Dean's List Read online

  Lydia looked in the fridge and saw leftovers from the night before. It would have to do, because she was in no mood for cooking. She slopped some food onto a plate and stuck it in the microwave.

  She paused, watching it rotate inside. What if Dean really was killing people? If he suspected her snooping, would he try to poison her food? Her stomach twisted in knots.

  No. He was being so sweet. She had no reason to doubt his intentions toward her.

  After eating, she went up to the bedroom and went through Dean's drawers. She found nothing unusual, but that wasn't surprising, especially after finding his office clean. She would have to get more creative than going through his socks.

  She went back into the closet. Could there have been more clues in there? Or had he hidden more things around the house in sneaky places like that? Maybe she could find another clue in his papers.

  Lydia pulled her hair behind her shoulder and then moved the safe back. She pulled the carpet back, and then lifted the floorboards. The little space was empty.

  Her blood ran cold as she stared at the empty area. He had moved his box of clippings? She reached down and felt around, half-expecting a mousetrap to snap onto her fingers. But there was nothing—nothing—in the little space.

  Did Dean know she had found his stuff or did he make a habit of moving things around?

  Maybe she never should have given him back the paper he dropped. She should have let him wonder, not to mention sweat, about what had happened to it.

  Lydia replaced everything and then leaned against the wall. At least she had taken pictures of everything. It would be harder to read the pictures from her phone, but it was better than nothing.

  She opened the gallery of photos on the screen, but her back tingled. She looked around, feeling as though she was being watched. Dean wasn't around, but had he set up a hidden camera?

  No. She was just imagining things. Her back continued tingling, but it didn't matter. If he was recording her, he already had her discovering the empty cubby under the floor. Surely a camera wouldn't be able to pick up what she was looking at on her phone.

  The feelings wouldn't go away, so she got up from the bed and went into the rarely-used guest room. It could just as easily be bugged, but she didn't feel imaginary stares in there.

  Lydia sat at the desk and found the picture of the first newspaper clipping. She enlarged the image and then scanned it for clues, not coming up with anything. She moved onto the rest, looking for similarities between them, or at least something else to jump out at her.

  Nothing did.

  The only thing that any of them had in common was the fact that they could have possibly been killed by the same person. But no one else would be able to put that together, because no one else had found them all hidden together.

  Dean was actually pretty brilliant, assuming it was him. Someone would have to know his traveling schedule to figure it out, to put everything together. If the police were searching for similar cases, they would be on the lookout for victims in similar areas. These women were all over the place, spread throughout the country with one in Canada.

  What she needed to do was to get online and see what more had been found. Were there any new clues? There had to be. The investigations couldn't all couldn't be stalled. Did she dare search on her laptop, or would she be better off going to the library? Would they want her to log in with her library card? That would send more red flags than anything else. Lydia wanted to be even more careful than Dean.

  If he figured out she was onto him… no, she wasn't going to let that happen. Not before she took it to the authorities. Now she had even less proof since he had taken the box.

  There had to be a way to look into all of this without it leading back to her. She would almost need a new identity. Or at least an online one. She could purchase a cheap laptop with cash, open up a fake email account, and store everything there. She would also have to go somewhere with free wi-fi and never let the computer connect to the home internet.

  It was a lot of trouble, but if she was living with a serial killer, she had every right to know. No matter what crazy hoops she had to jump through.

  Lydia turned her phone off and leaned back in the chair. Part of her wanted to call one of her friends and tell them everything. She had always been close with Bri. That was why she wouldn't leave Lydia alone—she had to know something was wrong. Cara and she had been close for a while, but then around the time Cara got pregnant, she also distanced herself from Lydia. Most likely because Cara knew how much it hurt her that she couldn't have a baby. Savannah and Lydia had often shared secrets, too.

  She trusted all of them, but she couldn't lay that on them, at least not until she knew more. Lydia needed to protect the ones she loved. For now, the less they knew, the better.

  Lydia got up, went to her car, and drove to the bank. She went to a branch that she rarely went to so no one would remember her. She would just be another customer. Everyone knew her from the one inside her grocery store. Lydia could just imagine one of the cute tellers innocently telling Dean she saw his wife come in and take out cash.

