After Ninety-Nine Lies, My Husband Finally Told Me the Truth novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Hundredth

Anders put the two notebooks on the lectern and did not open either one.

"My name is Anders Fjelstad," he said into the microphone. "Most of you have known me since I was born. I'm going to tell you what I did, and then my sister can tell you what she did."

Nobody coughed.

"On our fifth anniversary, at the lake house, I handed my wife a notebook. I told her she was a liar and needed medicine. You may have heard about it."

He lifted the black cover with one finger.

"This is the Lie Ledger. It has ninety-nine entries. Not one of them is true."

A sound went through the chairs.

"I know, because I wrote Not true beside every one in pencil, and I carried it for fourteen months. I knew who wrote the ledger. I knew where she got the pills. I knew my wife was being drugged in our bed, and I said nothing, because I wanted to catch my sister in front of all of you."

He took a breath.

"That's what I'm here to answer for."

Signe stepped toward him.

"Anders, you're confused. You haven't slept."

"Sit down, Signe," said Margit.

She said it from the first row without raising her voice, and Signe sat on the edge of the stage with her hands in her lap.

Anders opened the second notebook.

"I made a list this week," he said. "Of every night I knew and said nothing. There are ninety-nine. I won't read them all. You'd be here till dark."

He read four.

"One. The morning she asked me why she was so tired, and I told her to ask Signe, who handled the pharmacy."

"Forty-one. The Christmas my mother turned her back on her, and I buttered a roll."

"Ninety-eight. The night she read page one out loud, and I let my face say yes."

He stopped, and the pages stopped moving under his hand.

"Ninety-nine. I carried her to the truck from that June wedding when she couldn't wake, and I never asked why."

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