False Step by Victoria Helen Stone

Author:Victoria Helen Stone [Stone, Victoria Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781542041287
Published: 2019-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

It wasn’t until she was watching her garage door rise that Veronica remembered the phone.

Sydney was singing along to some K-pop song, using made-up words, Veronica assumed, as she didn’t speak Korean. Veronica waited impatiently for the clunky old garage door to stutter its way up. When its slow crawl revealed the blank space where Johnny’s truck should be, she felt a surge of triumph she couldn’t place for a moment. Relief that he wasn’t home yet. Excitement that she could . . . what?

Then she remembered. The phone. The phone he couldn’t possibly have taken to the police station this morning. He wouldn’t have risked it. What if the police found the phone and got suspicious? He could tell them it was just for an affair, but would they believe it?

No, the phone must be in its hiding spot, unless he’d dropped by to pick it up later.

“I’ll just run in,” Sydney trilled as she opened the car door.

“Actually, I need to use the restroom.”

“And then we’ll go to Grandpa’s?” She asked the question with suspicion, as if she thought Veronica might come up with an excuse to stay home once she went inside. Smart girl.

“Definitely. I just need to text and make sure he’s there.”

She’d been putting that off for as long as possible, willing her father to leave his place and be unavailable by the time Veronica reached out. But she couldn’t avoid it any longer.

She pulled her phone from her purse as Sydney watched, then typed a quick message to her dad. Sydney wants to stop by. Are you home?

Sydney eyed the message and lingered a moment longer, watching for a sign that her grandfather was writing back.

“Go on! I’ll let you know what he says.”

She finally exited the car and Veronica followed her into the house. “I’ll be back in a few,” she offered as she aimed for her bedroom, but Sydney was already digging through a pile of construction paper on the kitchen counter.

Veronica’s phone vibrated. She glanced at it to find that her dread had been justified. I’m home! her father texted. Can’t wait.

Jesus, the man was finally present for his family. Great.

Dropping her phone back into her purse, Veronica stepped softly down the hallway as if Johnny’s secret device might hear her coming and hide. She closed her bedroom door behind her as quietly as she could, then dropped cross-legged to the floor in front of the wardrobe and eased the left door open.

Her hand slipped unerringly inside the shoe as if she’d been sneaking peeks into his hidden stashes for years instead of days. She withdrew the phone and turned it on, her pulse pattering with quick excitement as it cycled through the opening screens. Finally the lock screen loaded. She typed in the password and then the message bubble dinged itself awake with a tiny number 1 that turned the stutter of Veronica’s pulse into a driving rain on a metal roof.

She clicked on the icon and held her breath.

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