Wicked Little Lies- Molly Page 18

  “Ready?” Matt asked, the slight shake of his voice revealing his thoughts were close to mine.

  “Sure.”

  “You can wait in the car if you want to.”

  I liked that idea, but knew it wasn’t something I could do. “We’re in this together. Good and bad.”

  Matt leaned close and whispered a kiss over my lips, his breath warm against my skin. “In case we get caught, know that I love you.”

  I smiled in the darkness and held onto him just a little bit tighter. “I love you too.”

  For a moment we did nothing but stand with our heads close together as I breathed in his scent. As much as I liked to have stayed there forever, I knew we had a job to do and the quicker we did it, the quicker we could be home in bed.

  “Molly, you need to be careful. It’s not just you that you need to keep safe.”

  “Yeah, you need to stay safe too.”

  “I was talking about the babies.”

  “I know.”

  He sighed, and the scent of mint mixed with coffee wafted towards me. He then turned and lifted his leg over the windowsill and disappeared into the darkness. A second later his hand reappeared and took mine, guiding my way to him.

  Once inside we felt it was safe to use a light so swiping our phones unlocked, we hit the flashlight app and the room in front of us was illuminated.

  Floral wallpaper clashed with the bedspread that in turn clashed with the busy rug under our feet. The air smelt stuffy and I twitched my nose hoping I wouldn’t start sneezing.

  Timber wardrobes lined the far wall and Matt stepped towards them, turning the key that kept them locked, and revealing the contents to us.

  “Looks like a guest room,” he said, closing the door and stepping off the rug.

  Staying close to his back we moved into the hall our shoes noisy against the timber flooring.

  “This is a big house to look for a small book,” I whispered, as the framed family member hanging on the wall sneered down at me. “Where do we even start?”

  “As much as I hate the idea, I think we should split up. You look for his bedroom, and I’ll look for an office.”

  I gulped. When I’d broken into Matt’s house with Danny, it had been kind of scary but kind of exhilarating because ultimately, I knew we were safe. This was just plain scary. I hated dark houses at the best of times. Add that there’d been a murder here recently and we were breaking the law, and I was having a hard time controlling my bodily functions.

  “Okay,” I squeaked. “But promise you won’t sneak up on me.”

  “I promise. Let me know as soon as you find something.”

  Reluctantly I let him go, his footsteps fading as he moved along the hall. Once his light disappeared around a corner, I took a deep breath and checked the adjacent rooms. I found a laundry, a bathroom and a linen cupboard, all of which didn’t seem obvious places to hide a book. Door four opened to what I thought was his bedroom.

  A large timber framed bed dominated the room, the dark sheets very masculine, and the aroma of Old Spice aftershave drifted from the attached bathroom. The walls were painted a deep green which matched the rug placed under the bed, and I was grateful for the quality of it as it muffled my footsteps when I walked across the room to the bedside tables. The drawer silently slid open as I pulled it.

  Paul Pritchard seemed to like his medications. Between pain relief, antacids, anxiety medication and vapor rub, there wasn’t room for any reading material.

  The oak dresser caught my attention but turned out to be a dead end too. Unless I counted a drawer full of white Y front jocks all ironed and set in neat rows useful. The other drawers held his pajamas and socks.

  Stepping towards the wardrobe my heart pounded extra hard. The unreasonable fear that someone could be hiding inside it felt super creepy, but I pulled my big girl pants up and handled the job that needed to be done. Thankfully all it held was twenty-three starched shirts, fourteen pairs of black trousers, and a dozen pair of leather shoes that all looked the same to me.

  I was thorough in my search, even checking under the bed, but when I came up empty handed, I decided it was time to see if Matt had any more luck than I had.

  The family portraits continued to judge me as I made my way back towards him, but I kept my light focused on the floor and chose to ignore them. The hallway led me to a large entry, the moonlight filtering in through the side windows, casting shadows over everything.

  I shivered and pulled my sweater closer around me, hoping Matt had the book and we could get out of here. My stomach gave a little flip when a light flashed ahead of me. The sooner I got to Matt the sooner I would feel a whole lot calmer.

  Stepping out of the entrance and into the lounge room, I scanned for the light, but he wasn’t there. Continuing through the house, I bypassed the kitchen and dining room only stopping when I found a library. And Matt was sitting in one of the large winged-back chairs, a book open in his lap.

  “Did you find it?” I asked, making him jump.

  “Sorry. I was so engrossed in this I didn’t even see your light.”

  “Well I saw yours. You must have found that book pretty quickly because you were only just ahead of me.”

  “I’ve been here the entire time.”

  I shook my head and moved closer to him. Matt had a terrible sense of time progression.

  “Is that the book you were looking for?” I asked, hopeful.

  “No. It’s a diary from 1997. Paul is talking about getting the money he’s owed. Listen to this: I told her that I’d been patient enough. She had promised to pay me the money she owed, and I wouldn’t wait any longer. She knew what would happen if she didn’t come through.

  “That doesn’t make him sound like a nice guy.”

  “Nope. And it’s not the only entry like this one.”

