Page 45 of The Tenant
“Don’t do this.” My voice cracks on the words. “Please, Krista.”
“I just need a couple of days.” She toys with her engagement ring, which is still on her left ring finger. If she takes it off, it will kill me. “I’ll stay with Becky and Malcolm.”
Great. She is staying with Becky, who hates me, and Malcolm, who isn’t a fan either after our failed attempt at drinks. I’m sure the two of them will spend the whole time trash-talking me.
But fine. If she needs a few days away, let her have it. Maybe it will be a good thing to have some time apart. And if I get a little time alone with Whitney, she can fess up about what is bothering her so much about me, and we can work things out.
This will be fine. I always land on my feet, one way or another.
I still can’t figure out how Whitney got my phone. She must’ve swiped it off the table while I was napping. I can’t even close my eyes for a second around that woman.
“Blake, what’s this?” Krista says.
What now?
Krista is crouched in the closet, presumably figuring out which of her five billion pairs of shoes she wants to take with her. Except she’s not packing anymore—she’s peering at something in the closet. I have no idea what.
“What is it?” I ask.
Krista straightens up, holding a small white jug. It takes me a second to realize what I’m looking at.
“Bleach?” I’m too shocked to say anything else.
“What’s this doing in our closet?”
“I have no idea.”
“No idea?” she repeats. “You were the one going on and on about how you thought Goldy died because somebody poured bleach into the fishbowl. And then I findthisin the closet?”
“Wait.” I blink at her. “You thinkIkilled Goldy? Are you kidding me? You didn’t even think that the bowl smelled like bleach!”
She falters for a moment. “I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think Whitney would have done that. But…well, itdidsmell a little like bleach.” She looks at me accusingly. “Did you kill Goldy to frame Whitney?”
“No! Christ, of course not. You can’t possibly think…”
“I don’t knowwhatto think anymore.” She drops the jug of bleach onto our dresser, and it lands with a loud thump. “You’ve been acting so strangely lately. And now I find your phone in Whitney’s bed. And this bleachin your closetwhen you’ve been going on and on about how you think Whitney poisoned the fish with it.”
“Jesus Christ, do you really think I would poison our fish?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She lowers her eyes. “Honestly, I wouldn’t put anything past you at this point. After all, you stole from your own company.”
There’s a sharp pang in my chest. I can’t believe she just said that to me. When all that shit went down at Coble & Roy, there was not a single moment when Krista didn’t support me wholeheartedly. What made her turn around like this?
Was it something Whitney said to her?
“I didn’t steal from my company!” The volume of my voice is much too loud, but I can’t seem to control it. “How could you think that?”
“I feel like I hardly know you lately.” She frowns up at me. “You’re constantly ranting about ridiculous conspiracy theories involving our tenant. You wander the house at night instead of sleeping. When you do pass out, you talk in your sleep—”
“I talk in my sleep?” That revelation shocks me. “What…what do I say?”
“Gibberish mostly.” She shakes her head. “Sometimes you say Whitney’s name, which is super weird.”
Wow. That’s…unsettling.
“I’m beginning to think that psychic woman was right,” she says. “If I stay long enough, God knows what you’ll do.”
“Krista,no.” I’m starting to panic now. She’s really leaving, possibly for good. “I would never cheat on you, and I would never hurt you.”
