Dean's List Read online

  Savannah took Lydia's hand. "My head is spinning. This is literally the craziest and scariest thing I've ever heard. Based on what you've told us, I think you need to get out of that house today. Ask questions later."

  "I couldn't agree more," Bri said, taking Lydia's other hand. "Stay in our guest room, please. I'll lie to Dean's face if he asks."

  "And put your kids in danger?" Lydia asked. "No. I won't."

  "Then come to my house," Savannah said. "You know Tom could beat the crap out of Dean—and he'd do it in a heartbeat, too."

  Lydia shook her head. "I don't want to put either of you at risk. That's why I didn't want to say anything in the first place."

  "Well, we're involved now," Savannah said. "And I don't want you alone with him."

  "I appreciate it, but if he was going to hurt me, don't you think he would have done so already?" Lydia asked.

  Savannah and Bri exchanged a look.

  "Are you afraid he's going to go after you?" Bri asked, her eyes wide.

  "I don't think so." Lydia squirmed, hating the question.

  "You don't think so?" Savannah asked. "How can you stay in that house? In the same bed?"

  "If I act weird, he's going to know that I suspect something. For now, he buys my dumb act. He really thinks I believe he dropped an ad he cut out."

  Savannah grabbed her arm. "But what if he figures out that you've seen his stash? Then what?"

  Lydia's heart raced even faster. "I…I don't know. I can't think. It's all too terrifying."

  Bri grabbed her hand. "You've got to get out of there."

  "You have to go to the cops," Savannah said.

  "With what?" Lydia asked. "I don't have any proof. The cops working all those cases don't have anything. If it is him, he hasn't left behind a single strand of DNA or a fingerprint. His trips are circumstantial at best. With nothing else to go on, he'll know I spilled the beans, and then I'll be his next victim."

  "You can't live in fear like this, Lyds," Bri said. "And if he is guilty, he needs to be stopped. He could do it again."

  "I realize that," she snapped. "But I'm stuck. Don't you get that? I need to find more than just the clippings. I've actually done some digging, but I can't find anything. He's covered his tracks well."

  "He's good at that," Bri muttered.

  "Bri," exclaimed Savannah.

  "What do you mean?" Lydia asked.

  "His affairs, Lyds. Do you have even the slightest inclination as to who even one is?" Bri raised an eyebrow.

  Lydia frowned. "No." After having Dean back to acting like he loved her, no matter how fake it was, made the thought of his affairs hurt again. "I wish you girls would tell me that I'm insane for thinking he's actually killing those women."

  "Me, too, sweetie." Bri squeezed her hand. "Me too."

  "You really don't think that's enough evidence to take to the police?" Savannah asked. "I mean, seriously. They have the manpower to look into this. None of us have any detective training."

  "What if they don't believe me?" Lydia asked, shaking. "If they question him, he'll know I'm the one who turned him in. The only reason he's being nice is because he knows there's a chance I saw that one clipping. I can't even imagine what he would do if he knew I'd seen them all." Tears filled her eyes.

  Savannah looked into her eyes. "You need to make a decision. I think you should go to the cops, and then either stay with Tom and me, or get out of town. Don't go to your family. That's the next place Dean would look."

  Lydia shook more. Her body felt cold from head to toe despite the heat. She looked down, not finding any words.

  "She's right," Bri said. "We love you, and we want you safe. I'm really scared for you."

  Still shaking, Lydia stared at her sandals. "I do have a bag in my trunk."

  "Smart girl," Bri said. "I think you know what you need to do."

  "If you don't want to go to the cops, give me all the details you have, and I'll call in an anonymous tip. They have to start looking into this—before anyone else gets hurt. The last thing I want is to see something happen to one of my friends."

  "Then what? What if they find him guilty?" Tears blurred Lydia's vision.

  Savannah squeezed her hand hard. "Then the world is a safer place."

  "And you can go back home," said Bri.

