by Ivy Smoak
"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?"
"Excuse me?"
"What personal business did you have there?"
He shook his head. "It was personal. And this isn't about me. This is about you. I'm doing the questioning here."
I pressed my lips together. The air in the room had shifted. He wasn't just a friendly neighborhood detective stopping by for a chat. He suspected me. He didn't have to say the words, I could see it in his eyes. But there was something else in his eyes too. Guilt maybe? What are you hiding, Detective Torres?
"Ensley, do you know where your husband is?"
Tied up right underneath your nose, detective. "No."
"Will you give me the missing records?"
I'd only given him the records because I couldn't trace that damn phone number. But now I knew about Sophia Tremblay. Even if the information didn't make any sense. "I told you. If they weren't in the box, I shredded them a long time ago."
He nodded. "Great. Well, I've requested access to his phone records and bills straight from the source."
Shit. How long will that take? I knew I was running out of time. I knew I was playing with fire. But I couldn't walk away now. I was so close. "That's fine, I have nothing to hide."
"So you don't mind if I take a look around your house?"
I had to hand it to him. That was a perfect freaking trap. "Of course not." I knew he'd eventually ask. I knew it and yet I was still hoping he wouldn't. That maybe, just maybe, chasing Sophia would get him off my back. After all, she had a motive. I thought it would be a classic jealous sidepiece motive, but this was even better. Noah had hurt her. She should have been Detective Torres’ top suspect. So why had he come back here sniffing around my house? Had Sophia really seemed that innocent?
I watched as Detective Torres stopped in the hall to look at a framed picture of Noah and me. Could he tell that my smile was fake? Could he really see all the lies that easily? I watched him walk down the hall and into the kitchen.
Snuffle Muffins looked up at me.
It's okay, boy. I'll handle this. I followed Detective Torres into the kitchen. My taser was burning a hole in my back pocket. I had spare rope and an extra chair downstairs just for this occasion. And my litter box was plenty big enough to share. Sorry not sorry, Detective Torres.
Chapter 15
Sunday
"The last time I saw my husband he was upstairs," I said. "We have this routine where I always straighten his tie before he heads to work." It was a final attempt at stalling him. Because I would tase him. I would. "And he was notoriously bad at matching a tie with his dress shirt. I'm pretty sure he was colorblind. He was always putting tan and gray together."
Detective Torres turned around.
I hadn't left my post in the hallway. I couldn't follow him into the kitchen knowing that there were two doors in there that led to terrible things. One to the garage, which was filled with evidence. And one to the basement, which was filled with Noah. I had to think of a reason, any reason, why Detective Torres should at least avoid the basement. But all I could think about was Noah being incompetent at matching colors. Oh God. I also had weed sitting in my utensil drawer. I'd tossed it in there to hide it, but what if he decided he needed a fork for something? Or a knife? "I've already looked everywhere for clues,” I said. “But maybe I missed something upstairs?"
"Great," Detective Torres said and walked back toward me. "I’ll start my search upstairs then. After you."
If I walked up the stairs ahead of him, he'd notice the taser bulging in my back pocket. "No, after you, good sir." I bowed awkwardly.
He walked past me without reacting.
I ignored Snuggle Muffins' whimpers as I went up the stairs without him. I followed Detective Torres as he made his way from the master bedroom, to the guest room, to an empty room at the end of the hall.
"What used to be in here?" he asked.
I leaned against the doorjamb. "It was going to be a nursery." The walls were still mint green. I'd thought it was so cute. More unique than blue. But the only thing that ended up being unique about the nursery was that it was empty. "I lost the baby."
He turned away from the emptiness. "I'm sorry."
I nodded. I wanted to be able to pretend that I wasn't sorry. That maybe my son would have turned out like his horrible father. But I couldn't pretend. Because what if he hadn't? My son would have been good. I would have raised him right. He would have saved me from all of this.
"Is there a reason why you don't want me in your kitchen?"
I had to hand it to Detective Torres. He kept me off-kilter. "I didn't make any snacks."
He laughed. "I'm not here to eat."
"Then why are you here?"
An awkward silence stretched between us. "Let me ask you a question, Ensley. You knew who I was when I first showed up on your doorstep."
That wasn't a question. "Everyone knows everyone around here."
"No. You were talking about my last case. Did you know either Violet Clark or Adeline Bell?"
I shook my
head.
"But you just said it yourself. Everyone knows everyone around here."