  Then Lydia would raise his suspicions and possibly be next on his list…if she wasn't already. She sat in the parking lot pretending to fix her makeup, but she was actually pretending to look natural. If she walked in looking as nervous as she felt, everyone would think she was going to rob the place.

  She took a few deep breaths and reminded herself that she wasn't the one who had done anything wrong, and in fact, she still wasn't doing anything wrong. Why hadn't she set any money aside for herself in a different bank? It wouldn't have taken much, especially with her magazine job. If she had just taken five or ten percent of that each month, she would have had a nice stash for herself. Now it would be harder to sneak money from her shared account.

  Lydia made a mental note to set up her own bank account somewhere else and have part of her earnings go there. Then she grabbed her purse and walked into the bank. All of the lines were full, and several people stood waiting. Perfect. Everyone was too busy to notice her.

  Everyone except the little kid in front of her. The boy stood only a foot away from his mom, a big flop of blonde hair getting into his eyes. He bounced from one foot to the other, staring at Lydia.

  She looked away but could still see him watching her out of the corner of her eye. He moved closer to her, and Lydia looked down, making eye contact. The boy jumped to his mom and wrapped himself around her leg, burying his face into her floral pencil skirt.

  Lydia managed to get to the counter without anyone else taking any special note of her.

  The teller smiled, showing lipstick on her teeth. "What can I do for you today?"

  She wanted to say, Wipe your teeth. Instead, she slid the withdrawal slip and her ATM card on the counter. "Just a withdrawal."

  "Sure, no problem." She entered everything into the computer while Lydia pretended to be bored. "Here you go. Have a nice day." She handed Lydia the cash and her card.

  Lydia slid it into her purse. "You, too." She went back to her car and headed for Costco. It was the cheapest place she knew of to buy a computer. She had seen some laptops for just a couple hundred dollars last time she'd been in. She had been looking for a small TV to put on the wall in the kitchen, but somehow ended up checking out computers.

  After arriving at Costco, she found herself looking at the same row of computers and laptops she had seen before. This time, the cheapest one was gone, but there was one only about fifty dollars more. She purchased it, hoping that Dean didn't have a way to find out what had been purchased since she had to use their membership card. With any luck, he was too busy with his own work to keep tabs on her like that.

  Questioning

  "Lyds still isn't answering," Bri said. "I hope she's okay." She looked at her phone as if it could give her the answers, and then she glanced around the restaurant, hoping to see Lydia walking toward them.

  "We should go to the movie without her," C
ara said. "Obviously, she's not interested in what you have to say."

  "Touchy much?" Bri asked.

  "She's stonewalling you, Bri. She's fine—just doesn't want to talk to you."

  "You saw her and Dean at the meeting." Savannah raised an eyebrow at Cara. "They're probably busy romping in the—"

  "Okay," Cara snapped. "We get the picture. Besides, he's out of town."

  "And how would you know?" Savannah asked.

  Cara's eyes widened. "Isn't that what Lydia said? She can't keep him at home. It's no wonder he's gone all the time."

  "What's your deal?" Savannah asked. "If they're getting along, and Dean's being nice to her, we should be happy for her. She's been miserable for too long. Lyds deserves some happiness."

  Cara's lips curled downward. "Maybe there's a reason they haven't gotten along in a long time."

  "Why are you hating on Lyds?" Savannah asked.

  "I'm not," Cara said. "You know how she is—high maintenance."

  Savannah pulled out a mirror and fixed her lipstick. "Dean knew what he was getting into when he married her."

  "You would know that how?" Cara asked. "We didn't know them then."

  "Hormones eating you up today?" Savannah asked. "She's not a delicate flower hiding her desires. They were a cute couple until they had problems getting pregnant."

  "Not getting pregnant, you mean." Cara scowled.

  "I give up," Savannah said. "It's probably better if she stays home today. If looks could kill, girl, you'd be the end of our friend."