  “Does it say who owed him the money?”

  “No. It just used letters where names should be.”

  “1997 was quite a long time ago,” I mused. “Maybe he’d loaned a lot of people money and needed it to be paid back. I mean we all have bills to pay and I can’t imagine this house would be cheap to run.”

  “Maybe. I think I’ll hint to Ed that he should check the library.”

  “If he hasn’t already.”

  Matt stood and pushed the book back into place, retrieving the next one from the shelf.

  The books called to me and I wondered what would happen to them now their owner was gone. I allowed my finger to skim their spines as my light fell on the titles. Paul had a lot of the classics—Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo, Wuthering Heights, Moby Dick. The list was endless and very inspiring. More than one title made me want to curl up in that winged-back chair and get lost within its pages.

  I loved books and old ones especially intrigued me. The differences in the language from then to now, the ways we told a story so differently. The oldest book I had read was Shakespeare, and even though that was over four hundred years ago, so much of what he wrote about still happened today. Despite the progress we’d made in technology, human emotions pretty much stayed the same.

  “Matt, how long are you going to be?”

  “I’m not sure. Why?”

  “I really need the bathroom.” The coffee I’d had on the way here had made its way through me already.

  “Can you use the one down the hall?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes. I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet, but these diaries are proving really interesting. Paul had a lot to say.”

  “We’re not here for a story,” I reminded him. “We’re here to find one book. Just one.”

  Matt sighed and closed the one he was holding. “You’re right. Sorry. But just give me a little bit more time. Can you hold on that long?”

  It was my turn to sigh. “No.”

  “Then your best bet is to use the bathroom here.”

  “Fine.”

  I opened the door and moved into the lounge room, bu
t I stopped abruptly as a light flashed ahead of me.

  My heart jumped into my throat and I hurriedly backtracked into the library.

  “Someone’s out there,” I hissed, flipping my light off.

  “Huh?” Matt’s fingers froze on the book he was holding.

  “I said someone’s out there!” I whispered.

  “Who is it?”

  “Well, I don’t know. Considering we’re not supposed to be here I didn’t hang around to find out.”

  Matt hurriedly closed the book and tucked it into the band of his jeans, covering it with his shirt as he moved alongside me. He flipped off his light and we stood in silence, straining to hear anything that would indicate what kind of danger we were in for being caught in the house of the murder victim.

  “Who do you think it is?” I whispered, moving my head close to his so he could hear me. His masculine scent mingled with his breath and I had to steady myself by placing my hand on his chest.

  “It’s probably night security, doing their rounds.”

  “In the house?”

  His hip brushed mine as he moved me aside to listen at the door.

  Thankfully my eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly and I could see him press his ear to the door.

  “What can you hear?” I asked, my lips very close to his neck.

  “You talking.”

  Humph.

  Pushing my back against the wall I tried to slow my heart rate.

  Matt skimmed his fingers along my neck, his lips hovering just above my ear. “They haven’t turned a light on.” His head jerked towards the bottom of the door and the lack of light shining beneath it.

  “So, it’s not a security guard?” I whispered, my voice so quiet I wondered if he could even hear me.

  “I don’t think so.”

  So, whoever it was, shouldn’t be here either. But what were they looking for?

  The silence was broken by the loud click of a lock as Matt turned the key, locking us inside.

  “Why did you do that?”

  “It gives us some time to get out the window.”

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the room. Pushing the lace curtain aside he unlatched the window as quietly as possible and slid it up.

  The moaning of the timber sounded so much louder in the dark, and I prayed that whoever was there, didn’t hear us and run around outside to catch us.

  I didn’t need to worry though as the handle on the library door rattled, and I silently thanked Matt for thinking to lock it.

  Matt heard it too as he grabbed my arm and almost pushed me outside. My feet had only just touched the floor as he landed beside me.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he snapped, once again grabbing my hand as he pulled me behind him.

  My breath stuck in my throat, stars flitted in front of my eyes, and I wondered if I could have a heart attack at thirty-five years of age.

  Chapter Eighteen

  We didn’t stop running until we reached the car. Which was three streets over as Matt hadn’t wanted anyone to know we were there.

  By the time he beeped the doors open, I had to double at the waist and suck in much needed oxygen, my heart rate nearing the stroke zone.

  “That can’t be good for the babies,” I stammered, as Matt almost pushed me into the vehicle, Harper jumping across the seat to greet me.

  “Which is exactly why you should have waited here.”

  “And do what? Worry myself sick you’d gotten yourself in trouble?”

  “I would have been fine.”

  “If it wasn’t for me you would have been caught. When you have your head in a book you don’t hear a thing. Whoever it was would have walked in and caught you red-handed.”

  Matt didn’t respond. Instead he made his way around the car and got behind the wheel and pulled the book from his waistband.

  “Did you just add theft to our break and enter charges?” I demanded, as Harper sensed our distress and slinked to the back seat.

  “I’ll put it back once I’ve finished reading it.”

  I huffed. “Is it the book we were looking for?”

  “No unfortunately, but it mentions a lot of what Paul was up to.”

