Page 76 of The Wife

“He is, for various things, but did you see him with Kerry Lynch?”

“Um, yeah. Maybe once. Twice at most. He definitely looks familiar. Like he’s British or something. Not an accent or anything. I never spoke to him. But that kind of vibe. I’d say he was there, maybe three or four months ago.”

Netter interrupted. “You said a man was there on Wednesday. Was his name Jay?”

Nick shrugged. “I don’t know any name other than what’s on the order. Customers make shit up, too. Hugh Jass. Seymour Butz. People kind of suck.”

“But you said she had a boyfriend over,” Corrine said, trying to get Nick back on track.

“Yeah. Or at least, he used to be. But it was a long time ago—like, more than a year. Two, maybe even three years ago. He used to be there a lot. Would answer the door and tip me and everything. I thought he lived there. Then I stuck my foot in my mouth and was like, ‘Hey, where’s your husband?’ And she said he was a scumbag. And all of a sudden on Wednesday, he was back again. That same guy.”

Corrine googled “Tom Fisher Oasis” on her phone and hit “Images.” She clicked on the first image in the results. “Does this guy look familiar?”

“Yeah, that’s the guy. He’s the one who was there on Wednesday. She’s okay, right? She’s a nice lady.”

Corrine and Netter walked together to the far corner of the parking lot, where they had left their cars side by side.

“So who’s the dude?” he asked.

“Her boss. They had an affair three years ago. She told me it didn’t end well. He stayed with his wife.”

“Oh shit. And she kept working for him?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t comfortable, at least that’s what she said. She threatened to sue, so she was able to keep her job.”

“Like a cop who barely makes it out of a beef with his badge. It’s never quite the same again. That would be the work trouble her friend mentioned.”

“And the reason she said Kerry had a weakness for the wrong guys,” Corrine added.

“So this might not be related to your case at all?” It was barely a question, the way Netter said it.

“Hard to say, but I don’t think she left on her own. When I was at the house, I did notice one thing. She had a big crystal egg on the coffee table. My guess is around ten or fifteen pounds. It’s gone.”

“The dog walker didn’t notice.”

“It’s not the dog walker’s job to notice.” Corrine could already picture it. The dining room table cleared, the dirty takeout containers on the kitchen counter. The glass egg smashing against Kerry’s head. Blood in her dark hair. Moving the body, no neighbors in sight. Someone cleaning blood from either the hardwood floors in the living room or the terra-cotta tile in the kitchen. Maybe even leaving all that food and water for Snowball.

“I’ll call the crime scene now,” Netter said again. “Why didn’t you say something at the house?”

“I wasn’t sure what to make of it until we talked to the delivery guy.”

“Or you wanted to make sure you still got to tag along while I was still assuming she’d turn up.”

“You should make that call, Netter.”

It took Corrine nearly two hours to tell Netter everything she knew about Kerry Lynch, including Jason Powell’s suspicions that Kerry might have known more than she was admitting about Oasis’s international dealings. She spent another hour giving him advice on the various steps he might take to work the case, now that it was becoming clear that this investigation belonged in Long Island.

She had just pulled onto the LIE when her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but the area code was Manhattan.

“This is Duncan.”

“Hey, it’s Brian.”

He was Brian again. “From your cell phone on a Saturday. No, I won’t go out with you.”

“You should be so lucky. Any updates on Kerry?”

She hadn’t spoken to King since Thursday, when she first found out Kerry was missing. She told him she was driving back from Port Washington and gave him a quick summary of what she’d learned there.

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