  "Okay, enough," Bri said. She looked between them, letting her gaze linger on Cara.

  If Cara was going to act like that, she needed to at least tell Savannah why she was so irritated with Lydia. Did Cara have feelings for the father of her child? Had she lied about it being a one-time thing?

  "How are things with Ethan, Cara? Is he excited about the baby?" Bri asked.

  Cara shot Bri a dirty look.

  "Now you're mad at Bri?" Savannah asked. "Is there a way to get those hormones in check? I don't want to be next."

  Cara's lips formed a straight line. "I suppose I'm edgy because of the pregnancy."

  "How are things with Ethan?" Bri asked again.

  "Fine. Why do you ask?" Cara narrowed her eyes.

  Bri narrowed her eyes back.

  "What's going on?" Savannah asked. "I'm beginning to think I'm out of the loop on something."

  "You going to tell her, too?" Bri asked, unable to keep the irritation out of her voice.

  "Looks like I have to now," Cara said. "But I thought we were going to keep this between us. Remember our deal?"

  "Our deal that I wouldn't say anything to Lydia?" Bri asked.

  "Details," muttered Cara.

  "Huh?" Savannah asked. "Just tell me."

  Cara picked up her glass of sparkling water and took a long sip.

  Savannah gave Bri a questioning look.

  Bri shook her head, tired of Cara's attitude. "Want me to tell her? That might be easier."

  Cara slammed her glass down and stared at Savannah. "Turns out Ethan can't father a child. Happy?"

  Savannah choked on her water. "What? Who…?"

  "And it turns out Lydia's the one in her relationship who can't have kids." Cara sat taller, anger covering her face.

  "You mean…?" Savannah dropped her fork onto the plate.

  Others turned to their table.

  "How could you do that to Lydia?" Savannah whispered. "I thought you two were getting even closer because you both had the fertility issues."

  Cara's face softened somewhat. "Look, I didn't mean for it to happen. You're right, though. We were getting closer. After I found out about Ethan's infertility, before even telling him the news, I went straight to Lydia's house to talk. She was out, but Dean was in. One thing led to another…I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

  "You're not still seeing him?" Savannah asked.

  A strange look covered Cara's face. "A few times. You know how infrequently he's home."

  Bri leaned over the table. "Yet he's been in town more often lately. Is that a coincidence?"

  Cara stirred her drink. She looked conflicted.

  "You've told us this much," Bri said. "We're not going to say anything to anyone."

  "Sometimes he does see me before going home or to the airport." Cara continued to stare at her water.

  "What does that mean? I thought it was a one-time deal."

  Cara's face grew red. "I don't want to talk about it."

  "What about Ethan?" Bri asked.

  "He finds me disgusting, remember?"

  "How could you?" Savannah demanded.

  "It had nothing to do with her. Dean—"

  "Nothing to do with her?" Savannah glared at Cara. "They're married, and she's your friend. It has everything to do with her. She was crushed about not being able to have kids with him. It nearly ruined their marriage."

  "Marriage?" Cara exclaimed. "Dean travels to stay away from her. He jumped at the job opening."

  "How long have you been seeing him?" Bri asked, suddenly understanding she didn't have the whole story. Probably not even close.

  Cara folded her arms. "Since I found out about Ethan shooting blanks." Cara looked around, clearly aware of the attention they were drawing.

  "Where are you at now?" Savannah asked. "Would you consider yourself in a relationship with him?"

  "Am I on trial?" Cara's face turned redder.

  "Lydia isn't here to defend herself," Bri said. "Someone has to."

  "Both of you?" Cara asked.

  "If the situation was reversed, we'd do the same thing to her," Savannah said. "That's not how you treat a friend, and I thought we were tight."

  "And I doubt Lydia would do that." Bri folded her arms.

  "Seriously?" Cara stared at her. "She had a long-term affair with a married man. We don't know who—she never told any of us. For all we know, it was one of our husbands."

  "It wasn't," said Bri.

  Savannah's eyes widened. "What's with all the secrets? I thought we were close. Now I feel like I don't know any of you."