  "I don't know if I can." Lydia felt sick.

  "Where else would you go?" asked Savannah.

  Lydia shrugged. "I doubt I could afford the house without Dean's money."

  "Then sell it, and buy a cute condo." Bri gave Lydia a forced smile. "You could have fun with that."

  "Right." Lydia flatly.

  "Oh, I know. You could hang out with that horse guy," Bri said. "Remember from the HOA meeting? Some girl's brother? His name was Tony or something."

  "Toby," Lydia corrected. "He's too young for me. Plus I wouldn't want to drag him into my messed up life."

  "Don't worry about what you're going to do later," Savannah said. "You need to decide where you're going to sleep tonight, and whether you're going to call the cops or if I'm going to."

  "I'm going to throw up."

  "You can do that later." Savannah stood, pulling Lydia with her. "First, tell me what you're going to do."

  "I…I'll find a hotel somewhere." Lydia's head spun.

  "And…?" asked Savannah.

  "There's no way I can call the cops. I just can't. I'm too shaken."

  "Okay, then I'll do it."

  "But what if they want to question me?" Lydia asked. "Will it look suspicious if I'm not home?"

  "Why would they suspect you for anything?" Bri asked. "You weren't with him any of those times?"

  Lydia laughed bitterly. "You know as well as I do that I haven't gone anywhere with him."

  "Then you're fine," Bri said. "Just take care of yourself, and make yourself available if the police want to ask you anything. No one is going to blame you for trying to get away. If anything, they might question why you stayed after figuring it out."

  "Because I didn't want to believe my husband was capable of such things." Lydia glared at her friend. "Anyone could understand that."

  "I know, I'm just pointing out something they might ask. You need to be prepared for anything."

  "You should get going," Savannah said. "And don't stay anywhere close."

  "Do you think he's going to go after them?" Fear and guilt tore at her. "Should I warn them?"

  "No," Bri said. "Let Dean see their genuine expressions. He'll know they're not hiding anything."

  Lydia hated the idea, but knew that Bri was probably right.

  "Call us when you check in somewhere." Savannah kissed Lydia's cheek. "Then I'll call the cops. Or maybe I'll call first? What do you think?"

  "I can't think." Lydia continued to shake.

  "Everything is going to be okay," Bri said. "Dean will be locked away before we know it, and then you can live your life again. We'll help you find some wonderful single guy. Sound good?"

  Lydia took a deep breath. "I guess."

  They walked back to Lydia's car in silence.

  "Whatever you do, don't go back home," Bri said.

  "I know."

  "Get at least an hour away," Savannah said.

  "Okay."

  "I'm serious." Savannah looked into her eyes.

  Lydia nodded. "I promise."

  Savannah and Bri hugged her, and then Lydia got into her car and drove out of the parking lot.

  Fear

  Bri watched as Lydia's car disappeared from sight, and then stared at Savannah. "What are we going to do?"

  She shook her head. "I'm scared out of my mind. Do you think we should've told her about Cara?"

  "No. That poor girl has more than enough on her plate. She'll find out about Cara and Dean eventually, but she needs to deal with this first."

  "That's true. I couldn't imagine throwing in the betrayal of a best friend on top of everything else."

  "What are we going to do about Cara?" Bri asked
. "She's probably with Dean."

  "And she's probably at more risk than Lydia."

  "It depends on how badly Dean wants the baby," Bri said. "He was pretty upset about not being able to have a baby with Lydia, right? If he really wants a child, Cara could be okay."

  Savannah shook her head. "I knew Dean was a jerk. I mean, who is so obvious about having affairs? But I never would have guessed this in a million years."

  "Me, neither," Bri said. "And now two of our friends are in danger. What are you going to tell the police?"

  "I don't really have anything yet. I should've had Lydia write everything down for me before she left. I'm just not thinking straight."

  "None of us is. I really think we should warn Cara."

  "She won't even take our calls," Savannah said.

