He looks at her as if he’s completely surprised. ‘What difference does that make?’
He says it utterly without guile, as if he can’t see it at all. She can’t believe his stupidity. ‘It makes all the difference in the world,’ she exclaims. ‘It looks like you married her because you had to, not because you wanted to. Did you?’
‘Come on, Stephanie, that’s ridiculous. How can you even say that? People don’t get married any more because of an unplanned pregnancy.’
He seems to believe what he’s saying. She’s astonished. ‘Of course they do!’
‘No, they don’t. For Christ’s sake! We were in love, she got pregnant and we waited till August to get married, mostly because we didn’t have the time. We weren’t ashamed of it.’ He adds, clearly annoyed, ‘God, I can’t believe you’re so old-fashioned.’
She raises her eyebrows at him, irritated. ‘I’m not old-fashioned.’
‘It sure sounds like you are.’
She’s livid all of a sudden. Patrick is certainly innocent in the death of his wife. But … surely anyone in their position would be concerned about how it looks? Stephanie says, ‘People will think that you married Lindsey because of the pregnancy, because you felt you had to, not because you loved her.’
‘That’s not true,’ Patrick says stubbornly.
‘It doesn’t matter if it’s true,’ Stephanie says, her voice rising. ‘For Christ’s sake, can you just think about how it looks? Does Erica know?’
‘No, I don’t think so. We didn’t advertise it. When we moved to Creemore at the beginning of September we were already married. Nobody asked us when the wedding was.’ He sounds angry now too.
‘What if Erica looks up the marriage certificate?’
‘For fuck’s sake, Stephanie, she’s telling nothing but lies!’
‘It’s not all lies, is it?’ she shoots back, before she can stop herself. ‘You slept with her, you got her pregnant.’
He takes a couple of breaths before he answers, his nostrils flaring. ‘Yes, I slept with her. But I’m not a murderer,’ he says lowering his voice and looking at her, almost coldly. ‘Maybe I should ask you what you believe.’
Stephanie drops her eyes and avoids the question. She must tell him. ‘Erica was here today.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ERICA SITS ON her sofa, eating take-out Thai food from cartons on her coffee table and thinking about her conversation with Stephanie earlier that day. Erica’s annoyed. Stephanie isn’t going to pay. Patrick would have, but she won’t. And she’s the one with the money. God, Erica hates stubborn people who can’t see what’s in their own best interest.
She remembers that Stephanie told her Patrick had seen her handbag in Erica’s apartment. She leans over and hauls the black bag up onto the sofa. She’ll have to get rid of it. She’ll throw it in the river.
This is all going to take a little longer than expected and require a bit of creative thinking. In the meantime, Niall has potential, and she has her part-time job at the hospital to tide her over. She likes working in hospitals, because hospitals have doctors. And doctors have money. And, in her experience, they have big egos, work long hours and are prone to having affairs. Sometimes they even have drug problems.
The world is full of opportunity, Erica thinks, if you keep your eyes open.
Patrick is clearly shocked to hear that Stephanie has seen Erica. For a moment, he goes completely still. ‘What?’ he says.
‘She was here, waiting for me, when I got back from the park,’ Stephanie says. She doesn’t tell him that Erica was inside the house. That she probably left the door unlocked again by mistake. ‘We spoke on the porch.’
‘And you’re just telling me this now?’ he bursts out. ‘Why didn’t you call the police?’
‘You didn’t want to go to the police, remember?’ she says with heat. ‘You wanted to wait and see if she’d just go away.’
He runs a hand nervously through his hair. ‘What did she want?’
‘Money, of course. I made it clear we weren’t going to give her any.’ She adds, ‘And she wanted to talk to me. So we talked.’
Now he turns worried eyes on her. ‘Jesus, Stephanie. You shouldn’t have done that. She’s dangerous. Devious. What did she tell you?’
