Page 152 of The Bad Husband

Three male bodies were found in a vehicle involved in a car accident. One of the men was the sheriff of a small town up north.

A hand slides over my mouth as I fall into an armchair, overwhelmed by the realization that I may have contributed to the death of these three people by discovering that they were cheating in Damon West’s club.

26

LILA

Brooklyn

A few months later

Halloween Evening

“Are those for me?”

I stop at the top the stairs and catch sight of my neighbor, Mina.

She’s an elderly woman who’s lived her entire life on this street.

I look at the tray of cupcakes adorned with orange buttercream and laugh.

“No. But you can have one.”

Smiling, I take the stairs down while she closes the space between us.

Her eyes glint with pleasure as she picks up a plump cupcake with sprinkled bonbons on top and a dark chocolate spider half buried in the swirl of buttercream––a testament to her undying passion for desserts.

“You know this is my favorite day of the year,” she says around a bite of cake, pushing her eyeglasses up the ridge of her nose.

“Here. You can have another one,” I say, offering her a red velvet cupcake with sugar goblins on top.

“No, no,” she protests. “There won’t be enough left for your guests.”

There won’t be any guests, but I won’t get into that with her. I bought the cupcakes for me.

Keira and Nicky are going to a Halloween party, and I’ll be home alone.

Unless the bodyguard who religiously surveils the street, night and day, cares for a cupcake, these are all for me.

“Please, take it. There’s enough for me… And my guests,” I say to appease her.

“Thank you,” she says and takes another bite from the first one. “These are delicious. Thank you again. I need to go now. I’ll be late for my doctor’s appointment.”

I give her a wave while she rushes down the street.

An eye doctor has recently opened a private practice around the corner.

They have long hours on Thursdays.

I check the time.

It’s only six thirty.

I lift my gaze and look around.

We had a beautiful day today with plenty of sunshine, a nice breeze, a blue sky, and swirling clouds of rusty leaves.

Yet now the Halloween decorations steal the show, white and orange lights glowing above the doors, on the windows, and around the wrought iron fences.