Page 32 of The Inmate
“Actually,” he says, “he asked me a lot aboutyou.”
My legs wobble beneath me. I had been worried about something like that, but I had tried to convince myself I was just being paranoid. Apparently not. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. A bunch of questions.”
Ugh, Caleb is such aguy. So aggravating. “Likewhat?”
He shrugs. “Just if you and Dawn were friends, and if Dawn ever talked to me about you. It was strange.”
“Did he ask you about Monday night?”
“Yes…”
My chest feels heavy. “And what did you tell him?”
“I… I told him we were together the whole night.”
I can’t help myself—I throw my arms around his shoulders. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, but…” He pulls away, his cheeks pink. “I don’t feel great about this, Nat.”
“It’s a white lie.”
He drops his voice several notches. “How exactly is lying to the police about our whereabouts a ‘white lie’?”
I grit my teeth. “So… what? You think I killed Dawn or something?”
“No, of course not!” Then he hesitates. “But… when we said we were going to meet, you said you had to do something else that night. Remember?”
I stare at him blankly. “What?”
“I remember you said that. When I said you should come over, you said there was something else you had to do that night. What was it?”
My cheeks get so hot that I’m sure my face is bright red. “I just had to drop off a couple of cases of Collahealth at a vitamin store. Are you serious? You really think I had something to do with what happened to her?”
“No. Sorry, I just…”
“Look, you’re just saving us both some grief. I mean, between the two of us, you’re much more physically capable of hurting Dawn, and you’re getting an alibi out of this too. Soyou’re welcome.”
Caleb takes a step back, his face dark. “ButIdon’t have a motive.”
“And I do?”
He averts his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. Anyway, it’s done.”
I’ve been going about this wrong. I’m starting to antagonize my boyfriend, who is already feeling ambivalent about this whole thing. I need to tone it down. And make him remember what a great time we have together.
“Listen…” I run a finger up the thin fabric of his dress shirt. “Why don’t you come over to my house again tonight? I’ll cook you some dinner.”
He looks down at his watch. “I can’t. I came here because Seth told me I needed to talk to the detective, but I’ve got to get out to Newton right now and I’ll be stuck there till late. This took a lot longer than I thought it would.”
“Oh. Maybe tomorrow then?”
“Yeah, maybe.” He sounds distracted. “I’ll text you, okay?”
It’s hard to hide my disappointment. It’s hard not to notice that Caleb isn’t looking at me anymore like he’s lucky to be with me. He looks like he wants to take off. I had really thought Caleb could be the one—somebody who might stick around for the long term. I thought I had found a great guy. And now that great guy is slipping through my fingers.
But before I can get too worked up over it, he grabs my shoulders and plants a kiss on my lips.
