Page 87 of Too Old for This

Burke:The detective? She’s talking to him?

Norma:That’s what she said.

Burke:And what do they talk about?

Norma:Both suspect Cole of doing something to Plum, but they have no way to prove it.

Burke:She’s lying. Don’t buy into it.

I make Burke wait, letting him get antsy about what Norma is thinking. One minute, two, three, and then I text him again. That’s exactly what she would do.

Norma:I didn’t say I believed her.

Burke:For your sake, I hope you don’t.

He hasn’t changed that much. Still arrogant.

And still after me.

I call down to the front desk. A perky young man answers and calls me by Norma’s name. “Good afternoon, Ms.Dixon. How may I help you?”

“Yes, who am I speaking to?”

“This is Emilio.”

“Hi, Emilio. I need to stay in town for a few more days. Is it possible to extend my reservation until Sunday?”

“One moment.”Tap, tap tap.“Yes, we can do that for you.”

“Perfect.”

I hang up. My mind is spinning with ideas about how to handle the next few days. Burke has changed everything.

He has always known. Back then, I could tell by the way he looked at me. It was like I had the wordguiltypainted on my forehead. He didn’t question it, either. That type of blind faith can be dangerous. All he needed—all heneeds—is an opening. He’ll sprint right through it, straight to me.

CHAPTER 47

Morgan is on my porch.

While I was pretending to be dead Norma and texting the man who tried to arrest me forty years ago, Morgan has been waiting for me. I ease myself out of the car, trying to look more exhausted than I am.

“I’m so sorry. The meeting at church ran late. I should’ve called you.”

Morgan is sitting in an old chair that has seen better days. Her hair, makeup, and outfit don’t look quite as polished as they did this morning. She has kicked off her heels, and the bottoms of her feet are dirty.

“I had to answer some emails anyway.” She doesn’t look annoyed, though she should be. We agreed to meet at a certain time so she could get her bags out of my house. I’m thirty minutes late.

Her lack of anger makes me a little sad. It’s like she knows everyone will be rude to her and she accepts it.

I felt the same way when I first moved to Baycliff. A single woman with a seven-year-old boy and no sign of a husband. I thought long and hard about making up a story about a dead husband, playing the widow card for sympathy to keep people from wondering who Archie’s father was.

In the end, I didn’t. I prepared myself for what came next. It wasn’t much different from how people treated me when I was pregnant, except now I had to deal with the mothers athis new school. I bet I looked like Morgan does right now. Resignation everywhere. It’s one thing to be treated like an outcast, but it’s another thing to believe you are one. Morgan is starting to.

But maybe her way is better. She doesn’t get angry about the way everyone is judging her. I did get angry, and look at me now. I’ve got a chopped-up body in the freezer and a detective who’s been hunting me for decades.

“Are you okay?” Morgan says.

I’m standing in the same spot, halfway between my car and the door.