  "I'll leave her a message telling her it's life and death."

  "And risk having her tell Dean?" asked Savannah.

  "We have to do something." Bri's stomach twisted in knots. "I think I'm going to be sick. Do you really think Dean is capable of murder?"

  Savannah looked at Bri. "I think anyone is capable of anything given the right circumstances. Some people just have a taste for blood. He might have accidentally killed the first one, and then decided he liked it."

  "But why keep Lydia around?" asked Bri. "He's never hidden his disdain for her since their fertility problems."

  "She probably makes a good alibi." Savannah shrugged. "Nobody's suspected anything up until now, right? We wouldn't know anything unless Lyds found those papers."

  "We need to warn Cara."

  "What if she doesn't believe us?" Savannah asked.

  "Then it's out of our hands," Bri said, "but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try to warn her."

  "What if he goes after us?" Savannah asked. "Lydia seems to think that he might. If we tell Cara, and she doesn't believe us…."

  "Then she tells Dean," Bri finished. "I don't think he would be after us so much as Lydia."

  "She's hiding. If he can't find her, he could go after us."

  Blood drained from Bri's face. "I can't put my family at risk. My girls."

  "No. Don't. I'll take care of all this. I'll even tell Cara that you don't know anything."

  "She won't believe you. Lydia tells me everything."

  They stared at each other, not saying anything. Bri's mind raced. Part of her wished Lydia hadn't said anything because now she had to worry about her kids' safety. Would Dean go after them to keep himself from being caught? On the other hand, Bri was glad Lydia told them. Otherwise, Lydia might have gone back home to Dean. How could she have stayed with him for even a minute after discovering the clippings? And how could she have kept it from them for so long?

  "What should we do?" Savannah asked.

  Bri shook her head. "I'm scared."

  "Me, too. I can't believe we have a killer in the neighborhood."

  "At least he hasn't gone after anyone there. Everyone's accounted for."

  "I need to talk with Tom," Savannah said. "He'll know what to do."

  "And I should tell Corey. Maybe between the four of us, we can figure something out."

  "Bri, I think you should just go home and pretend like everything's normal. Keep your family out of it. I'll talk with Tom and some of our biker friends. You'd be surprised at how resourceful some of them are."

  Bri thought of her sweet girls. "Thank you, Savannah."

  Agitated

  Cara paced the living room. Where was Dean? He had promised to be back over an hour ago, and her calls kept going straight to voice mail. Had she done something to piss him off?

  She rubbed her stomach, trying to calm down. Her blood pressure was going up, and she knew she had to keep it under control.

  How could Dean put this kind of stress on her? He had promised to take care of her and the baby. He'd been spending so much time with Lydia when he was in town. It just didn't make any sense. They couldn't stand each other, until suddenly they showed up at that HOA meeting holding hands.

  What if she had changed her mind and was trying to save their marriage? Why would she do that all of a sudden? Because she finally figured out that the guy she'd fallen in love with had moved on for good?

  Or what if she knew about the baby? Lydia was too smart for her own good. It was only a matter of time before she put two and two together, and she might have already done so.

  Cara pulled out her phone. If she wasn't so upset, she'd call Savannah or Bri. They'd certainly called enough times. Maybe they already knew that Ethan had kicked her out. They weren't ones to leave anything alone, so it was only a matter of time before they went to her house.

  Ethan was working from home this week, so he would have answered, and probably told them that Cara wasn't his problem anymore.

  She found Dean's number and called it. Straight to voice mail again. What was he doing that was so important? He had to have known she needed to talk to him. He would probably be pissed at how many times she'd called, but Cara didn't care. She just needed to know what was going on.

  She was half-tempted to call her friends back and have some girl time, but she would be worried about Dean the entire time. Cara called him a couple more times, and then texted him to call her.

  This wasn't going to get her anywhere. Pacing and calling only added to her stress. If she wasn't pregnant, she would grab a glass of wine, or maybe the whole bottle, to calm her nerves. Since that wasn't an option, she needed to figure out another way to relax until Dean finally decided to get back to her.

