Lie to Her

Part 1

Part One

Chapter 1

When Lydia Warren stood that Monday morning at the threshold of her front door, she had no idea that by the end of the week, her life would be undone. She did know, however, that something was wrong. That she could feel in the way people felt the cold at the site of an old fracture. And from the time she had grown aware of it - this vague and permeating wrongness - she also felt it spread. Through her, through the house she'd been living in for the last year and a half. Lately, it had risen up to stain and pucker the surface of things, so wherever she looked, there it was like some kind of warning.

At that moment though, suspended in the doorway, Lydia's immediate problem was the glare of the sun. It was bright enough to cause the throbbing in her head to intensify and she shielded her eyes with herhand before retreating into the house altogether. A moment later, she emerged wearing sunglasses.

Her loafers crunched on the fine gravel of the driveway as she made herway up to the gate. The house behind her was nearly a century old,set on three acres in a quiet suburban neighborhood. It was full ofold trees - some of which now shaded and dappled the light over herslight, dark-haired figure.

As she drew closer to the gate, however, she realized that she didn't recognize the man outside who was rummaging in the back of the van.She stopped a few paces away from the neck-high wrought-iron bars and reached behind her to check for the pepper spray that was clipped to the back pocket of her jeans.

"Hi," he turned to her with a smile. He was in his mid-twenties, pony-tailed and dressed in the delivery company uniform. He gathered up two large grocery bags into his arms and headed towards her.

"Where's Neil?" she called out, trying not to sound alarmed.

"They put him on a different shift. I'm Eric."

She remained where she was, studying him through her shaded lenses. The van belonged to the delivery company, as did his uniform. He seemed duly focused on the task at hand. The only thing she could really point to as being obviously wrong with him was his unfamiliarity. Gradually, she let go of the spray and drew closer to the gate. Sheundid the latch and opened it slightly.

"I'll take those." She reached for the bags.

"They're pretty heavy. I can leave them inside for you if you want. It's no problem." He started to move forward, expecting her to stepaside.

Flustered, she stumbled backwards and tripped, landing on the ground.

"Oh crap, I'm so sorry!" Eric put the bags down on the driveway and hurried over to help her up. But the moment he placed his hand on herarm, she jerked it away from him.

"Don't touch me!" She fumbled for the pepper spray and brandished it athim.

He jumped back and put his hands up in alarm. "Hey, I was just helping you up. I didn't mean to scare you."

Lydia scrambled to her feet, her face burning. "I'm fine. I just... I don't know you." She lowered the spray, but kept a firm hold on it.

Eric looked over at the bags. With his hands still raised as though in a hold-up, he took a step towards them.

"Leave them there. I'll take them."

"Okay, sure. You do have one more bag, so I'm just going to fetch that foryou."