Secret is in the Bones (Paynes Creek #3) - Heather Sunseri Page 0,1

her husband to turn and burn for his night shift as an EMT.

And as soon as Penelope put the little shit Danny down for the night, he’d slip in and lay his trap for Faith.

By killing her best friend.

J.P. followed Penelope at a careful distance, slowing as they neared her house.

She turned into the driveway of her modest ranch home.

As the garage door went up, he scoffed at the contents. Like so many materialistic Americans, she couldn’t fit her vehicle inside the garage because it was stuffed floor to ceiling with crap they probably never used and definitely didn’t need.

He continued past the home, circled around the block, and parked his truck two streets away from the Champagne house. He didn’t really care if anyone saw it. He’d get rid of the pickup soon enough.

The sun dipped down further behind the trees, leaving the town of Paynes Creek bathed in shadows. The air was cool and smelled of dying leaves as the ridiculous summer humidity Kentucky experienced gave way to colder autumn air.

He slipped surgical gloves over his hands before grabbing the five-by-seven-inch decorative picture frame from the passenger seat. After he climbed out of his beat up, old truck, he glanced up and down the quiet neighborhood street, spotting a husband walking beside his wife on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. She looked extremely pregnant and was pushing a stroller. Neither of them looked older than twenty-five.

“You didn’t waste any time putting your wife right where she belonged,” he whispered under his breath as he closed the door. “Good for you, dude.”

Turning away from the family, he headed in the opposite direction, up a driveway, through someone’s backyard, slowly sauntering toward the back door of Penelope and Steven Champagne’s home.

As he neared the house, he spotted the couple through a small window, standing in the middle of their kitchen.

“What the hell?” he said, ducking behind an oak tree, but keeping a visual. “What the fuck is he still doing there?”

Steven Champagne wrapped his wife in a warm embrace. He bent his neck and placed what appeared to be a soft kiss on her lips.

“Aww, isn’t that just the fucking sweetest? Now, get lost, Steven, or it will be your fault when little Danny becomes an orphan.”

After another kiss, Steven tapped a finger to his wife’s nose and turned toward the front of the house. Penelope followed him.

Glancing around to make sure he hadn’t caught the attention of any nosey neighbors, he darted through the Champagne’s back yard. He was thankful the sun was finally setting. When he reached the sliding glass door on the Champagne’s patio, he slowly slid it open, relieved that people of small towns were stupid enough to leave their doors unlocked.

He stepped softly through the kitchen, listening for the happy couple. Not hearing them, he darted to the opposite kitchen wall and peeked around the corner into the front foyer. He spotted Penelope through the glass storm door. She had walked her husband to his car, like a dutiful wife should.

He turned back to the kitchen and immediately saw a bottle of wine open on the counter.

“Oh yes,” he laughed. “This was going to be easier than I thought.” It was like Penelope had read his mind. Of course, she was a creature of habit. The fact that she’d already opened a bottle of wine was of no surprise.

He sprinted to the living room, careful to stay out of sight of the front window. Because Penelope had yet to turn on any of her lights, the room was darkening. It would be easy to go unnoticed by Penelope and Steven outside.

He carefully set the picture frame he’d brought on one of the bookcases that framed their television.

“See you in the morning,” he heard Penelope say. “It’s PJs and chick flick time for me.” He looked outside just in time to see the fiery redhead do a little dance before throwing her arms around Steven for another kiss.

He turned and raced down the hallway to the master bedroom. He knew from casing the house previously that Penelope had a prescription for Ambien, an opportunistic complement to the wine Penelope was looking forward to drinking.

He rushed through the bedroom and into the master bath. Went straight to the medicine cabinet and wrapped his gloved hand around the bottle of sleeping pills.

The sound of the front door forced a mad dash back through the master bedroom and across the hallway to their kid’s room.