The End of Her: A Novel by Shari Lapena

Author:Shari Lapena [Lapena, Shari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Contemporary, Adult
ISBN: 9781984880512
Google: 70wxzQEACAAJ
Amazon: B083RYTYC4
Goodreads: 50482978
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Published: 2020-07-15T05:00:00+00:00

29

It’s late, and Stephanie has Jackie in her arms, the baby’s face red and bawling and covered in mucus and tears. Her little body is hot, even in just a diaper and a light T-shirt. Stephanie is sweating, too, from holding her against her chest for so long. She talks to Jackie, jiggling her as she carries her around the living room, but the baby will not be soothed. If they try to put the babies down, they cry even more frantically, and neither she nor Patrick can stand it. Patrick has Emma in his arms and he’s walking her around the hall and in and out of the kitchen. Night after night they do this, and it’s wearing them down. They can’t even speak to each other through the noise, but maybe that’s a good thing. Stephanie doesn’t want to speak to her husband right now.

She’s angry. At him, at the situation. She’s so tired she can’t think straight. She’s generally a very rational person, but she hardly recognizes herself anymore.

She doesn’t believe that Patrick killed his first wife deliberately. Stephanie knows him. It’s an outrageous claim. If he really was in love with Erica, like she says, then why wouldn’t he just leave Lindsey, like Erica claims she wanted? That’s what anyone would do. There’d be no reason to kill her.

Except—there was going to be a baby, and supporting a young family you’ve left is very expensive. And there was that insurance money.

She goes wearily around and around the living room, the thoughts going around and around her mind, just as wearily. Erica is a blackmailer, a cold-blooded liar. But she’s so persuasive, so believable. Still, even if Erica, with all her lies, is able to make the authorities believe that the affair was serious, that’s not enough, surely, to prove that Patrick murdered his first wife? But then she remembers the money, and feels a wave of nausea sweep over her. Her knee bumps the sofa and she stumbles a bit. And then she remembers the warning that Erica had left her with: If he did it once, he could do it again. She closes her eyes for a moment and stands still. No. She will not go there. Erica was just trying to mess with her mind.

Stephanie bites her lip and resolutely refuses to allow her mind to go down that treacherous path. She tries to stick to what she knows for sure. Erica knows they’re not going to pay. She certainly won’t get anything out of them once she goes to the police. She might go to the police anyway, out of spite. If she does, this thing is going to take on a life of its own. With any luck it will be dealt with quickly in Colorado and no one here will ever have to know.

But if it isn’t—if it comes to the attention of the media, if she doesn’t get some sleep—she’s afraid that she’s going to snap.

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