Infidelity Inlet: A Liars Island Suspense

  Infidelity Inlet

  A Liar’s Island Suspense

  Carol McMahon

  Contents

  Copyright

  About Infidelity Inlet

  Map of Liar’s Island

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Also by Carol McMahon

  Copyright

  © 2021 Carol McMahon

  All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.

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  About Infidelity Inlet

  I've cheated on my wife. A lot.

  I know, I know ... that makes me the bad guy. But you don't understand what I've gone through. The dead bedroom. The cold stares. You have no idea what it's been like to live for years without a kiss, or a touch, or even a smile.

  Ever since high school my wife has been the woman of my dreams. She still is. I can't even imagine my life without her. Besides that, I have our kids to think of. They need a stable home. At least until they're out on their own. But I need to feel wanted. To feel like a man. So I've had meaningless one-night-stands to try to dull the pain.

  I thought I was safe. I actually convinced myself I was being careful, and that no one would ever find out. I went to places my wife never frequented. Bars, clubs, streets in the sketchy parts of other cities. I really believed she would never find out.

  But now, someone figured out my deepest, darkest secret ... and I'm being blackmailed. They say they're going to tell her ... tell everyone I know ... if I don't pay them. And they want more money than I've ever seen in my bank account.

  I don't care what it takes, I'm going to find this bastard. I have to. My whole world depends on it.

  Welcome to Liar's Island... a stand-alone series of interconnected, novella length domestic thrillers set in the picture-perfect community of Liars Island. Here, nothing is quite as it seems.

  On this island, families and friendships are more than meets the eye ... secrets, deceptions, and jealousies threaten to ruin everything these influential people have built. But it isn't only the rich that live here ... and power comes in all shapes and sizes.Everyone here is a liar ... just how far would you go to get what you want?

  Map of Liar’s Island

  Chapter 1

  Jerry

  “Holy shit, dude, you scared the hell out of me!”

  Tanner Holt, clerk at Liar’s Island City Hall, was sitting in the dark at his desk. His features had barely been visible in the dim glow of his computer screen when I turned the corner into his office, so it was just as much of a surprise to me as it was to him when the beam from my flashlight fell on him.

  The city hall was one of about fifteen businesses that were included in the rounds I made every single night of the week. I fully realized that working seven days a week wasn’t healthy—especially for a marriage—but that ship appeared to have sailed months ago, and I wasn’t sure if, or when, it would be coming back to port.

  I reached to my right and flipped the light switch on. “What the hell are you doing sitting here in the dark?”

  Tanner clicked the mouse a couple times and the computer screen in front of him went black. “Burning the midnight oil, I guess.”

  “You guess? Don’t you know?” I asked as I walked across the room and checked to make sure the two windows had been locked. “Been busy?”

  “Yeah,” he said as he stuffed a few things into a laptop bag. “But the main problem is we lost our receptionist today.”

  “Again? You gotta be kidding. That’s what …?” I glanced up at the ceiling as I tried to remember each of the women I’d seen sitting behind the desk in the main entryway.

  “It’s the third one in two months.” He stood up from his chair and walked in front of me to his office door.

  “Dang, what the hell are you guys doing over here to drive them away so fast?” I asked as I slapped him on the shoulder.

  “I wish I knew. I’ve given each one I’ve hired fewer duties than the previous one, hoping that would help keep them around. But, I don’t know. Literally all they have to do is answer the phones all day. If they can’t handle that, I honestly don’t know what the problem is.”

  The two of us exited the suite and stood outside the door while Tanner locked the office.

  “Did you put out an ad?”

  Tanner shoved his keys into his jacket pocket and turned to face me. “Yeah, I did that this morning. We haven’t gotten a single call. You don’t know anybody who’s looking for a job, do you? And I mean anybody. Your daughter? Hey, how about Annette’s nephew? What’s his name?”

  “Jacob.”

  “Yeah, Jacob. He’s not looking for summer work, is he?”

  I shook my head. “Nah, he got a job as a camp counselor at Watanabe Springs over on the mainland for the entire summer, and Brenda is helping Annette around the house.”

  “Oh, too bad. So, I guess Annette must be up to her neck with work at the liquor store, what with it being high season and all.”

  “Yeah, that and the twins. She’s got a couple people on staff at Coastal, and that helps. Plus, I try to do as much as I can around the house, but she’s really got her hands full.”

  “Oh, yeah, the twins. How old are they now?” Tanner asked.

  “Five.”

  “Getting ready for kindergarten next year?”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s a great age.”

  “It is. But it’s a lot of work for Annette.”

  Tanner punched me on the side of the arm. “It’s a lot of work for you too, Jerry. You’re the night watchman. The unsung hero.”

