Page 178 of Perfect Liar

Her soft fingers now gripped my arm.

“Mademoiselle, c’est l’heure.” —It’s time to go.

She waited with a warm smile, kneeling beside my seat with a bottle of water for me.

“Nous avons atterri…euh…we’ve landed. You’re well?”

“Oui, merci beaucoup.”

That was about the extent of my own French.

“Thank you for helping me,” I added.

She nodded, and I pulled myself up on my feet, ducking beneath the overhead bin.

My head spun. My legs were weak.

I took in a deep breath while gripping the seat in front of me.

As I pulled my phone out, notifications began popping up on the screen. Missed calls. Text messages. From Thomas. From Jess. Ben. A blocked number—Will.

I tapped on Jess’s first, hoping she would answer right away, and she did.

“Thank God, Ells. Where are you? Have you landed?”

“We just landed. Are you close to the airport?”

“I’m already here waiting at the gate for you. And girl, I’m warning you right now, they’re all looking for you, including Will.”

“You spoke to him?”

“No, I haven’t taken their calls. I promised you.”

“Thanks, Jess. I owe you big. What about Detective Parker…did you learn anything else about what he’s doing?”

“First, Ben said in his message to tell you he’s with Will, you’re not to do anything else stupid, and you’re to go directly to my house and stay inside. As far as Parker goes, he showed up at your house this morning, snooping around outside. I didn’t see him go inside, but he legit could have.”

“We’re deplaning, so I’ll see you in a minute,” I said.

I had made a mess of things, and I had no idea how to clean it up. Next, I called Thomas. I also owed him so much. Calling him right away was the least of it.

He picked up and right away shouted at me.

“Ellie, where the fuck are you?”

“Thomas, just…everything’s okay. Did you find my note?”

“Fuck your note. Do you understand what you’ve done? You’ve put yourself in danger with no protection, and you’ve put me in quite a terrible position with my brother. He’ll kill me over this, for letting this happen, and he bloody well should. If anything happens to you?—”

“—I’m sorry, okay? I’m really sorry.”

“I don’t want to hear it. Just give me your location, and I’ll come to you.”

“Don’t come here for me. Do it for Will. Help him fight.”

“Christ, you did find him. You should have told me, Ellie. I would have taken you.”

“You mean you truly didn’t know he was in Connecticut?”