  Cara grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels, looking for a movie or something to distract her. Nothing looked interesting. They hadn't signed up for Netflix yet, so she was stuck with cable. She went upstairs to find her tablet. She still had her account with Ethan on there.

  She turned on the tablet and then clicked the app. It prompted her to sign in. When she did, it said she had the wrong password. Ethan had already shut her out of that. Cara threw it on the bed.

  What now? She went back downstairs, tempted to call Dean again, but she knew he wouldn't answer. She sat down and flipped through the channels again. After going through all the channels at least twice, she finally settled on a reality show about a woman with three husbands. Wasn't one enough? Cara couldn't imagine life with more than one, and after watching the show, she was even more convinced she couldn't do it.

  It must have been a marathon because one show after another played. After the first one, Cara got into it, and almost forgot about Dean. Almost. Every time she heard something outside, she jumped to the window. After a while, she stopped checking.

  Eventually, it started getting dark outside, and Cara got hungry. She went to the kitchen and realized how little food they actually had. She needed to go shopping. She made a sandwich and settled in for another episode, glad to know someone else had more drama in her life than Cara.

  Just after she finished the sandwich, she heard something outside. Cara didn't bother checking, knowing that it wasn't Dean. Then she heard the lock in the front door.

  Relief swept through her. Finally, he was home.

  The door slammed. "Can't you take a hint?"

  Cara's heart sank. "What do you mean?"

  He came into the room, his eyes narrowed. "When I don't answer the phone. It means I can't talk. That's not an invitation to keep calling—over and over again."

  "But I—"

  "One message or text is sufficient. Do you understand?"

  "Dean, I—"

  His brows furrowed. "Do you understand?"

  "Yes."

  "I'm a busy man. A lot of people need a lot from me. From work and my personal life. I don't need my phone going off every two minutes."

  "I get it. I was just worried."

  "Were you afraid I was with Lydia?"

  The look in his eyes scared her. "I just didn't know where you were."

  "And if I was available to tell you, I would have."

  She nodded. "I
understand."

  "Do you?"

  "Yes. I won't do it again."

  "Good."

  He stared at the TV. "What are you watching?"

  "Just a stupid show. I needed something to distract myself with."

  Dean picked up the remote and turned it off.

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  He continued to pace. "I think she knows. It's the only explanation."

  "What?"

  "Everything. She knows everything."

  "Who?" Cara's pulse raced.

  "Lydia."

  "What? About us?"

  "No." Anger covered his face, and he paced back and forth, furrowing his eyebrows.

  Cara backed up, watching him. She didn't dare ask what Lydia knew about—not when Dean was acting like this. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Once she was sure she could speak steadily, she went over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Want to talk about it?" she asked in her most soothing tone. "Let me help you."

  He turned and glared at her. "You can't."

  She moved closer to him, rubbing his arm. "I can try. Let me in, Dean. What's going on?"

  Turning, he slapped her. Cara backed up, holding the spot on her face. It heated up by the second. "What did you do that for?"

  He smacked her again, this time on the other cheek.

  "Dean!"

  He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "You need to stop, Cara."

  "No, you do."

  Dean shoved her against the wall. "You don't understand the pressure I'm under. If Lydia…." He turned around and punched the wall, putting his fist through it. "I thought I had her where I wanted her. Everything was fine, but I don't think it is. I'm going to crumble under this pressure. I had everything under control."

  Cara moved away from him.

  "I've held it together so well until now," he muttered. "If she rats me out, that's it. Everything is over."

  "Wh…what can I do?" Cara asked, shaking.

  "There's nothing you can do. Nothing. Just shut up and give me space. That's all I need."

  "Fine. You have it." She walked toward the stairs, still grasping her face. Cara moved slowly, giving him the opportunity to apologize or explain himself, but he did neither.