  I shook my head and looked down. “Nah, Annette appreciates everything I do. I know she does.”

  “Hey, the two of you should come over for dinner one night. I know Joel would love to see both of you. It’s been a long time.”

  “Too long,” I said, nodding. “Just name the date. We’ll be there. As long as it’s between 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. That’s the latest I can start my rounds.”

  “Seven nights a week?”

  “Yep, seven nights a week.”

  “Dang, that’s harsh.”

  “Aww, it’s not too bad. It’s not forever, anyway. Just ‘till we get clear of some big bills.”

  “If you say so. Okay, I’ll have Joel call Annette and set it up.”

  “Sounds good.”

  The two of us headed to the elevator. I hit the button for the lobby and we rode down in silence. When the doors opened, Tanner turned toward the front entrance of the building and I started off toward the back.

  “Where you headed?” he asked.

  I stopped and turned. “I’m parked out back. I’ve got Spencer & Grant and a couple other businesses in that building next, then I do the offices inside The Barn.”

  “Really? They don’t do their own security? Isn’t that what the guys at the front door are for?”

  “They’re paid for just that—front door security. They don’t have anyone to keep tabs on the back end, not while the place is packed on weekends. And they really need it, especially since their safe was robbed last year.”

  “Yeah, I heard about that. So how much time d
o you actually spend there?”

  I shrugged. “Fifteen minutes maybe.”

  “Dang, that’s quick.”

  “Well, it’s the same as the city hall, and all my other clients. I have everyone under video surveillance, so I can keep tabs on what’s going on all night long with this,” I said, raising my phone in the air. “Any motion sets off a notification and I can be on site in ten minutes. I told you all this when you guys hired me. Don’t you remember?”

  “Yeah, yeah. It’s those kinds of details I leave to someone else. Someone like you,” Tanner said with a smile. “Probably doesn’t leave you time for much else, though, does it?”

  “Eh, I do okay. I work all night, see Annette and the kids at breakfast, sleep the rest of the day, wake up around five, eat dinner with them, then do it all over again.”

  “You need to get yourself a hobby, Jerry. You know what they say about all work and no play …”

  I laughed. “Sure thing, Tanner. I’ll keep that in mind.” I turned and walked toward the back of the building. “Have a good night!”

  I paused for a moment to make sure I heard the front door of the building lock behind Tanner, then I headed out to the parking lot. I drove two blocks to the building that held the Spencer & Grant Law Offices, got out, and let myself in the building.

  There was really nothing much to see on the street, or in any of the rooms and hallways I patrolled. Liar’s Island was a pretty quiet place. The siren of a police car or ambulance could be heard at most once a month, and it was always the talk of the town the next day.

  That was one of the reasons I was in business. There wasn’t enough crime to justify a full-time security guard at any one of these establishments. I’d done security most of my adult life, and when Annette and I settle down here, I created my own little company. It’s so small it doesn’t even have a name. My clients have my personal cell phone number, and they call me if they need anything. But mostly I get alerts from the app on my phone.

  I give each of my clients five to ten minutes of on-site visits every night, and each door and window is fitted with an alarm, but the security cameras are the main way I keep tabs on everything. There’s one at every entrance I watch, as well as on any hotspots. Those are areas that include safes or internet servers. Basically anything of great importance that needs twenty-four-hour surveillance.

  My clients all have my word that I will respond to an alert or alarm within ten minutes at any hour of the day or night. Once I got an alarm because a cat that had slipped into one of the offices had set off one of the cameras, and another time it was a pile of heavy law books that slowly slid off a desk and triggered one of the cameras. But other than that, the job is a piece of cake.

  Yeah, it’s rough working seven nights a week. It pretty much ensures that I rarely see a single soul, save for my wife and daughters. But that comment Tanner made about hobbies and work and play, he had me all wrong. There was really no way for him to know, though. I’ve never told anyone about my private life. As far anyone is concerned, I’m just your run-of-the-mill faithful husband.

  Tanner knows Annette, and he knows my daughters. He knows what I do for a living, and he knows the bits about my life that I give him when we’re over for dinner or drinks. But what I do on my own time? That’s my business. No one on this island knows the lengths I’ve gone to in order to keep myself from going out of my mind.

  These offices I visit are essentially abandoned every single night. No one is around to use any of the furniture. Plush, thousand-dollar couches and chairs and ottomans just sitting there in the dark rooms. I would never do anything to damage the property I was put in charge of, or my business’ reputation, but if those pieces of furniture could talk, they would have some interesting stories, that was for sure.

