes over and flops down to put his head on Buzz’s knee.

“Jayzus,” Woody hoots. “Looks just like you, except handsome.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

Woody barks out a laugh, then he turns to extend a hand to me. “Unfuckingbelievable. Nice to meet you, sweetheart.” I shake his hand. “Goddamn, Jay! I don’t talk to you for two days, and look what happens?”

Drew shakes his head. “You have no idea. Ariel stepped in the mess I left behind on my way out of town. Turns out I missed a few things. We’re going to need to make ourselves scarce for a little while.”