Page 45 of Such a Good Wife

“I imagine that if he was considering taking on a private client, he’d want to search them. Isn’t that what everyone does these days? That doesn’t seem so odd.”

“So you never had any contact besides the bookstore?” Davis is doing the talking now.

“She already told you she didn’t.” Collin answers for me. “I know you guys have to follow all your leads or whatever, but this is a stretch, don’t you think?”

But Davis doesn’t respond to Collin, he just waits for an answer from me.

“No, just the bookstore.”

“I don’t like what you’re insinuating.” Collin stands, growing angry that he’s being ignored.

“We’re not insinuating anything. We just need to do our jobs.”

“What made you change your mind about lessons with him?” Joe asks. A knot of pain twists in my gut and my pulse is racing.

“Oh, I don’t know. I was just starting to get back into writing—nothing too serious. It sounded interesting in the moment after hearing a good reading, but you know how that goes—the excitement fades and you realize you don’t want to spend that much money on a hobby.”

I can’t tell if I’m rambling. I’m trying to offer a solid answer—one that doesn’t beg more questions and gives them what they need so they can leave. I wish I hadn’t used the word excitement.

“I see. Well, there were no records of instant messages or emails between you, so maybe he just had a crush or something. One-sided, of course,” Joe adds, looking to Collin. “We just needed to see if you could offer any more insight.”

Joe Brooks and Detective Davis stand, and I hate Joe for implying there was a crush and leaving it at that. He hands me a business card.

“If you think of anything else that might be useful, give us a call.”

“Okay.” I take it, but I don’t stand to see them out. I let Collin go instead. He shakes their hands, and Joe turns back to me.

“Say hi to Ben for me.”

I nod mutely and force a terse smile. When the front door clicks shut and Collin comes back in, I don’t know what to expect. Will he privately have an entirely different demeanor than he had with the cops?

“What a cocksucker,” he says, red-faced.

I let out the breath I’ve been holding. He’s still on my side.

“The woman beater, that bully, is gonna come in here and do the same thing. Try to bully you. I cannot believe that prick is walking around in uniform after what he’s done, and we just have to accept it. He should be in prison, but instead, hell, let’s give him authority and firearms!”

“Yeah, I mean are they going into everyone’s house like that? There were a lot of other women at that reading. Jesus.” I hate myself, but I have to play the game.

“They’re grasping at straws. Hick-town detectives with no experience asking idiotic questions.”

“I know. Right?” Is really all I can think to say.

“Well, I’m sorry you had to deal with Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”

“It’s fine. Just weird.”

With that, Collin’s phone rings. I hear Richard on the other end, talking about some tax form they need to make available for investors. I mime drinking coffee to ask him if he wants me to bring him the rest of his cup. He gives me a smirk, remembering I tricked him into liking Starbucks, but nods and mouths a thank you back, and just like that, he has switched gears into work.

But as I walk away from him toward the kitchen, I catch his reflection in the glass of the French door windowpanes, and he is watching me—still on his call—but with his eyes on me, and his face changes when he thinks I don’t see. There is something in his expression that resembles...doubt, suspicion. It’s subtle, a quick double take at my back as I go, but it’s there. I’ve never seen him look at me like that before.

***

19

A FEW DAYS GO by and I can’t stop checking the disposable phone. It feels like someone is deliberately manipulating me, trying to make me feel crazy by telling me they know what I did, and then letting me sit and agonize instead of just telling me what they want—or who they are.

Tonight, we’re taking the kids to dinner to celebrate the A Ben got in his math class—a subject he struggles with. He wants Mexican, so we head to La Haciendas. We go early so we’re back early enough on a school night for the kids to have some homework time. From the backseat, Ben is reciting facts about Mexican food. When he really likes something, he tends to memorize everything about it.

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