Chapter Two

Sarah's POV

Adam turns around, and something flickers across his face before he catches himself and smiles. "Nothing, just looking for my keycard for work tomorrow. Here, drink your milk and get some rest."

I walk over to the coffee table, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch his phone screen lighting up on the couch. A text. The name on it says Dani.

It's only there for a second, but I see it clear as day. Miss you so much. Same place tomorrow night, eight o'clock.

I pick up the milk and look at Adam's face.

Five years of marriage, and I've looked at this face a thousand times. But right now, it just feels like a stranger's face, and it makes my skin crawl.

"I'm not thirsty." I shake my head and set the cup back down.

I don't sleep at all that night.

I lie on my side in the dark, listening to Adam breathing evenly beside me.

Years in business, years running the shop on my own, that's enough to burn the panic clean out of you.

Tipping my hand now would only put those two on guard, or worse, push them to come after me directly.

The next morning, Adam makes breakfast like always, kisses my forehead, and heads out the door in his suit for work.

The second the door shuts, the softness drops off my face.

I walk into the living room and pull back the curtains.

Sunlight spills across the birdcage. Corvus stands on one leg on the perch, preening its gorgeous feathers. I already splinted its left wing with a proper brace.

"You didn't sleep last night." The clear voice cuts through the quiet living room again.

"Like you'd have slept through that." I pull up a chair and sit down in front of the cage, staring at it. "Tell me everything you saw, every detail. Why are they doing this?"

Corvus lets out a sigh. "Tonight, they're sneaking out to see each other, and on the way, they're going to hit a homeless man. It's going to scare them so bad they'll take off. Once they calm down, they'll decide to pin the whole thing on you. That pet rescue shop of yours sits on prime real estate. No matter what they turn it into, it's a solid piece of property. And with that big accident and life insurance policy you took out, Adam's the beneficiary. Danielle's had her eye on all of it for a while now. Once you're behind bars, they'll pay someone inside to make sure something happens to you. And once you're gone, everything falls right into their hands."

I let out a cold laugh.

Such a devoted husband. Such a loyal best friend.

"How are they planning to get my car?" I ask.

"According to what I saw, you're supposed to be at the shop tonight doing inventory, out late, not coming home. Adam's going to steal your spare key. Tonight at eight, he'll tell you he has a work thing and won't be home, but really he's driving out to pick up Danielle, and the two of them are sneaking off together. Somewhere along the way, they're going to hit a homeless man and kill him. Adam's going to quietly park the car back where it was and put the key back. By the time the cops show up at your door, you won't have a way to explain any of it."

"Good." I stand up, and there's nothing warm left in my eyes. "If they want to play games, I'll show them how it's really done."

"You're not calling the police?" Corvus sounds a little thrown.

"What's the point of calling them now? Tell the cops a bird told me my husband's planning a murder?" I let out a short laugh. "Nothing's happened yet, so there's no crime. What I want is for both of them to rot behind bars for good. To make sure there's no coming back from this, we're going to play right along and turn their own plan against them."

At nine in the morning, I call one of my employees and tell them I'm heading out of town to check out a shipment of imported feed, and that they should mind the shop while I'm gone. Then I pull on a baseball cap and a mask and take a cab to the biggest security equipment store in the city.

I pay top dollar for the smallest, most hidden high-definition pinhole cameras and long-life voice recorders on the market, and I have the clerk walk me through setting up live cloud backup straight to my phone right there on the spot.

At noon, I slip back to the house and into the private driveway.

My red Mini sits parked quietly in the corner of the garage. I pull on gloves and open the car door. I tuck one pinhole camera into the seam under the base of the rearview mirror, angled to catch both the driver's seat and the passenger seat.

I mount the second camera behind the dash cam, pointed straight ahead at whatever's in front of the car.

I stick the voice recorder somewhere out of sight, under the driver's seat.

Once I'm done, I wipe down anything that might have my prints on it and slip back into the house without a sound.

At three, I set up a couple of tiny cameras at home, one facing the front entryway, one tucked in the corner of the living room.

At five, Adam calls right on schedule.

"Hey babe, got a big client to entertain tonight, might not get home till after midnight. Make sure you eat something, okay?" On the other end of the line, his voice is as thoughtful as ever.