Page 73 of The Perfect Marriage

Then, there she is walking toward me, chatting with a man beside her and carrying a stack of folders. She doesn’t notice me at first.

The man she’s walking with is familiar. I’ve seen him before. Well, obviously I must have seen him before—but I feel like this “before” was recent. She looks up and notices me, standing only ten feet away. Her eyes widen like those of a deer in headlights—like a deer that is about to be introduced to 3,000lbs of steel careening toward it at 60mph. The man beside her notices she’s stopped dead in her tracks and follows her gaze to find me. His eyes widen and then narrow. He recognizes me, and for a gleaming second, I recognize him, but then I lose it as my attention refocuses on the she-devil in front of me, the woman attempting to steal my life, the woman who killed Kelly.

“Adam, are you—are you okay?” Anne stutters.

“You!” I point at her as I close the gap between us, ready to tackle her, ready to hit her, ready to… I don’t even know what I’m ready to do. She screams. It pierces the stale office air.

“You fucking killed Kelly. You framed me. I know everything, you evil bitch!” Just as I reach her, I’m knocked to the ground. One punch to the side of my face takes me out completely. Anne is crying and standing behind the man who sucker punched me.

“What the hell is going on here?” Sarah runs in with Matthew and another man trailing. I recognize the man from my trial—D.A. Josh Peters.

“Bob, what did you do?” she asks as she sees me writhing on the floor.

“He came at Anne.” Bob points at me. That’s Bob. Oh yes, I know Bob. He’s the one who’s been giving Sarah shit for the past couple of years and gunning for her job any chance he can get. He’s a fucking dick. I never liked him even before Sarah had problems with him. He’s smug, and he’s always treated me as if he were better than me. Any office party Sarah dragged me to, he was there to remind us all how great he is.

“What the fuck, Adam? What are you doing?” Sarah’s lips barely move as she speaks through clenched teeth. She’s embarrassed by me, I can tell. Anne cries like the conniving bitch she is. Bob and Matthew try to comfort her. Sarah makes sure she is okay. D.A. Josh Peters is still trying to understand the situation, but I can see there’s a look of triumph because this is all looking good for his case—unless, of course, I can prove Anne is behind all of this.

“Her,” I say pointing at Anne. Everyone looks at her. Anne gives awho me?look. “She took the photo. She wrote the threat. She killed Kelly!” I toss the photo and note by Sarah’s feet. Sarah reaches down and brings them both to her line of sight. Eyes are wide, mouths open. My accusation has taken everyone by surprise. It’s a moment before anyone speaks. Anne shifts uncomfortably, scratching at her arm. Sarah redirects her attention to Anne.

“Is this true?” She holds the photo and note up.

Anne stutters. She looks down at the ground, shuffling her feet. “Yes. I went there to take some photographs, like the ones I showed you. But I saw them, Kelly and Adam… together.”

“Jesus Christ,” Sarah huffs.

“But I didn’t kill Kelly. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. And I wanted to tell you. But I couldn’t, so I just… I sent the threat. I wanted him to fess up.” Anne shakes her head, trying to convince us all, but mostly Sarah, that she’s telling the truth. I don’t buy it for one second.

“She’s dangerous, Sarah. The threat. She threatened mine and Kelly’s life. Can’t you see? She has to be behind all of this,” I plead.

“No…” Anne looks at Sarah. “It wasn’t a death threat, it was an ‘I’m going to tell Sarah if you don’t’ threat.”

“But you didn’t fucking tell me, Anne.” Sarah spits venom. She’s upset. She feels betrayed. I can see it in her face. She’s mad as hell. It’s clear to me she didn’t know Anne knew about the affair. Anne hangs her head and cries harder.

“How could you not tell me, Anne? You’re my assistant. You’re my friend. You’re practically family.” Sarah’s voice quakes.

“I-I-I-” Anne stutters.

“Everybody freeze!” Sheriff Stevens draws his gun. Deputy Hudson and Officer Scott Summers are standing on either side of him with guns drawn too.

“Fuck.” I put my hands up. Everyone else puts their hands up as well. Sarah appears annoyed as does Bob.God, where the helldidI just see him?I rack my brain trying to recall. Sarah hasn’t dragged me to an office party in quite some time. Maybe he was at the courthouse. Maybe he gave an interview on the case, and I saw him on the news or in the paper.Shit. I’ve seen that smug face, and it was recent—so recent it scares me, because I know it’s important, but I can’t recall.

“Adam Morgan, you’re under arrest for violating the terms of your bail and fleeing house arrest,” Sheriff Stevens says as Deputy Hudson and Officer Summers pick me up from the floor, handcuffing me.

Sarah shakes her head in embarrassment and disgust.

“Wait! Anne—Anne sent the threat. She killed Kelly. Arrest her.” I get one hand free pointing at that little weasel.

Sheriff Stevens exchanges a glance with Sarah and Scott Summers. Scott instantly turns red and is already manhandling Anne, no questions asked. Anne screams as Scott tries to handcuff her.

“Wait a minute!” Bob yells. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You heard him. She had something to do with my wife’s murder. She’s coming with us,” Scott says.

“You can’t just arrest her,” Sarah pipes in. Matthew and D.A. Peters back her up.

“Sarah? She lied to you.” My eyes grow wide in disbelief.

“I’m going to get to the bottom of this. But she has rights.” Sarah shakes her head.

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