‘She said that the two of you were in love. That you weren’t together only a couple of times, but a lot.’ She looks up at him from the sofa, where he’s standing in front of her, careful to watch his reaction to what she says next. ‘She said you used to go to her apartment at lunchtime and make love. Afterwards, in her bed, you’d eat the lunch your wife had packed.’
She knows from the panicked look in his eyes that she’s struck a nerve. She hadn’t expected it. ‘It’s true?’ she gasps.
He shakes his head. He’s gone pale, and when he answers, his voice is strained. ‘That only happened once, I swear. The only other time we slept together was before that, and we were drunk. I put an end to it after that.’ He adds, desperately, ‘It was nothing, Stephanie. I realized how stupid I’d been. She meant nothing to me, nothing at all.’
She gives him a hard stare, less sure of things now.
‘Erica isn’t going to get anywhere with this, I promise.’
She looks back at him, utterly exhausted. How can he not see what they’re up against? How can he make that promise? How can he even say it? Maybe it’s because he knows he’s innocent. But even that is no guarantee. Innocent people get convicted of murder all the time. She feels her face begin to crumple. ‘How can you promise that it’s all going to be fine? How can you promise anything?’ she says plaintively.
‘Where is this coming from, Stephanie? Don’t you believe me?’
‘Of course I believe you, but—’
‘But what?’
‘If Erica does go to the police – they might believe her.’
Patrick is pretending to sleep, but he’s wide awake behind his closed eyes. Stephanie finally put the twins down and joined him in bed a few minutes ago. His back is turned to her, but he can tell by her breathing that she’s fast asleep. He’s been waiting, hoping that tonight she would drop off quickly.
Quietly, he gets out of bed, careful not to wake her. He pulls on his jeans and a T-shirt and creeps out of the room. Once she’s asleep, she should be out cold until the twins start to cry around 6 a.m. He’ll be back by then. With any luck, she won’t even notice he’s gone. And if she does, he’ll say he couldn’t sleep and went for a drive to clear his head.
He gathers his wallet and keys and sneaks quietly out of the house, locking the door carefully behind him. He gets into his car, backs out of the driveway, and doesn’t turn his headlights on until he’s down the street. He takes the highway to Newburgh.
Erica is awakened by the sharp sound of her apartment buzzer. She lifts her head and looks at her clock radio – it’s 2:54 in the morning. The buzzer goes again, insistently.
She throws off her covers and pads in bare feet to her door. She speaks into the intercom. ‘Who’s there?’
‘It’s me. I want to talk.’
She recognizes Patrick’s voice. Her heart begins to beat more rapidly. ‘Okay. Come in.’
She wonders fleetingly if she should be afraid of him. She is, a little, but she thinks he’s finally ready to talk business. This could work out well for both of them – maybe he’s beginning to see that.
She’s pulling on her robe when she hears his knock. She finishes tying her robe, then opens the door.
He stares at her for a moment before he brushes past her to enter the apartment. She closes the door, trying to gauge his mood. He turns around to face her.
‘What brings you here in the middle of the night?’ she asks.
‘You need to stay the hell away from my wife!’ His voice is threatening.
This is not exactly what she was hoping for. She was hoping he would realize that the death of his current wife would be in their mutual interest. Whether it’s what he would have chosen or not. But instead he’s being protective of her.
‘Why would I do that?’ she says, in an equally hostile tone. ‘She deserves to know the truth – to know what you’re capable of.’
‘Cut the bullshit!’ he thunders. Then he walks closer and lowers his voice and says venomously, ‘I’ve had just about enough of this – and just about enough of you.’
She doesn’t pull back; she pushes her face up closer to his. ‘Don’t try to tell me you didn’t have something in mind for her before I came along. You married a woman you knew would inherit a fortune. And now she has. And let’s not forget the life insurance.’ She smiles coldly at him. ‘If I hadn’t come along, how would this story have ended?’ She sees the fury in his eyes. ‘Struck a nerve, have I? Ruined all your plans?’