Page 57 of The Replacement Wife

Elisa drew in a deep breath as she forced herself not to scream.

“Rachel...” The name came out in a strained sound that barely rose to the level of a whisper.

“Hon, did you find the nightgown?” Josh shouted from upstairs in an amused voice, but he didn’t appear. “Not that you’ll need it.”

Rachel looked at the front door. “Go.”

Elisa could only shake her head in confusion.

Rachel leaned in closer. “I’m an ally. No matter what you hear or what you think you heard, don’t forget that.”

Elisa was too busy running to think anything.

Chapter Thirty

I’m an ally. Rachel’s words ran through Elisa’s mind. She couldn’t kick them out.

The next day passed without incident, mostly because Elisa stayed at home and pretended to work. She spent all day on the computer. Instead of assessing the books of a jewelry store as part of an informal audit in a divorce case, she searched the women in Josh’s life. And searched.

Now she knew more about Lauren. An only child. Parents divorced when she was young then Dad was out of the picture. The circumstances reminded Elisa a bit of her own upbringing, except that her biological father had never been in the picture. Mom had insisted on that, and since her father was married to someone else, he agreed.

She found a funeral announcement for Lauren’s mother, Allyson. There was a lovely poem someone had written about a mother’s love. Not a whole lot of information or names of relatives to track down, except for a note in the comments section. The person wrote that it was smart to leave “them” out of the obituary and another person agreed. Elisa had no idea whatthat meant or the significance of “them” but she’d dig more to find out.

As to Lauren, from what Elisa could see, a quick police investigation confirmed the accident during the camping trip. It highlighted her head injury. The only additional news was the picture from an article of Harris and Josh standing side by side. A much younger Josh inconsolable and leaning on Harris. The photo summed up their entire relationship.

Meredith was tougher to track down. She didn’t have much of a social media presence. Elisa found a business profile belonging to a woman named Meredith Grange who had worked in condo sales at a new waterfront building along the Schuylkill close to Josh’s office, but not much else. No photo. Just the name and after that, nothing. It was almost as if she’d changed her last name or moved away, neither of which made sense with the story she told.

Then there was Rachel. That went nowhere because when Elisa started typing she realized she didn’t know Rachel’s last name or the name of the business she worked for.

But all of that happened hours ago. Elisa didn’t want to think about the women or Josh or anything else for one more minute tonight. After a long day, bent over a laptop, her back hurt. Harris came home from work as if their fights and the harsh words that passed between them had never happened. He walked in the door, changed, played with Nathan, then talked about office gossip at dinner. He never mentioned Meredith or the storage unit. That was the evening. To her it felt strained and fake, but he didn’t show any discomfort.

A day of nothing. A night of nothing. Lots of pretending in between. That’s what her life had become.

She closed her eyes as she eased back into the pillows. Harris slept facing her on the bed. He’d fallen asleep while she fake-read a magazine over bouts of dizziness that came and went without warning. Giving up, she reached over and turned off the light.

She drifted. Just as she’d fall asleep, she’d jerk awake again. She thought she heard a knocking sound, which wasn’t unusual in an old house. The third time it happened, she lifted up on an elbow and looked around the cool, dark room. She could only describe the feeling as... wrongness.

Energy buzzed through her as she tried to figure out what noise had kept dragging her out of sleep. Before they went to bed Harris locked the doors because that’s what he did. But still...

She pushed the covers back and got up. The second her feet hit the floor her head started to spin. She grabbed onto the headboard, shaking the bed and knocking her cell to the carpet.

Harris didn’t move.

Water. She needed something for the sudden pounding in her head. Instead of going into the bathroom, she headed for the hall. With each step the floor grew colder.

“What is happening?” She whispered the question under her breath so as not to wake Harris.

Opening the door, she stepped into the hallway and the equivalent of a freezer. A breeze actually blew from one sideof the house to the other. The furnace must have died. Not unexpected in an older house, but not the way she wanted to spend the night.

She was about to call for Harris to get up when she saw the window at the end of the hallway. It was old fashioned and opened almost like a small door from the side instead of sliding up and down. It was open and the wind billowed in, sending the sheer curtain flying through the air. They were headed into fall. Warm days were giving way to very chilly nights. She’d put blankets on the beds and switched out the screens for the storm windows.

The window should be closed and locked. The fact it wasn’t probably explained the banging, but not the reason for the window being in this condition.

She took a few steps, trying to ignore the squeaking places where the old hardwood floor moaned. Her bare feet tapped against the chilled floor. She listened for any other noises but didn’t hear anything above the usual shifts and creaks.

Nathan.

She ran into his room. Didn’t breathe again until she saw him sprawled there, taking up every inch of mattress on his small bed.

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