  "I just found out last night at the meeting," Bri said. "I caught her staring at him."

  "Who was it?" Savannah asked. "Did you confirm?"

  "Wouldn't you like to know?" Bri asked. "It doesn't affect any of us—trust me. They're not close to us. I doubt we've said more than a casual greeting to them."

  Savannah looked both irritated and deep in thought. "Guess I'll have to ask Lydia myself."

  "Watch her at the next meeting. I didn't mean to figure it out, but she kind of made it obvious. She can't let go."

  "With Dean right there?" Cara looked disgusted. "They walk in holding hands, and she can't keep her eyes off someone else's husband? Whore."

  "What?" Exclaimed Bri. "Take that back."

  "Never. I can't believe she would do that to Dean."

  "You're one to talk," Savannah said, her lips curling down. "Showing up with Ethan, but carrying Dean's baby."

  Cara's nostrils flared. "Not so loud. If he wasn't there, it would be different. They were holding hands and everything."

  Anger built up in Bri's stomach. "You're such a hypocrite, Cara."

  "Watch it," Cara warned. "Don't forget that I have stuff on you. Both of you."

  "Looks like we're on equal ground now. Aren't we?" Bri leaned over the table in Cara's direction. "You can stop holding our secret over our heads. We could go to Ethan at any minute."

  Cara snorted. "Right. Then I rat the two of you out, and I know you don't want that."

  Bri looked over at Savannah, who was pale. She mumbled something. It sounded like not wanting to go to jail.

  "What?" Bri exclaimed.

  "Nothing." Savannah turned to Cara. "Do I need to keep an eye out on Tom, too? Are you going to make your rounds?"

  "Seriously?" Cara asked. "You're going there?"

  "I have to ask." Savannah folded her arms. "Is my husband next on your
list?"

  "I'm married and carrying someone else's baby. Do you really think I want to get involved with anyone else?"

  "Good, because you're not Tom's type. I'm his type, and he's very happy with me, so don't even consider it." Savannah flipped back her hair.

  "He's hardly my type, either," Cara said, turning her nose up. "I'm more into bankers than bikers."

  Bri pulled out her phone and called Lydia again. "Still not answering."

  "Maybe she knows." Savannah stared at Cara. "Would she have any reason to suspect?"

  Cara's face lost color. "No."

  "Right," said Savannah. "She's probably too busy with Dean in the bedroom to worry about you. I'm sure that right now she's got her hands all over—"

  "I'm not putting up with this anymore," Cara said. "If you two can't at least be nice to me, then I'll find someone else to hang out with. There's a whole group of pregnant ladies in the HOA. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to hang out with me."

  "You want to start hanging out with them, dear?" Bri asked, allowing as much sarcasm in her voice as possible.

  "What's wrong with them?" Cara narrowed her eyes.

  "Only that they're about half our age," Savannah said.

  "Half our age?" Cara exclaimed. "Hardly. That would put us at practically fifty. Stop exaggerating."

  "They can't be more than twenty-two or twenty-three," Bri said. "Fresh out of college and ready to start their families."

  "Yeah," Cara said, "and none of us are even close to planning our fortieth birthday parties. They're not even close to half our age."

  "Then why haven't you started hanging out with them already?" Bri asked.

  Cara pressed her palms against the table. "Do you guys want to get rid of me? Stop being friends because of this? I didn't do anything to Lydia. She can't stand Dean. We all know that. And like I said, I didn't mean for this to happen."

  "Well that makes everything all right then, doesn't it?" asked Savannah.

  "What about all the times after that initial oops?" Bri asked. "Did you mean for those to happen? Or do you just have no self-control?"

  Cara glared at them. "Actually, I didn't mean to, at least not at first." Cara looked genuine. "Dean stopped by when Ethan was at work, and I was going to tell him about the baby, but he actually started ranting about Lydia wanting a family. He was really pissed, so I knew telling him was a bad idea. I didn't think we'd keep seeing each other, but he kept showing up, and Ethan has made it clear how gross he thinks I am now that I'm pregnant. Would you turn down someone who wants to love you when going home to that?"