Chapter 3 - CELINA'S SECRET
Celina finally called at 9:32 that morning.
I answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
“Celina.”
“I’m in my car.”
“Where?”
“I don't want to tell you.”
I closed my eyes.
“Then tell me why you're afraid.”
She didn't answer.
I could hear her breathing.
“Bernice, I messed up.”
“You slept with my husband.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't know.”
My voice cracked.
“You don't know what I saw this morning.”
“I know about Roger.”
That stopped me.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
I stood.
“You were here?”
“Yes.”
“And you saw him sleeping on the floor?”
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“I saw Gideon put him there.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Then why didn't you stop him?”
“I tried.”
“You tried?”
“I told him he shouldn't leave Roger downstairs.”
“And what did he say?”
She hesitated.
“He said Roger liked sleeping downstairs.”
I almost laughed.
It was such an absurd lie that it hurt.
“My son hates sleeping alone.”
“I know.”
“You've known him his whole life.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you believe Gideon?”
“I didn't.”
That answer was immediate.
I sat down.
“What?”
“I didn't believe him.”
“Then why did you keep coming?”
“Because I was stupid.”
“No.”
I looked toward Roger's bedroom.
“You were selfish.”
“Yes.”
She began crying.
“I was.”
For a moment, I let her cry.
Then I asked, “How long?”
“Since April.”
Four months.
“Who else knows?”
“No one.”
“Who is the man in the black SUV?”
Silence.
My heart started pounding.
“You know him.”
Celina whispered, “Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“I don't know his real name.”
That answer frightened me more than anything else.
“What does he have to do with Gideon?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear I'm not.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
She took a shaky breath.
“Gideon started acting strange around May. He became paranoid. He kept checking his phone. He started deleting messages.”
“About what?”
“Money.”
My stomach tightened.
“What money?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you involved?”
“Because Gideon told me he was trying to protect you.”
I stared at the wall.
“Protect me from what?”
“He said you were going to leave him.”
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
“Did he?”
“He said you were unhappy. That you were planning to take Roger and disappear.”
I almost couldn't speak.
“That was his excuse for cheating?”
“No.”
“What was the excuse?”
“He said he needed someone he could trust.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Your husband needed someone he could trust, so he slept with your sister?”
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what it was.”
She cried again.
Then she said something that changed the entire conversation.
“Bernice, Gideon didn't bring me into that house because he wanted an affair.”
I said nothing.
“He wanted information.”
My skin prickled.
“What information?”
“About you.”
“What?”
“Your work schedule. Your mother's address. Your bank. Your passwords. Where you kept important documents.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying again.”
“No.”
“Then why did he ask you those things?”
“Because he said you were unstable.”
I went silent.
“He said you were becoming paranoid.”
My jaw clenched.
“And you believed him?”
“Not at first.”
“But eventually?”
“I don't know what I believed.”
She sounded broken.
Then she whispered:
“He asked me about your life insurance.”
I stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“What?”
“He asked whether you had changed your beneficiary.”
I couldn't speak.
“Bernice?”
“Keep talking.”
“He asked whether you had any savings he didn't know about.”
I remembered the conversations.
The questions Gideon had casually asked.
How much was left in my retirement account.
Whether my mother still had her old house.
Whether I kept important papers at home.
I'd thought he was planning our future.
Maybe he was planning my disappearance from it.
“Celina,” I said quietly.
“What?”
“Did Gideon ever ask you to lie for him?”
“Yes.”
“About Roger?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
She hesitated.
“About a woman.”
My stomach dropped.
“What woman?”
“I don't know her name.”
“Have you seen her?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know she exists?”
“Because Gideon told me I was temporary.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The truth neither of us wanted.
She hadn't been the destination.
She had been a tool.
“You were never the other woman,” I whispered.
“What?”
“You were a distraction.”
She started crying harder.
“Bernice, I think you're right.”
I looked toward the window.
The street outside was quiet.
Too quiet.
Then a car slowed in front of my mother's house.
Black SUV.
My heart stopped.
“Celina.”
“What?”
“I think he's here.”
“Where?”
“My mother's house.”
“Leave.”
“I'm not leaving.”
“Bernice, listen to me. If that's Gideon, don't confront him.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows how to make people disappear from his life.”
The car stopped.
I watched through the curtain.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
Not Gideon.
The same man from the camera.
He walked toward the house.
I whispered:
“Celina, who is he?”
“I don't know.”
He reached the front gate.
Then my mother appeared behind me.
She looked through the glass.
The man raised one hand.
He wasn't threatening us.
He was holding an envelope.
He placed it beneath the mailbox.
Then he turned around.
Before getting back into the SUV, he looked directly at the upstairs window.
Directly at me.
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
You should have stayed at work.
I stared at the screen.
May you like
Another message followed.
Now you've seen too much.
