Path of Secrets

CHAPTER ONE-1

CHAPTER ONE

BY NOON SATURDAY, THE last box had been loaded into the moving truck, and the ‘For Sale’ sign was already prominently displayed in the yard.

“Should we take one last look around, make sure we didn’t miss anything?” Donny suggested, and Lizzie nodded.

“Good idea. I’ll take downstairs, you handle upstairs?”

He grinned. “Meet you back here at the front door.”

Elizabeth Zimmerman, former Seattle detective, was embarking on a new chapter of her career. She’d been accepted into the FBI Academy, and once she completed the five-month program, she already knew where she would be assigned – in Dallas, as part of BAU Agent Nathan Thomas’ team.

She walked slowly through each room downstairs, looking in each drawer, gazing at each shelf, making sure she’d packed up everything of value to her.

Strange, she mused. I’ve lived here most of my adult life. You’d think I’d be more upset about leaving.

But she wasn’t.

Ever since she’d caught her ex-fiancé cheating on her three years earlier – not just under her own roof, but in her own bed - she’d felt no emotional attachment to this place. Quite the opposite, in fact. The structure had felt more like a prison, a heavy ponderous chain tying her to a hurtful past.

I hope whoever owns it next has happier times here, Lizzie told herself as she finished checking the rooms and returned to the front door to wait for Donny.

As he came down the stairs toward her, she couldn’t help but smile. Donny Atherton, my boyfriend, her brain echoed, and her smile grew bigger.

They’d started off sharing a heartbreaking commonality - being involved with someone who turned out to be anything but stable. Lizzie and Donny had started to spend time together, beginning with the day they’d both had to testify in court about their experiences. A solid friendship had grown from their shared tragedy, and recently the friendship had become much, much more.

And now? Now, I cannot imagine life without him, Lizzie thought to herself, and sighed happily. If someone had told me three years ago that I would be this happy, I’d have said they were nuts.

“What?” he asked her as he stepped down to the living room floor and moved toward her.

“Honestly?”

“Always.”

“Just thinking how funny it is that things worked out the way they did,” she confessed. “I was determined to just... focus on work, and that’s it. I was done with relationships, determined to be by myself, if only out of spite.”

“And now?” he smirked as he put his arms around her.

“Now, I’m so glad I was wrong,” Lizzie answered, and kissed him. “You ready?”

“Yep,” Donny said. “We just need to get your SUV hooked up on the tow dolly. Other than that, I believe we’re ready to go.”

They stepped outside and Lizzie locked the door for the last time, then pulled the housekey off of her keyring.

“Here goes,” she said, and using the code the realtor had given her, opened the lockbox and placed the key inside, then closed the lockbox again.

Ten minutes later, they had her SUV connected securely, and they both climbed up into the cab of the moving truck.

“You grabbed it, right?” he asked, and she chuckled.

“You bet I did,” Lizzie answered, holding up the mini cooler and the bag of snacks they’d selected for the road trip. “What would you like first?”

***