  I finished up my rounds, checked that the rear entrance to the building was locked, then got into my car and headed to The Barn. I parked out back and used my key to get in through the private entrance that led to the offices at the rear. I made my usual rounds, checking the safe and all of the doors. I even checked the staff bathrooms and closets to make sure there was no one skulking around.

  When I was in the owner’s office, I stood at the huge two-way mirror they have that looks out over the dance floor. The Barn itself is huge, at least two stories high at the peak, but the actual office isn’t even a full floor above ground level. Mike Costner added this feature in when he refurbished the place so he could keep an eye on things when he was doing paperwork. So while I was standing there, shielded from the crowd below, I could see everything, and everyone, pretty clearly.

  I scoped the crowd, looking over all of the ladies who were dressed to impress and seduce in their miniskirts and stiletto heels, and those bras that somehow passed for tops these days. I had no idea how other men did it, ignored these young, scantily clad girls. And believe me, I tried.

  It wasn’t that I actually wanted to cheat on Annette, but after the twins were born … well, let’s just say things changed. My wife used to look at me like I was the only man she could see, like all the others were nothing compared to me. It didn’t matter what we were doing—sitting at a stoplight, shopping for groceries, or even cleaning the house. The minute she glanced over at me, her eyes would soften and her pupils would get all dark and big, like she was getting a hit off her favorite drug. You have no idea what being looked at like that does to a guy, and how desperate he would be to get it back when it’s gone.

  I guess after so many diaper changes and bowls of spilled oatmeal, any spark we had left died. And it didn’t matter what I did. I tried everything. Giving her a week off and cleaning the house every morning after I got off work, taking her out for her favorite meal, then giving her a full-body massage when we got home, paying her every compliment under the sun—and none of them false in any way shape or form. I loved that woman with all my heart. I still do. I still yearn every single night for her touch and her soft, sweet lips. But those lips haven’t touched mine, or even smiled at me, in over a year.

  At first, I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it, cheat on my wife. I thought there was no way I could disrespect her, the woman of my dreams. But after a few drinks, you’d be surprised what excuses your mind comes up with.

  She’ll never know.

  This’ll take the pressure off so I won’t be hounding her so much.

  It’ll only be this one time.

  But I’ve lost count of how often I’ve said those things to myself under my breath as I unbuckled my belt in the backseat of my car.

  I wasn’t exactly sure why I was checking out the women in the club in this moment, though. Force of habit maybe? But I would never pick up a girl at The Barn. I was always careful. I rarely dipped my toe into the local pool. Not where I could be seen, anyway. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Annette and the girls, and there were too many busybodies and prying eyes on Liar’s Island.

  The thing is, not too long ago I met a girl who stopped my heart. She was new in town, just got a job at The Dish, the local diner with a retro vibe. It’s open twenty-four-seven so I go there a lot in the middle of my shift for coffee and a slice of pie. A few months ago, I went in and she waited on me and I could barely get the fork to my mouth with anything on it. I couldn’t stop staring at her. She was perfect. Exactly my type. Bouncy, blonde hair, full red lips, and a body that haunted me every single night.

  Olivia wasn’t like all the others, if you know what I mean. Girls these days, it seems like they all go to the same beauty shop, read the same magazines, and buy their clothes at the exact same store. I’ll be honest, most of the time I can’t tell one from the other, not that it really matters. I wasn’t looking. I already had her … my wife, I mean. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

  I had her, but I didn’t at the same time. I could see her there. I could remember what it felt like to hold her in my arms and hear that sigh—the one that told me she felt safe with me. I could feel her presence lying next
to me on the bed at night. But as far as I was concerned, I didn’t have anything at all.

  What I needed was to feel appreciated, like I mattered. I wanted to feel like I was the only man on Earth again. The only man that could make the woman of my dreams moan like she couldn’t get enough. So I went outside my own house to get it, even when it meant being with a different girl every night.

  But like I said, this one was different. It wasn’t just a one-night thing. Olivia made me feel like I was young again … and yes, I know exactly how pathetic that sounds coming from a middle-aged man. But honestly, I stopped caring about that sort of thing a long time ago. I am who I am, and I’m fine with that. At least I’m not driving up and down the streets of Liar’s Island in a red Corvette.

  I’m not stupid, though. I know this is just a fling. I can’t leave Annette and the girls. I don’t want to. I just like the way Olivia makes me feel. And she sure as hell liked it too, by the sounds she made when I was with her on that insanely soft black couch in Oliver Grant’s office last Monday night. And as far as I’m concerned, for right now anyway, that’s all that matters.

  I double-checked to make sure the door to the office inside The Barn was locked, then I headed to my car. At first I thought I had gotten a ticket, but I knew that was ridiculous. It was three o’clock in the morning. The cops wouldn’t come out to The Barn at this hour unless there was a fight.