All the Lies - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,39

gray, white, and orange, with the bluest eyes you have ever seen. She barks loudly and proudly and doesn't let up. When I dare to touch the glass, she stands up even taller and presses her paws harder into the glass.

I wait for a few moments. I don't need to ring the doorbell again or use the enormous door knocker. If anyone is home, this dog has done a lot to notify them of the fact that I'm here.

Ten minutes later, still no one answers.

I wait in the yard, away from the front door and the dog eventually gives up and lies down. The few times that I decided to step on the porch, she jumps up and tells me to go away.

I'm not sure what to do. Clearly, someone lives here and they’re not home, but I don’t know when they are going to be back.

I also have no idea if this is the person that I'm looking for.

Probably not.

I am hesitant to walk around the property, but my curiosity gets the best of me. There are sharp, futuristic looking Joshua trees all around leading to a wonderland of enormous granite boulders.

Turning the corner, I peek over one side and see that the whole back of the house is an enormous piece of glass. There seems to be no walls and no separation between the living room and the towering, twenty-foot rock outcroppings out back. The landscape is otherworldly and reminds me of a time when dinosaurs roamed.

Suddenly, far in the distance near the horizon, I see someone trotting on a horse.

24

Emma

It's 10 o'clock and the sun is not at its highest point in the sky yet, but it’s already beaming down a curtain of heat.

I peer into the distance, straining my neck, to get a better look at the silhouette of the man riding his horse. Sitting comfortably in the saddle as if he belongs there, he lifts up his hand to adjust his cowboy hat.

I look closer. I even pull up my sunglasses to the top of my head, but the blinding light makes it hard to see.

There is a narrow path meandering between the boulders stacked near the house and the horse expertly makes her way toward me.

I know that I'm not supposed to be out here on his property, in his backyard, but I can't make myself move.

When they get closer to the house, the man’s face remains in shadow under the wide-brimmed hat and I can't quite make out his face.

The horse, on the other hand, is absolutely magnificent. She is tall and elegant and her coat glistens with sweat. She is the color of chestnut with a long oak mane and deep, curious eyes. When the man squeezes his legs, she trots over to me, stopping a few inches away.

“Emma?” Liam asks.

My mouth drops open as I look up at him with my hand over my forehead.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

My voice cracks in the middle, forcing me to clear my throat with a cough.

“Is everything okay?” Liam asks, jumping off the horse and taking off his hat. “Did something happen to Alex?”

Then it hits me.

He has no idea why I'm here.

How could he?

I stare at him, shaking my head, not sure how to start.

“Alex is fine,” I say.

“Okay,” Liam says slowly, waiting for me to explain.

“You really don’t know why I’m here?”

“No.”

“You didn’t write that post with your address on it?”

He shakes his head no.

“You’re not Matt Lipinski?”

“Who is Matt Lipinski?”

We’re not getting anywhere with this and suddenly, I realize that he may not know anything about Matt at all, if that’s even his name.

“So…you live here?” I ask.

“Yes, this is my house,” Liam says, waving his arm. He leads the horse closer to the barn and drops her lead over a hitching post.

Then he turns to face me.

Dressed in a plain white T-shirt, tight jeans, and cowboy boots, he looks nothing like the sophisticated investor that I met in Calabasas.

I like that.

He wipes the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand.

“What are you doing here, Emma?” he asks. “How did you find out that I live here?”

I wait for a few moments and tap my foot on the ground. A little cloud of dust gathers around my flip-flop and settles on my newly painted toenails.

“Are you… D. B. Carter?” I ask.

The expression on his face changes from an awkward friendliness to something resembling dissatisfaction.

I don't know him well, but he isn't pleased.

The answer to my question