That's quite sad, that she has never been unfaithful, but must pretend to do so in order to placate the suspicions of her husband and bring closure to the situation. I suppose this might be a plot device to show just how twisted Patterson is. 😕

I'm reading this story with the eye of an interested reader, not with the eye of a proofreader. But, one thing jumped out at me, and I had to read it three times before I caught the incorrect word and made sense of it:

third paragraph after the first pic:

"I ignored that red flag for the moment—the first, though by now means the last."

"now" should be: "no"
Since you're planning to publish, I thought you'd want to know.

Interesting interplay between McGill and Lorna! 😁 I think I might have laughed out loud — for real! — when the "Cadillac about the size of Vermont" appeared. 😂