Chapter 2

Steam billowed under the showerhead.

Saul stood with his back to me.

He was washing his hair, humming a song off-key.

The scar that ran the length of his back twisted and warped with every movement.

Soaked in the hot water, it had turned red and swollen.

Seven years sharing a bed, and I knew that scar better than anyone.

So many times I'd thought about divorcing him, and every time I saw that scar I forced the thought back down.

But I had bricked him into that wall with my own hands.

Afraid it would start to smell over time, I'd even troweled on two extra coats of cement!

A dead man—how could he turn up alive and well at my door four years later?!

My foot slipped, and I nearly dropped to my knees in the bathroom.

"Honey, what's on your mind?"

Saul turned and saw me, steadying me with a wet hand.

My mind went blank, and I shoved the towel at him.

"Nothing. Just bringing you a towel."

Suddenly he was all interest, and he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Carolyn, I missed you so much."

"The whole ride home with the police, all I could think about was holding you."

His skin was scorching.

But that skin-to-skin touch made my knees go weak.

Before I got married, I'd worked three years as a nurse.

I'd been around dozens, hundreds of dead bodies.

I was certain Saul had completely stopped breathing back then.

Right now, only one thought was left in my head.

I had to go back to my hometown.

I had to see with my own eyes whether Saul's bones were still in the pigpen!

"Get some sleep first. Something urgent came up—I have to go out."

I pushed Saul away, grabbed only my phone, and hurried out the door.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the feeling of being watched made me look up without thinking.

Saul stood at the window, smiling and waving at me.

I couldn't even manage a fake smile.

In a panic, I rushed straight to the train station.

My hometown was a small village with a dwindling population; now only a few elderly people living alone were left.

Afraid of being seen, I wandered around the village entrance until nightfall.

It wasn't until late at night that I stood in front of the pigpen with a shovel.

My heart was pounding.

A few shovelfuls in, a metallic gleam showed through the red brick.

I leaned in closer, and for a second my heart stopped.

Under the quiet moonlight, a sliver of a ring peeked from the gaps in the reddish-brown brick.

It was the ring I'd picked out myself when we married.

Four years ago, Saul had still worn it on his hand when he died.

He was right here in this wall! He hadn't gone anywhere!

I didn't dare dig any further.

As I stood there frozen, my phone suddenly rang.

Afraid the neighbors would notice, I fumbled to answer it.

"Honey, it's so late—why aren't you home yet?"

"Where are you? Should I come pick you up?"

That familiar voice came through the receiver, and I was so terrified I dropped to the ground.

"It's fine, go to sleep."

I clamped a hand hard over my mouth to keep from screaming.

My heartbeat was terrifyingly loud, as if it would leap right out of my mouth the next second.

I did my best to make my voice sound completely normal.

"Something urgent came up at work. I'll come home as soon as I've handled it."

The other end went silent.

After a few seconds came a caring reminder.

"You need to eat on time, even when you're by yourself."

"If something's wrong, tell me. We're family."

"No matter what happens, I'll cover for you."

By the time I hung up, my whole body was soaked through with cold sweat.

What did he mean by that?

He wasn't Saul at all!

What was he trying to cover for me?

I hastily smoothed over the hole in the wall.

Under cover of night, I hurried back to the city.

The whole way, Saul's messages came one after another.

Every one of them was concern.

Honey after honey.

But to me they were like needles.

Stabbing until my head felt ready to split open.

Saul's body was clearly still in the pigpen.

So who was this man strutting around my home right now?