I remained perched in the doorway even though every instinct in my body was screaming at me to run. "Right. Of course I've heard of them. I saw them around town on occasion. At the grocery store or at the mall. But they both mostly kept to themselves."
"Do you mostly keep to yourself?"
I'd overheard Charlotte ask Adeline to her book club countless times. Adeline always refused. And Violet lived in the woods, far away from prying eyes. The two of them isolated themselves on purpose. I'd always wanted to fit in. "Not by choice."
"But you do keep mostly to yourself?"
"I'm not like them." The way he was looking at me made my heart race. He thought I was a monster. And he was right. But I wasn't a copy-cat serial killer. I was a kidnapper. That was it.
"Adeline lost a baby. Just like you."
I opened my mouth and then closed it again. What was his point? That didn't make us the same. There was no miscarriage club in town. "I didn't know that."
"Well, did you know that Detective Ben Jones woke up the other day?"
My heart started racing. I knew all about Ben Jones. He was the undercover detective working on Adeline Bell's case. He'd been in a coma for months. I'd followed all of it so closely on the news. What had happened to Ben was a tragedy. The whole town was rallied around him. But in reality? He was a damned fool. "Is he okay?"
"The doctors at the hospital said so. But I never got to see for myself. Because he went missing a few hours after he woke up."
"Missing?"
"Just like your husband, Ensley. Poof. Gone. The same day that your husband went missing. That's quite a coincidence, isn't it?"
My palms were starting to sweat. If I went for my taser now, it might slip. I couldn't risk it. "Yes."
He shook his head and took a few steps closer to me. "I don’t believe in coincidences."
Could he see me sweating? Could he tell that I was shaking? Was he trying to make me run? To trick me into making a wrong move? I tried not to flinch when he stepped even closer. "Then what do you believe in?"
"Justice." His eyes bore into mine.
I was wrong before. Detective Torres wasn't a bad detective. Sophia Tremblay should be his number one suspect. Yet...he was here. And I was pretty sure the only thing driving him was his intuition. Which was good. Because I was so freaking guilty. "Aren't there cameras in the hospital? Someone must have seen what happened to Ben. You can rule out coincidence by just looking at the footage."
"They were switched off in that wing of the hospital for maintenance. Can you believe it?"
"Yes."
He shook his head. "But that would be a coincidence. Ensley, we just talked about this. No. No, I think someone switched those cameras off on purpose. Someone planned it perfectly. The only question is...who."
"It wasn't me."
He folded his arms across his chest. "Huh. I never even considered you. But now that you mention it…" He just stared at me.
He absolutely had been implying that it was me. Did he really think I could be part of that disappearance too? That was...ridiculous. I just stared back. "My husband is missing. I haven't been sleeping." At least half of that was true. "I'm a nervous wreck. Are you seriously going to come into my house and imply that I hurt my husband and am somehow involved with some strange guy I don't even know?"
"Hurt your husband? I never said anything about hurting anyone."
I was pretty sure he had me right where he wanted me. And I needed him to get the hell out of my house. "If you're here to arrest me, just do it. But I’m not guilty. So you'll never find any evidence to hold me. I'll be out within 24 hours and you'll be 24 hours behind on helping find my husband."
"Would that be 24 hours too late?"
I closed my eyes like his implications physically exhausted me. "I just want to find Noah. I want all of this to be over. I want my life back." All of that was true. But I wanted my old life back. The one I had before I'd ever met Noah. I wanted to be free from him. I just wasn't sure if that was possible.
"Then you won't mind me looking around your kitchen." He brushed past me in the doorway and was already heading down the stairs before I turned.
Shit. I ran after him and tried to get him to go into the dining room. Living room. Family room. Any room. I even tried to force him to go outside and play fetch with Snuggle Muffins, something I was sure Snuggle Muffins would not enjoy. But Detective Torres ignored me and went right back into the kitchen.
He was in the center of the kitchen looking around the island. It was clear to him that I was hiding something. He just had no idea it was connected to the kitchen. Not in it. He opened the drawer next to the one with weed and I swear I stopped breathing. Crap, the drugs. If I didn't do something, he'd find my weed stash and he'd have an actual reason to arrest me. Well, another reason. The whole kidnapping my husband thing was a good reason too.
I glanced at the basement door and then back at him. "Are you happy with your search now, detective? Because I think it's time for you to go."
