Secret is in the Bones (Paynes Creek #3) - Heather Sunseri Page 0,2

He reached for the knife at his hip, assuming that Danny was already in his bed, but he wasn’t there.

He shrugged as he heard Penelope approaching. She turned and entered her bedroom, he presumed to change into the PJs she was just speaking of.

So far, this was shaping up to be easier than he’d even imagined. However, watching her lift her shirt up and away from her body sparked the faintest hint of arousal. But he squashed the impulse before it had a chance to take root. He was more fucking disciplined than that.

He listened as she made her way into the bathroom and ran water. Washing her face, maybe? It didn’t matter.

Shaking the image of her bare skin out of his head, he exited Danny’s room and raced down the hallway while the running water could drown out his movement.

In the kitchen, he spotted a pad of paper sitting on the kitchen table. Ripping off a page, he went to the counter where the open bottle of wine sat.

He tapped several doses of Ambien onto the granite countertop. Using a knife from the butcher block by the stove, he crushed the pills into powder. After folding a crease in the paper, he transferred the powder onto the sheet of paper, tilted it, and let the drug slide into the wine bottle. Next, he picked up the bottle and swirled the liquid to mix the deadly cocktail.

Hearing movement one room over, he set down the wine bottle, then wadded up the piece of paper and stuffed it in his pocket. He darted to the sliding glass door, and, using his gloved hand, opened the door and slid out into the night.

That had been way too easy.

Now, all he had to do was enjoy the show.

Darkness had fallen over the quiet suburban neighborhood of Paynes Creek. It was easy for J.P. to hide in the shadows as he watched Penelope move through the house, enter the kitchen, and flip the light switch.

He could tell by the way she moved, swaying her hips, almost dancing as she walked, that she was in a good mood. It made what was about to happen that much sweeter. J.P. could tell Faith that her best friend died happy—that she’d had a delightful night with her husband and that she was downright gleeful as she poured the glass of wine that would slowly take her life.

Of course, he’d also tell Faith that her friend’s death could have been avoided had she just stopped running from her troubles. This kill was on her.

Armed with her glass of wine, Penelope headed for the living room, where J.P. assumed she would curl up and watch the chick flick she had mentioned to Steven before he left.

Passing from window to window, J.P. stalked Penelope from room to room, thrilled to make sure everything went exactly as planned. Simply orchestrating Penelope’s demise had sent a feeling of excitement to the pit of his stomach. And now, as his tongue made a swipe from one corner of his lips to the other, he knew it wouldn’t be long.

After switching on a lamp, she plopped down on the sofa, curling her legs under her body and placing a crocheted blanket across her lap. She pointed the remote at the TV and began scrolling and clicking. Finding what she wanted, it didn’t take long for her to set the remote aside, settle in, and lift the glass of red wine to her lips.

“That’s it, drink up,” he whispered. His earlier surveillance proved she always downed two glasses of wine in a single sitting, though only one of tonight’s special blend would do the trick. He glanced around, making sure he was alone. The last thing he needed at this point was to be seen.

She watched her movie and sipped her wine. Sipped her wine and watched her movie. The suspense of it had him wiping his palms against his pants.

The longer it took, the more uncomfortable his pants became. Looking down, he smiled as his hard-on grew.

As she took another long sip of wine, he unzipped his pants, pulled out his penis, and began to take care of the nuisance that was making him restless. He did his best to stay quiet in the bushes, but as he stroked, an image of Faith came to mind—how she looked in the photo, her face glowing from the light of a campfire. Just imagining Faith wrapping her slender fingers around the length of him had him