Lie, Lie Again - Stacy Wise Page 0,124

face with an invigorating cleanser and patted it dry. Thanks to the abundance of high-quality skin-care products on the market, her skin had a youthful glow. Complemented with the right makeup, she could pass for twenty-nine. She opted for a daytime look even though it was nearing the evening hours. The goal was to appear like she was heading to the gym.

Lining her lips and filling them in with a muted plum was the final step. She pressed them together. Perfect. If she hadn’t pursued marketing, she certainly could’ve found success in makeup artistry. And now for the wardrobe. Low-rise yoga pants were in order. It was imperative that her tattoo peeked out from the waistband. She decided upon a cropped black-and-white color-block sports tank. It allowed for a better view of the web. She chose a cropped zipper hoodie to wear over her ensemble and evaluated her look. Not bad. The spider crept out from beneath the waistband. It really was hard to ignore, with its vibrant jeweled body. Lily wouldn’t be able to look away. On the way out, she shoved the plastic bag holding the burner phone into the pocket of her sweatshirt, along with Hugh’s camera.

She knocked on the Taylors’ door, taking note that an unfamiliar stroller was parked on the porch. It had to be Lily’s. A large floral-print diaper bag hung from the handle. As she stood outside the door, she leaned down to ease open the bag’s zipper before she resumed a waiting stance.

Embry swung open the door. “Hi! Come in.”

“Hi!” she said in a girlish voice. Waving toward Lily, she said a polite hello and made a beeline toward Hunter, whose infant seat sat on the kitchen table. “Hi, you little cutie,” she said, leaning over him, allowing the unzipped hoodie to fall open. She turned toward Lily. “It looks like he’s already bigger. They grow so fast,” she said, spreading her arms to the side. A dorky move at best, but it allowed for a great view of her tattoo. “Thanks for returning my license, by the way. I was going crazy trying to figure out where I’d left it.”

“You’re welcome. I found it on the sofa.” Sylvia noticed Lily’s eyes went to her hip, but then she forced her gaze upward.

“What a stroke of luck that you met Embry and figured out we know each other. Kooky coincidence.” She watched Lily’s face, searching for any hint of deception.

“Very much so.” She smiled timidly.

Before Sylvia could respond, Kylie looked up from where she was sorting crayons by color on the table. “Miss Sylvie, you color?”

“Oh, I wish I could stay and color, but I’m off to try a yoga class.” To Embry she added, “I hope it helps with the stress.”

Kylie pointed toward her. “No, you colored your tummy, silly!”

“Oh, this!” Sylvia smiled as she motioned to her tattoo. “Yes, I suppose I did draw on myself.”

“Use lots of soap in the bath to scrub real good,” she said, nodding affirmatively.

“Thanks. I’ll do that.” Turning to Embry and Lily, she said, “Good to see both of you. Here’s to hoping my yoga class is all it’s cracked up to be. I could use some calm in my life.”

“Amen to that. Thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you later.”

“Bye.” She wiggled her fingers and headed for the door. She wanted to hug Kylie for drawing attention to her tattoo. Kids were so delightfully observant! And she had planted just enough hints about stress to make Lily question Embry about it. They would talk about her in hushed voices, and Embry would reveal that Sylvia’s ex was a horrible person. Someone to fear. And when Lily discovered Hugh was the ex in question, she would have piles of evidence proving he was a very bad man.

Outside, she paused by the stroller, bending down to tie her shoe. At least, that’s what anyone would assume she was doing. She took the burner phone from the pocket of her hoodie and shook it from the small Ziploc into the diaper bag, followed by Hugh’s camera. She jostled the bag, making sure the evidence swam its way to the bottom. How long before it was discovered? Well, it didn’t really matter in the end. Lily would learn of his deception, and that would serve as a final blow to Hugh.

What would timid little Lily do with the knowledge? Sylvia envisioned her bursting into tears and pounding her birdlike arms to Hugh’s body as he stood there,