Page 26 of The Replacement Wife

Maxine was Philadelphia born and raised. Stayed there for college and worked her way up and into administration at the hospital. Elisa liked her, respected her. And eleven months and eight days ago Elisa held Maxine as her blood ran onto the sidewalk.

“A former coworker named Keith, a guy who was fired for being lazy and late and, according to some reports, inappropriately handsy, showed up with a gun.” Elisa could see him, too. That smile on his face as he rounded the cart, walked upto the two of them on the sidewalk. The “You’re dead”whisper right before he raised the gun. “His plan was to shoot his way through the building to get to Maxine, but she was outside, so...”

“He didn’t have to work that hard.” Rachel reached out a hand and rested it on Elisa’s leg through the blanket. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

Yeah, lucky. “He shot and people scattered. Except me. I froze. I stood there, watching him switch his aim. I heard this muffled noise and then he was flat on the sidewalk. Hector, the man who ran the food cart, tackled Keith and his next shot went wide.”

The memories crashed over her. People running. Wheels screeching as some cars stopped and others raced away. All of the screaming. The blood seeping through Maxine’s jacket. Small gasps as she fought for her final breaths.

Elisa had stood there, watching but not really seeing it. None of it registered. Her body froze. Then she’d glanced down and saw Maxine’s face. The tears and then the blood seeping out of her chest wound.

Elisa broke out of the nightmare vision long enough to rub her upper arm. Touching the area brought a hint of pain, but she thought it was more of a memory of the pain. “I didn’t realize that last bullet fired grazed me until the ambulance came.”

“Damn, Elisa.”

“I finally dropped to my knees and tried to help Maxine. I remember I kept shouting for someone to call for the ambulance, which they’d already done.” Elisa blew out a haggardbreath. “But I was too late. All I could do was hold her while she died.”

Rachel picked up Elisa’s mug and handed it to her. “You made sure she wasn’t alone in her final moments. I’m sure that means something to her family.”

Elisa wrapped her fingers around it, craving the heat inside. “Yeah.”

That’s what the therapist had said. And Maxine’s husband. And Harris. They all meant well, but it brought very little solace. Being the one still alive left Elisa unbalanced and clawing through a mountain of anxiety.

“So, I left my job and now I hate to leave my house.” An abbreviated version of the horrors that still haunted her, including being snuck up on and loud banging noises, but Elisa could tell from the concerned expression on Rachel’s face that she understood.

Even talking about it sucked the energy out of Elisa. She took a sip of tea, but it didn’t crack the icy coolness flowing through her.

“Is that why you have the office here?” Rachel hitched her thumb in the general direction of the backyard. “You work from home?”

“A few months ago I started doing some freelance accounting work for a few businesses in the area.” Elisa worked part-time and set her own hours, which was all she could handle right now. “Harris thought creating the office would help.”

“Help with what?”

Making his wife whole again.But instead of saying that, shelaughed. “I don’t know. Give me a place to go, I guess. He thought the act of getting up and leaving the house would be helpful.”

“You’ve had a hell of a time.”

Rachel didn’t apologize or get all tongue-tied, trying to find the right words when there weren’t any. She didn’t rush to make things better. Elisa was grateful. So many people had saidI’m sorryto her since the incident that the words didn’t have any meaning anymore. Maxine was dead, not her. Maxine deserved the love, not her.

“And it’s still not over.” Elisa reached into her pocket and took out the business card. “The hospital did an internal review of its practices and cleared itself of any wrongdoing, of course. An attorney for Maxine’s family disagrees and hired these investigators to determine what, if anything, could have been done differently.”

Some of the color returned to Rachel’s cheeks. “Oh...”

Not the reaction Elisa expected. “Did you think the investigators were for something else?”

“Honestly? I thought you hired them to investigate Abby’s leaving.”

Disappearance. Elisa silently corrected Rachel because she didn’t want to normalize losing Abby, even in her mind.

“I’ve never talked to the investigative team in the hospital case.” Elisa had ignored the calls, but she read the business card now. “Martin Ashburn and Shelby Tanaka.”

“Why not meet with them?”

“Talking means reliving it and . . .” Elisa shook her head because it sounded silly, as if she’d never escaped those minutes on the sidewalk. Answering questions couldn’t possibly make it bigger or worse in her head. “I don’t know.”

“You toldmeabout what happened.”

And nothing surprised Elisa more. “You must have that kind of face.”

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