* Stephen King's "Mute" (short story, non-genre)

A lonely woman in her 50s, married 24 years with a daughter in college & husband mostly on tour, gets into an affair. And into blowing money with this boyfriend, a man of 60 - on lotteries, lingerie, shoes, ... Funds for this activity come by stealing her office funds. She has stolen $120 thousand over a 2 year period, & is about to be caught. That is when her husband learns of affair & embezzlement.

Soon, the wife will be living with her boyfriend in a motel. The man relieves his pent up story to a deaf/mute hitchhiker bum now asleep in his car - since the guy cannot really hear. Only, he can. Bum has been in & out of mental institutions over the years. A while later, the man will learn the hitchhiker has murdered his wife & her boyfriend, apparently out of gratitude for the ride!

Fact sheet.

First published: Playboy, December 2007.
Rating: B

Note: Why is this post so short?