I Love It When You Lie

Praise for the novels of Kristen BirdI Love It When You Lie“Bird has given us a pitch-perfect small-town suspense and the exact kind of anti-heroines I’ve been waiting for. You won’t be able to put this down.”—Ashley Winstead, author of The Last Housewife“There’s no family like the Williams family—and there’s no novel like I Love It When You Lie.” —Tessa Wegert, author of Death in the Family and The Kind to Kill“I Love It When You Lie’s high-tension premise hooked me from the get-go. It’s a delicious slow-burn.” —Amanda Cassidy, author of Breaking“I Love It When You Lie kept me guessing the whole way through.I couldn’t put it down.” —Allison Buccola, author of Catch Her When She Falls“This tale of deadly secrets and the fierce sisters who keep them demands to be devoured in a single sitting, even as you savor each unsettling reveal.” —Heather Chavez, author of Blood Will Tell“Bird’s second small-town suspense will have you flipping pages long into the night.” —Savilla Mountain, creator of lifestyle blog Vogue for BreakfastThe Night She Went Missing“A great new voice in suspense.... Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies who thrive on stories of deceit in the suburban world.” —J.T. Ellison, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of Her Dark Lies“Pitch perfect suspense…. The best debut I’ve read this year.” —Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author“If you like small-town mysteries, dark secrets, moms with something to hide, beautiful prose and a tightly woven plot, this is the book for you.”—Amber Garza, author of Where I Left Her“Bird’s gripping debut…does a good job dramatizing the extraordinary lengths mothers will go to protect their children. This twisty…tale of misdeeds among the privileged shows real promise.”—Publishers Weekly“Irresistible and compulsive, this book is packed full of surprises.”—Samantha Downing, Internationally bestselling author of My Lovely Wife I Love It When You LieKristen Bird To my younger siblings,Lindsay, Katie & Cody.You know what you did. KRISTEN BIRD has a master’s in literature and teaches high school in Houston, Texas. She lives with her husband and three daughters and their rescue Lab.KristenBird.com ContentsPart OnePrologueChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeThe Sheriff’s OfficeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenThe Sheriff’s OfficeChapter EightChapter NineThe Sheriff’s OfficePart TwoChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenThe Sheriff’s OfficeChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenThe Sheriff’s OfficeChapter EighteenChapter NineteenChapter TwentyPart ThreeChapter Twenty-OneChapter Twenty-TwoChapter Twenty-ThreeChapter Twenty-FourChapter Twenty-FiveThe Sheriff’s OfficeChapter Twenty-SixChapter Twenty-SevenChapter Twenty-EightThe Sheriff’s OfficeChapter Twenty-NineChapter Part FourChapter ThirtyChapter Thirty-OneChapter Thirty-TwoChapter Thirty-ThreeChapter Thirty-FourChapter Thirty-FiveChapter Thirty-SixChapter Thirty-SevenChapter Thirty-EightOne Week AfterChapter Thirty-NineChapter FortyChapter Forty-OneAcknowledgmentsReader's GuideDiscussion Questions Part OneThis one’s gonna be a scorcher PrologueThe Sheriff’s Office in Willow Gap, AlabamaOne Week AfterStephanieIt would’ve been a touching moment except for the reality of the grave at their feet. Gran’s grave. I shiver just thinking about the three Williams sisters standing in the family cemetery, their arms entwined, gazing up at the sunrise, all that cool Alabama clay piled beside them, their fingernails packed with the red earth, the stench of what they’d done in their nostrils. It was Decoration Sunday, the one day of the year when the entire family descended on Gran’s property to pay respect to the dead and gossip about those still living.Tara, June, and Clementine Williams are my sisters-in-law. For so long, I’ve waited for the day that their little coven would topple some man’s ivory tower. Now that the time has come, I realize that each of us has a man that we might be better off without, but only one of us is lucky enough to have actually rid ourselves of him.Four men: a preacher, a doctor, a professor, and a mayor. One goes missing. It’s like our own little Willow Gap edition of Clue. How charming.Sheriff Brady Dean, his badge shining in the interrogation lights, brings me back to the moment at hand, the moment of reckoning. The aged sheriff wants to know what I know, wants me to spill all the whys, whens, wheres, and hows of the Williams sisters over the past forty-eight hours.“I’m sure you know why you’re here, Mrs. Williams.” The words emerge like a sigh. He’s been after this family for more than thirty years, ever since he was first elected. Poor guy. Must be exhausted.I meet the sheriff eye to eye, tapping my recently painted nails—Los Angeles Latte, the dark bottle of polish had read—against the metal table in the claustrophobic office where he’s brought me for questioning. Not that I’m the one in trouble here.My husband, Walker Williams, knew Sheriff Dean before Walker and I ever met and married a decade ago. Some say ours was a Yankee seduction, but I don’t care. Walker has been the mayor now for eight years, and they have to put up with me, the damn Yank in their midst.I think of my three children—Walker Jr. and Auggie and Bella—their features too much like my husband’s. They’re fine, I remind myself. They’re with the nanny while I’m here tying up all of the loose ends. I shake my head to dislodge their faces from my mind. It’s important that I focus. I must get this right.“Call me Ms. Chadrick. Or Stephanie. I’ll be using my maiden name soon enough,” I tell the sheriff.Sheriff Dean clears his throat, and I follow his eyes to my hand. I’m still wearing my massive diamond, the one Walker bought for our last anniversary. To ten years, baby, and a lifetime more, he’d said as he slipped it on my finger in our Nashville hotel room. I’m not planning to part with my jewelry just because my husband can’t keep his dick in his pants.I blink innocently at the sheriff and twist my ring around, pressing the stone into my palm until it bites. “I’m here to tell you what I saw after Gran Williams’s funeral. Isn’t that right?”“Yes’m.” The sheriff lets out a heavy breath that reaches all the way down to the gut hanging over his belt. “I know these women are your husband’s sisters, but we’re hoping...”“Soon to be ex-husband,” I fire back, reminding him once again.“Fine.