  “Which was?”

  “I’m reading between the lines, but it sounds an awful lot like he was blackmailing someone.”

  “Yeah, probably the person who murdered him.”

  Matt let out an elongated breath and started the car.

  “Do we know who it was back there?” I asked, nodding behind me as he pulled away from the kerb.

  “At the house? No. Whoever it was hadn’t parked out the front either.”

  “Do you think they knew we were there?”

  “My guess is now they do. How many houses have library doors locked from the inside?” Matt ground his teeth and accelerated down the road.

  “What do we do?” I asked, defeat sitting heavy behind my breastbone.

  “I’m going to talk to Ed. Let him know what I’ve found out.”

  “Without incriminating us,” I hurriedly added.

  “Yes.” Matt’s grin pushed his frown aside. “I’ll keep how I found the information out of it. But I want to see if I can get back into the house and find that book. I know I’ve only just read snippets from those diaries, but I believe your theory is right. Paul has—had the book I need.”

  “Will Ed let you have it?”

  “If we find it then I’m hoping he’ll let me read it before he takes it.”

  “Providing we’re correct in our assumptions.”

  “Yeah. Fingers crossed.”

  We drove towards home in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Traffic was light, but as the occasional car passed us in the opposite direction their lights illuminated Matt’s face and I could see his thoughts in the creases of his brow.

  “You’re itching to read that book, aren’t you?”

  He grinned. “Am I that easy to read?”

  “It’s the tapping of your fingers on the steering wheel giving it away.”

  “The snippets I read back at the house didn’t mention any names. I’m hoping in this later diary he stops using letters and actually names those involved.”

  “Life is never that easy. Oh geez,” I commented, looking at the road. Red and blue flashing lights lit the path of the oncoming fire truck, its sirens getting louder the closer it approached.

  Matt maneuvered the car to the side of the road. “That’s not good for someone.” Once it had passed, he monitored it in his rear-view mirror, before moving back into his lane.

  Five seconds later his phone rang, the caller ID flashing up on his Bluetooth audio system.

  “Hey Sam.”

  “Mate, did you hear the radio call there’s a serious house fire? I know it’s your night off work, but there’s no other reporters who can cover it tonight. Boss is going to be pretty pissed if we miss it and the other networks get the story.”

  Matt released a resigned breath and glanced at me. “Sorry Molly. I need to turn around. It shouldn’t take long though.”

  “Is Molly in the car with you?” Sam called. “Hi Molly! Sorry to disrupt your night.”

  “It’s all good, Sam. Whoever that fire belongs to is having a much worse night than me.”

  “So, I should meet you there?” Sam asked.

  Matt checked behind him, seemingly looking for the fire truck. “Yeah. What’s the address?”

  “Thirty-two Jacaranda Drive.”

  The car swerved as Matt white knuckled the steering wheel. “But we were just at that address!”

  “What were you doing there? I thought it was the address of our recent murder victim?”

  Matt performed a U-turn narrowly missing an oncoming car. “It’s a long story,” he said, ignoring the blast of the other car’s horn. “One that is getting more interesting by the second.”

  I hated to think how many red-light camera charges he was going to get the following week, as more than once he push
ed the boundaries between orange and red. Speeding through intersections Matt was lost in thought as he retraced our path.

  “Do you think the fire was deliberately lit, or do you think we did something to start it?” My voice shook as I faced the question I feared.

  “We didn’t do anything,” Matt soothed. “My money is on whoever was on the other side of the locked library door started it.”

  “By why?”

  “I don’t know. But I’m damned sure going to find out.”

  As we pulled to a stop across the road from the three fire trucks, the house was well and truly alight. Smoke billowed from the windows, dancing on the eerie light of the full moon. Police vehicles had the entrance to the property closed to any bystanders and neighbors lined the street in their pajamas, their faces filled with concern.

  “Why don’t you take the car and go home?” Matt suggested, unclicking his seatbelt. “I’ll get Sam to drop me off later.”

  “I don’t mind waiting.”

  “You’ll be safer at home and a lot more comfortable, and I have no idea how long I’ll be.”

  “Will you be okay?”

  “Sure. Sam will be filming as much as he can, and I’ll interview a few of the neighbors in case they saw anything. Then I want to chat with Ed. I may just need someone to post bail for me after that.” Matt joked, as he reached across to the back seat, and found the diary he had previously taken.

  I gulped.

  “Please be careful,” I warned. “You don’t know if the person who did this is still around.”

  “I’ll stick close to the police. Promise.” He leaned across and planted a soft kiss on my lips. Placing both my hands on either side of his face I held on tight, only letting go as his soft sigh broke the connection.

  ****

  I hated driving away from Matt, but he was adamant on telling Ed he had broken into the house alone. He didn’t want to bring me into it, and he wasn’t going to listen to anything I had to say on the matter. As much as I didn’t like it, I had to respect his opinion, and his argument about my stress levels was pretty compelling.

  Driving away from him was no less stressful. The idea of sitting at home waiting to see if he was going to get arrested made my toes curl and my stomach clench.