Excerpt of The Goodbye Lie by Jane Marie Malcolm

...flailing her arms, she went on and on about what might have befallen him. "Why, it could have been you, burned beyond recognition instead of one of your boys. You're beautiful face. My God! What if something hurt your face?"

He grabbed her and shook her. His words were muted as he growled, "Shut up. Shut up. Not now. Leave me be. Please, I'm begging you. Just leave me be."

He left his fiancée standing in the center of town, quite puzzled. Actually, she didn't mind as much as she pretended. She could hear a buzz of whispering now and just naturally knew empathy was directed her way. Waite had been so mean to her.

He disappeared into the night. No one followed him. No one dared ...