Page 7 of His Loving Wife

Kate stuffed her hands in the back pockets of her denim shorts. “We’re adjusting.”

Dana nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She was an expert at letting Kate know she cared without prying, which is probably why she was the only friend she’d stayed in contact with since the attack.

“Maisie is thinking about joining the volleyball team this year. It’s got to be better than swim team, right? No ridiculously long practices and meets.”

“That’s good,” Kate said, easing back into normal conversation. “You know, Noah is always—”

She stopped speaking when she turned the corner leading to their row of houses and spotted a police car parked in her driveway. Dana saw it, too. Both women halted, like they’d just been marked in a game of Freeze Tag.

“Is everything—”

“I don’t know,” Kate said, picking up her pace. “I’ll call you later.”

Her steps pounded against the cement, mimicking the thudding of her heart. People often had this reaction when the police arrived at their house unexpectedly. But Kate was familiar with cops. They’d been in constant contact since the attack, mainly because the intruder was still at large. For the police to show up unannounced during the day, it had to mean something.

Her stomach dropped further when the front door swung open, and she saw Andrew. Normally, he didn’t arrive home until after seven. It was unusual for him to be home in the middle of the day.

“What’s happened?” Kate said, her breath exhausted. “Are the kids—”

“The kids are fine.” Andrew held out his hand to steady her. “They’re at school.”

Kate looked at the car in the driveway, then back to their front door.

“Then why are you here? Why are the police—”

Detective Marsh poked her head around the corner. She was a petite woman with dark skin and curly hair tied tight into a low bun. She was wearing a gray suit that looked too long for her small frame.

“Kate, are you okay?”

She took a deep breath. “I just saw the car and thought something might have happened.”

“I tried calling you,” Marsh said.

“She called me, too,” Andrew said. “That’s why I left the office at lunch.”

Kate pulled her cell phone from her pocket. It was still on silent, revealing she had three missed calls. She exhaled with equal parts relief and embarrassment. So this wasn’t an impromptu visit. Nothing bad had happened.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you called.”

“It’s fine,” Detective Marsh said. “I called you both because we do have a major development, and I thought it would be best to discuss it with you when the kids aren’t around.”

Detective Marsh had been with them since the beginning. Local deputies were the first on the scene that night, but Marsh followed soon after. She gave Kate a cup of coffee, wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. From that point forward, she’d been Kate’s main contact. She had the ability to make Kate feel like a person, more than a name in a case file.

“Have you made an arrest?” Andrew asked, taking a seat on the sofa.

“No.” Marsh, still standing, looked down at the beige carpet beneath her feet. “We don’t have a person in custody, but we now know who entered your home and attacked you that night.”

“Who?” Already, Kate’s pulse was racing again. “If you haven’t made an arrest, how could you know?”

“We pulled prints from the doorknobs and windowsills around the house. There was only one set that didn’t match someone living here. It’s taken us a while to run them through the database, but we got a hit. Turns out the guy has a couple of DUIs so his prints are already in the system.”

“What’s his name?” asked Andrew.

“Paul Gunter.” She paused. “Does that name sound familiar to either one of you?”

The air stalled in Kate’s throat. For a second, she felt woozy. She took a step closer to the window, staring out at their front lawn, as if the peaceful scenery could help clear her thoughts.

“Paul Gunter,” Andrew repeated. Kate didn’t have to see her husband to know what he was doing. His thumb and pointer finger pinching his chin, his brow furrowed, trying to place the name. “I think we do know a Paul Gunter, actually. He went to college with us, right?”

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