PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

Sherry Luntz wasn’t much for sentiment, but she was one for celebration. It was why she was slightly breaking the speed limit on her way home from work. She had two steaks in one bag in the passenger seat and a bottle of red wine in another. Tonight was her anniversary; she’d been married to Bo Luntz for twenty-one years now and this was the first anniversary they’d be sharing without their son in the house. She’d hoped not having Luke live with them any longer would have spiced things up in their marriage, but it had not. If anything, it seemed to have drawn a wedge between her and Bo.

It had been two weeks since they’d last slept together, and that had been a very quick non-event in the morning before work. But dammit…it was her anniversary and she was going to get some tonight. If he didn’t come for her, she had ordered an especially slutty little thing online last week that she was going to use to essentially attack him.

She arrived home at 5:25, about five minutes earlier than she usually arrived home from work. Bo’s truck was in the driveway, which meant he was already home, too. This was nothing new, as he usually arrived home before she did.

As she parked the car and got out, it occurred to her that Bo might not even realize today was their anniversary. He was pretty good with remembering special dates, but he’d seemed off lately. Ever since Luke had left for college, Bo seemed distant and simply not himself.

Still…if he somehow forgot that this was their anniversary, she was going to be pissed. But because she also wanted to jump his bones quite badly, she figured she could wait until tomorrow to be mad.

She went inside and found the house quiet. Entering the conjoined living room and kitchen area, she saw that Bo was not there. This was odd because almost every afternoon, he was either at the kitchen table answering last-minute emails from work, or sitting on the couch catching up on the day’s news.

She was confused at first but then a smile touched her lips. Perhaps he not only knew it was their anniversary but was just as excited as she was about it. She set the steaks and wine on the kitchen counter and slowly made her way up the staircase that was situated between the living room and kitchen. She knew Bo was not the type of man to use rose petals or soft music to seduce her. Neither of them were particularly romantic.

And Sherry was fine with that. Honestly, she’d be just as happy if he jumped out at her from behind the bedroom door and took her right then and there against the wall. The mere thought of this got her excited, causing her to speed up as she neared the top of the stairs.

“Bo?” she asked, putting a bit of playfulness into her voice.

She passed the bathroom and came to their bedroom door. It was closed and she tried to remember if she had closed it upon leaving that morning. Too excited to even think about it clearly, she opened the door, fully expecting to have him grab her or, if she was really lucky, for him to be spread out on the bed naked and waiting.

She got neither of those things. She frowned and turned back to the hallway.

Where the hell is he?

It then dawned on her that she had texted him to let him know she was bringing steaks home. She’d almost ended the text with

“for our anniversary”

but had decided against it, hoping he remembered on his own. Given that he knew she was bringing steaks, he was probably out on the patio, firing up the grill.

A little let down by not getting a surprise in the bedroom, Sherry walked back downstairs. She nearly went ahead and started getting together the spices and seasoning for the steaks but decided she’d rather see Bo first. Maybe she’d give him a juicy kiss to plant the seeds for what she expected later in the night.

She opened the patio door and stepped outside. She was closing the door behind her when she saw Bo. And at first, it made no sense.

He was lying on the patio, facing the door. His eyes were wide and unblinking and there was something dark sticking out of his mouth—something soft and round. She tried to make sense of what was in his mouth but that’s when she realized that there was a pool of blood around his head. It was a very dark shade of red and it was still wet.

“Bo…?”

Of course, Bo did not respond.

Sherry felt a scream crawling up out of her throat. When it finally came out, she realized that she could smell lighter fluid and warming charcoal. Bo

had

come out to start the grill. Suddenly, the smell of the charcoal was the only thing she was aware of as she fell to her knees, screaming in agonized wails next to her dead husband.