Page 16 of What the Wife Knew

Sounded convenient, as did all the work Elias did from home lately. “We’re going to have a talk about that what else of mine you’re listed on.”

Elias shot me anot nowlook.

One person seemed to be missing from this scene. “Where’s Wyatt?”

“Why would your stepson be here?” Detective Sessions asked.

Elias jumped right in. “He wouldn’t set off the alarm. He has a code.”

But someone broke in, or tried to.What if I had been here?The question ran through my head, and I blinked it out. Wyatt had to be the answer. His misdirected anger made sense. Someone else breaking in, stranger or not, opened up a world of new worries... and revived a few dormant fears. The ones I’d buried and ignored as soon as I got old enough to fight back.

Before marrying Richmond, I didn’t own anything of value. I kept the lights on. I could guard a studio apartment without moving. Sit in a chair and see every wall. No one could hide and jump out at me. This house was one big hiding place.

Someone killed Richmond. I assumed that was abouthim. I’d blocked any thought about me being a target or in danger, but now I wasn’t so sure. “So, where are we on the thief-in-my-house question right now?”

The detective nodded toward the front door. “The officers looked inside and—”

“Wait. Is this some sort of scam to avoid getting the search warrant? Like, a bait-and-switch kind of thing.” That would suck but it was an answer I could live with. The detective playing games meant danger, but not the type that would keep me up at night, huddled in a corner, listening for every noise.

“It looks like someone entered the house through the back French doors off the breakfast room. The glass is broken. They likely smashed it to open the lock.” The detective walked through the facts in a monotone voice. “The hit was enough to trip the motion sensor on the door. The silent alarm went off. The alarm company called you. You ignored the call. The company then called us, which is standard procedure. We got in the house through the broken door.”

He used all those words to make it sound like the situation was my fault.

“I was getting coffee.” I held up the almost empty cup as evidence.

“In this town?” Elias whistled. “Brave.”

“You have no idea.” I grabbed my cell out of my bag and brought up the security system app. “There are cameras. Richmond had a thing about being able to watch the entire property from the privacy of his office.”

Elias and the detective crowded in while I hit the video playback for the short time while I was out. The system cycled through different camera angles without showing much of anything. Detective Sessions took the phone and tried again.

“I’ll need a copy of this, but I’m seeing flashes of movement only.” He glanced up at the house to the obvious camera by thefront door. “It looks like the person knew where the video blind spots were and stuck to them.”

That fast my suspicions about Wyatt returned then expanded to add Kathryn. She exercised a lot of control over her kids. Maybe that extended to secret alarm codes. “Someone familiar with the property did this.”

The detective sent me a questioning look. “Do you have a name in mind?”

Not yet. Saying anything would play into the stereotypical idea of a cat fight between Richmond’s women, and that wasn’t going to happen. “Just thinking out loud.”

“We’ll need you to do a walk-through and tell us if anything is missing.”

“Are we sure the person who broke in left?” I asked. “It’s a big place. Lots of rooms and doors. So many hiding places.”

“I’ll go with her,” Elias said. “We can provide you with a list of missing items.”

The detective nodded. “I’m sure you will.”

Chapter Eleven

Her

Married, Day Twenty

Changing the alarm passcodes bought me some breathing room from the unnecessary household hijinks. Richmond thrived on nasty games. I’d been on a constant state of alert and barely sleeping, trying to anticipate what new form of torture his tiny mind would dream up.

My blackmail threat slowed him down, but it wouldn’t stop him. He wasn’t the type to back down. His ego wouldn’t allow for the possibility of defeat. He’d keep pushing, convinced he could beat me, and at some point I’d have to follow through on my ultimatum. But I wasn’t ready yet. To avoid suspicion and gather all the intel I could, I needed to play along with this fake marriage thing for a little while and be on guard the whole time.

My usual late-night routine consisted of grabbing a drink of water and hunkering down in my room to ride it out until morning. Not the best marital honeymoon period a woman ever had but probably not the worst.

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