He closed the drawer. "I think only a guilty person would ask a detective to leave her house. I thought you wanted me to look for clues?"
"I would if you didn't think I was somehow mixed up in Noah's disappearance. You're wasting time by being here."
"I'm not so sure about that." His hand landed on the handle of the weed drawer. Like he had a death wish. I could already picture him convulsing on the floor after I tased him. It would be a quick draw, straight from a black and white cowboy film. But I had a feeling he'd be faster. I didn't want a bullet in my chest. This needed to end peacefully even if it meant me begging on my knees.
"Please," I said. I thought of death. Destruction. Natural disasters. Even the horrible image I'd had this morning of Noah dead at the basement stairs. And somehow I mustered the despair to make a single tear fall down my cheek. "I don't know how to live without him."
The accusation in Detective Torres' eyes faded as quickly as my fake tears had formed. His hand fell from the handle. "Then help me understand. Tell me why you don't wear your wedding ring."
Oh. God. I glanced down at my empty ring finger. Why did I keep forgetting to put on my wretched rings? What was wrong with me? "You made it seem like he cheated on me. I thought...I thought you were going to find him with that Sophia woman. Shacking up. I've never felt so broken." I put my hand over my mouth to pretend I was seconds away from breaking down in front of him. There was nothing men hated more than feeling uncomfortable around a sobbing woman.
"It doesn't seem like that was the case, Ensley. It was definitely something more sinister. Do you have any idea why he would be following Sophia Tremblay?"
If I did I wouldn't tell you. "No. I'm sorry. But you have to believe me. I love my husband. I was blindsided by the fact that he might be cheating. But I'd never hurt him." I shook my head. "And Ben? Yes, I like to watch the local news. That doesn't mean I...what...somehow kidnapped him from the hospital? That's crazy." I'd only kidnapped Noah. Geez. "I just like being well informed of local crime." I dropped my voice to a whisper. "Especially since so many of the housewives in the area seem cray cray." I walked around the kitchen island to block his view of the basement door, Snuggle Muffins hot on my trail. I was worried that Detective Torres would see the deadbolt and start asking questions he had no business asking. Luckily Snuggle Muffins looking semi-adorable on the floor right in front of him was a decent distraction.
Detective Torres reached down and scratched behind his ear. "Well, the vultures are starting to swarm the station already. They got a whiff of this case. It will probably be on the nightly news at this rate."
"I never wanted to be on it." But I did. I really really did. It took everything in me not to jump up and down. I was going to be famous. More famous than all the other murderous women in little old Wilmington, Delaware. And I was playing Detective Torres like a fiddle. I pressed my lips together and
shook my head. "I can't believe this is happening. Maybe it's one of those murderous lunatics you mentioned that is doing this. Violet or Adeline?" Throwing my previous neighbors under the bus seemed like a pretty good idea. They were already wanted.
Detective Torres shook his head. "No. I don't think so."
"Maybe Sophia's lying."
Detective Torres shook his head.
"Maybe Noah and she actually got into a lover's quarrel that turned physical...that left him dead."
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "The last thing I need is for this to turn into a homicide. I’m still hoping he turns up." He closed the distance between us. "I'm sorry about earlier. I just...I couldn't get you not wearing your rings out of my head. And the coincidences with Ben disappearing too. I need to figure this out before I..." his voice trailed off.
"Before you what?"
"You saw the news, Ensley. My last partner ran off with a serial killer we were hunting. I let him get away. My job is on the line. I need to find Noah or I'll lose everything. This case is my last chance to prove myself."
I stared at him like I was seeing him for the first time. He looked exhausted, just like a man who was about to lose his job might look. But there was one thing that didn't line up with his story. A man about to lose his job wouldn't have just taken a mini vacation in Canada. It didn't make sense. What the hell was he really doing in Canada?
"You can be honest with me, Ensley," he said. "If your husband did hurt you, I'd believe you." He reached out and lightly touched my elbow. "You can trust me."
Oh my God. Did he seriously think the whole "you can trust me" line would work on me? If he thought my husband hurt me, I'd for sure become his number one suspect if I wasn't already. He'd let Sophia Tremblay off the hook, but I had a feeling he wouldn't let me off so easily. "Noah never hurt me." He broke me.
"Okay. Try not to watch the news tonight. At least alone. The vultures are out for blood." Detective Torres' hand slowly fell from my elbow, his fingers trailing down my forearm for a second too long.