The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie

by Freida McFadden

“I read online that if you have LEDs placed, they are over ninety-eight percent effective in preventing pregnancy.”

Poppy stares at me for several beats, a confused look on her face. “Do you mean… IUDs?”

“He did do a terrible thing,” the detective says. “I’ve never met anyone who had over thirty overdue library books before.”

I understand what the source of the mysterious sounds has been. It’s a Roomba. With a cat riding on it.

“She…” He squeezes his eyes shut. “She doesn’t like Nickelback. And I…” His Adam’s apple bobs. “I love them.

“Pregnant?” She looks down at the test in her hand and then back at my face. “Alice, this is a Covid test.”