Page 11 of What the Wife Knew

Wyatt made a face. “Don’t call her that.”

Hard agree. “Yeah, don’t.”

We all stood in silence for a few seconds. Wyatt was about to launch into what was likely another round of unhelpful whining, so I took over. “Did you forget something the last time you were here?”

The question seemed to snap Wyatt out of his fury. He blinked as his expression morphed from surprise to carefully blank. “What are you talking about?”

Wyatt had a tell. A brief moment when his gaze darted up and to the left right before he lied. Good to know. “Let’s talk about allthe times you let yourself in the house when I wasn’t here. When you came to snoop around or, maybe, meet with your dad. Did that happen, Wyatt?”

“I’m leaving and taking these.” Wyatt grabbed the nearest box and dragged it off the counter. “Dad was right. You’re nothing but a disgusting—”

“No,” Elias warned.

“Yeah, watch it.” Looked like all of the Dougherty men liked to throw nasty words around. “I can still call the police and have you hauled out of here.”

“He’s out of line but let’s cut him a break,” Elias said. “He’s a kid.”

Wyatt didn’t need more coddling. Mommy and Daddy had shielded him from enough harsh reality already. “I’m only seven years older than he is.”

“I’m going to figure out what you did to Dad.” Wyatt nodded, as if he was buying into his own argument. “He married you for a specific reason and I’ll bet he died for the same reason.”

“Wyatt, that’s enough,” Elias said.

Wyatt kept right on talking and issuing empty threats. “You’re not going to get away with this. I’m going to stop you.”

“Go back to college and let the grown-ups handle your father’s estate.” Condescending, yes, but Wyatt deserved a verbal smackdown. An actual smackdown wouldn’t hurt either.

Wyatt shook his head. “You should watch your back.”

Without another word, he marched out of the room. He left a box behind and didn’t bother to look inside the one he took. He probably knew what the contents were. If he’d been visiting covertly as I suspected, he wouldn’t need an inventory to figure out what to take.

I waited for the back door to slam shut with his exit. A quick check of the security app showed him stomping across the lawn. “Kathryn and Richmond did well with him. He’s a charmer.”

Elias leaned against the counter, much more relaxed now. “In his defense, you were provoking him.”

“You should know I’m not a fan of the whole devil’s advocate thing. I’m also impervious to guilt. Find another tactic.”

“Noted.” Elias glanced at the remaining box. “As a general rule, getting rid of your dead husband’s personal items only a few weeks after his potential murder makes it seem like you’re happy he’s gone. The police will be looking for moves like this.”

Elias wasn’t wrong. Despite my need to purge it was too soon to pack up and unload Richmond’s things even though that was the end goal. Sell everything, cash out, move on. Out of New York. Far away from the stench of the Dougherty name and as soon as possible.

But all of that missed the point. “Wyatt broke into my house.”

“Are you really afraid of Wyatt? Do you want him arrested? Because his father gave him a key, which makes things cloudy.”

Cloudy. Richmond. That conniving asshole. Of course he roped his son into the mess by providing an open door to my private space. The man had no boundaries... well, he did now because he was in a box. “No to both questions.”

“But?”

Elias read the situation right. My mind kept whirling, racing through the possibilities and problems waiting in the future. “Wyatt got nervous and defensive when I asked him questions. That wasn’t just about being caught sneaking in. It felt like he was looking for something or maybe looking to plant evidence.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Too late. “All of this tells me one thing. Wyatt has something to hide.”

Elias let out a long sigh. “Sounds like he thinks the same thing about you.”

“The difference is I’m going to figure out his secret. He’s not touching mine.”

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