Page 32 of A Talent for Murder

“Sorry,” Martha said. “I went out to eat and wasn’t checking my phone. What’s going on?”

“Well, there are developments,” Lily said slowly.

“Okay.”

“I waited in the hotel bar for your husband tonight. He went to the bar and got a drink and then he left. I followed him. He was going down the street, looking for a restaurant to eat at, from the looks of it, and I started to notice that I wasn’t the only one following him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone else, another man, was following him as well.”

“That’s strange.”

“Anyway, I’m going to cut to the chase. The person following your husband was Ethan Saltz.”

Martha stopped walking. She was baffled for a moment, wondering if Lily had misspoken. “Ethan? From Birkbeck?”

“Yes.”

“I’m confused. He was following Alan?” Martha could hear her own voice rise in pitch. Just hearing Ethan’s name was like feeling the earth shift under her feet.

“I was confused, too.”

“Are you sure it was him? Did you get a good look?”

“I talked to him, Martha. It was him. And he knew that I was there to watch Alan.”

“But why?”

“That’s what I’ve been asking myself. But now that I’ve had time to think, I believe that Ethan has something to do with what’s been happening.”

“What?” Martha was still standing, a man with a dog on a leash trying to navigate past her.

“Are you outside walking?” Lily said.

“I am,” Martha said, the question prompting her to start moving again.

“Do you want to call me when you get home?”

“No, no. I want to hear what you think.”

“Okay, it’s crazy, but I’ll tell you. What if Ethan kills women that your husband comes into contact with? What if he’s trying to frame Alan?”

“Why would he do that?”

“He’s not targeting Alan, he’s targeting you. He likes to play creepy games, right? He’s a manipulator. For whatever reason, he wants you to think that your husband is a serial killer. It’s a game to him.”

“I’m sorry, Lily. I’m trying to catch up here. But, I mean... how does he even know who my husband is? I’m just... Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“You okay?”

“I’m walking into people on the sidewalk,” Martha said.

“Let’s hang up, and you call me when you get back, okay?”

“Okay.”

Somehow she made it back to the house, navigating turns with no memory of doing so. She unlocked her door and stepped inside, turning on the lamp nearest to the door. Gilbert meowed loudly at her, but when she picked him up and carried him to his bowl to show him he already had food, he sniffed at it and turned away.

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