The Housewife(63)

“When?” Bates asks.

“Day before yesterday, late afternoon.”

“But then, you wrote in this text—”

“I just told you, I didn’t send any texts! You can check my phone!”

“Yes, thank you. We’d like to take a look at your phone. Did you go to Ms. Greenwood’s residence after you spoke to her on the phone?”

“No.” Silence. It goes on for a full minute. “I fell asleep,” he says softly.

“What do you mean?”

“I was supposed to meet her at her house around ten that night, but I fell asleep reading a book and I didn’t wake up until the following morning.”

The sound of pages turning.

“So you didn’t go to Ms. Greenwood’s residence.”

“No.”

“Can anyone confirm you were here, asleep?”

“My wife can.”

“She was with you?”

“She was upstairs, in bed. I mean, she would have been asleep herself, but she found me here the next morning in my office. I’d only just woken up.”

“So technically, you could have left and returned.”

“Yes, but I didn’t.” A pause. Then he says, “Are you saying someone was there at her house when she died?”

“We’re looking into it.”

“Who was there? Do you know? Was it David?”

“I’m not at liberty to say, only that the neighbors reported hearing shouts.”

“Oh God.”

“Why were you planning to meet Ms. Greenwood at her residence the night before last?”

“She’d called me. She wanted to talk.”

“What about?”

“She didn’t say, but she was insistent. She said it was important, but she wanted to say it in person. And…”

“Yes?”

“She told me she’d missed me. Terribly. ”

“Missed you?”

Roy sighs audibly. “We used to be in a relationship for a few weeks. Before I met Jodie.”

Liar, I think. It was so much more than a few weeks.

“I see. So what did you say when Ms. Greenwood told you she missed you?”

In a soft voice, he says, “That I missed her too.”

“But you were not in a relationship with her.”

“No.”

“Did you want to have a relationship with Ms. Greenwood?”

He doesn’t reply for a long time. Finally, he says, “Yes.”

I’m trying really hard not to look at Marie. I don’t want to see her smirking, gleeful face, but I can’t help it and steal a glance. Her face is like a mask. She meets my gaze, but there’s no emotion on it.

“So you wanted to rekindle your relationship,” Bates says.

“Yes, maybe, I don’t know.”

“Even though you’re still married,” Bates says.

Roy doesn’t reply.

“Did she want to rekindle the relationship?” Marcos says.

“Yes! I think so. She said she missed me and—” He stops abruptly. “Do you suspect me of having something to do with what happened to Veronica?”

“We’re looking at every possibility at this point.”

“Then I think I’d like a lawyer present.”

“Certainly. Then we’d like to resume the conversation at your earliest convenience. Would tomorrow morning suit you? Here. This is my card. ”

The scraping of chairs. Marie and I move away from the door in unison. I’m about to run off but she grabs my arm.

She opens her hand, and I look down at the small black square in her palm. My breath catches. It’s the thumb drive.

She brings her mouth close to my ear. “I watched it.”





39





I stand at the top of the stairs and watch Roy escort the police out the front door. They exchange words too softly for me to hear, then Roy closes the door.

When he returns, he stops and looks up at me.

“They want me to come in tomorrow for a formal interview.” His cheeks are hollow, his eyes sunken. It’s amazing how much he’s aged in such a short amount of time.

“Did they say why?”

He rakes his fingers through his hair. “They have questions. I think…”

“What about?”

“I don’t know.” He drags his hands down his face. “They think I’m involved somehow.”

That night, after he is asleep, I shrug on my robe, tiptoe out of the room and up the stairs. All evening, Marie and I have assiduously avoided each other, but there’s a strange bond between us now. She’s seen the worst of Roy. She’s seen firsthand how he treated Deborah.

She’s on my side. I can feel it.

There’s a light under her door. I knock softly. She opens immediately, like she’s been waiting for me. She’s wearing jeans and a loose black T-shirt. I’ve never seen her in casual clothes before. Her hair is down around her shoulders and longer than I realized. She looks prettier, softer.

She pulls me in and closes the door. “I found it when I was vacuuming. I figured it’s what you were looking for, and you were so panicked about it…”