Page 40 of Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbi 3)

"The local precinct brought her in for questioning. They let me listen in. I'm really sorry, Ensley. But...your husband wasn't with her."

I nodded. "Okay." My whole body felt cold. But he was having an affair with her, right? I wanted to scream the question at him. But I didn't have to. I knew it. I knew it and yet...ouch. For a second last night I believed that it had only been one kiss. I'd believed what I'd wanted to believe. But Noah was no saint.

"I'm sorry I don't have better news."

"That's fine. Let me show you out." I gestured to the door.

He didn't move. "We have a little more to discuss about Sophia Tremblay. Actually, a lot more."

"We do?"

"Did your husband...did he hurt you?"

Noah never hit me. But the things he said to me? I was reminded of that old lie about "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." That person didn’t know my husband. His words were as sharp as knives. "No."

"Never?"

It felt like I was shrinking under his gaze. And I found myself wanting to say…sometimes. Maybe. "No. I don't understand what this has to do with him being missing."

"He hurt her."

I shook my head. My husband was a lot of things. But he wouldn't physically hurt someone. He wouldn't. "I don't understand."

"They weren't dating."

"I’m sorry, I really don't understand. Of course they were dating. You just told me that my husband was unfaithful. He..."

"She claims that he was stalking her. That he was obsessed with her." He pulled out his phone and handed it to me.

There was a picture of a brunette woman. Maybe she was beautiful. I couldn't really be sure. Because her face was swollen. A huge bruise encased her eye. Her lip was busted. But despite the injuries, she looked familiar. She looked like me.

"The last time she saw him, he did this to her. You're sure he never laid a hand on you?"

All I could hear was my own breathing. It felt like my throat was constricting. "Never." This didn't make sense. He wouldn't have done this. All I wanted to do was run to the basement and demand answers. But Noah didn't remember. I looked back down at the picture. How could he have done this?

"Are you sure?" he asked. His words hung in the air.

I nodded. I couldn't stop looking at the picture. Detective Torres had to be right. My husband wouldn't cheat on me with a woman who looked so similar to me. But he wouldn't have been stalking her either. What the hell was he doing with Sophia Tremblay? "Do you think...does she look like me?" I finally looked up at him as he pulled his phone out of my hand.

"She was about your height. Same hair color. Same eye color."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would he be stalking a woman who looks like me?"

Detective Torres slid the phone back into his pocket. "I was hoping you could help me with that question, Ensley."

I shook my head. "I'm as lost as you."

"Are you? Because I took a more thorough look at those documents you gave me. Some of the credit card statements and phone bills only contained half the month. Some months are completely missing. And now that I think about it, you were awfully quick to hand over all that information. Almost like you had it prepared ahead of time. The only suspicious thing at all was that weekly phone call to Canada."

I swallowed hard. I did have it prepared ahead of time. I'd prepped everything perfectly and now it was biting me in the ass. "I’m just organized. And I have a love of shredding unnecessary papers. I don't save everything. I'm not a hoarder."

"I have another theory. I think you knew your husband was up to no good. Maybe you thought he was having an affair instead of stalking Sophia. But either way you knew something was up. So you led me on a wild goose chase to Canada."

"You said you already had personal business in Canada. It wasn’t even out of your way. There was no wild goose chase. You were on a trip."

"The reason for my trip isn't the point, Ensley."

I stared at him. He looked...flustered. Maybe his trip wasn't the point he was trying to make, but now I was curious. "Why were you in Canada, Detective Torres?"

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