Since She Went Away(112)

Reece saw the beer cans on the coffee table, and he raised his eyebrows. He was probably a few years younger than me, and his hair was thinning. He wore it cropped close to his head, and his suit coat looked too small for him.

“It’s recycling day,” I said.

“Think green, right?”

“Exactly,” I said.

He pointed at Riley. “Does the dog bite?”

“Only his food,” I said, trying to keep the mood light.

But Reece wasn’t smiling. He looked around the room, taking it all in. The TV still played with the sound down, showing highlights of a hockey game from the night before. There were dirty dishes in my sink, discarded gym clothes on the floor. I needed to pick up, and I would have if I’d only known the police were going to show up.

“Have you seen your ex-wife lately?” Reece asked.

“Not in six weeks,” I said. “Not since . . . that night you and I met.”

“The night of the late unpleasantness,” Reece said.

“I wasn’t stalking her.”

Reece turned to one of the uniformed officers. “He says he wasn’t stalking her. The ex-wife says he was. Who would you believe?”

The young uniformed cop didn’t answer. He wasn’t supposed to.

“I was trying to see Andrew,” I said. “I told you that then.”

“This is the ex-wife’s son from a previous relationship,” Reece said to the cop again. He stopped looking around and turned to face me. The two uniformed officers stayed near the front door, serving as Reece’s audience. “Kid’s not even his son.”

“Gina and I were married for five years, and Andrew and I became close, and I just want to see him from time to time. It’s not unusual. I just wanted to see the kid.”

“But she didn’t want you there, and you showed up anyway. You’ve been divorced almost two years. Maybe you need to move on.” He turned to the uniformed cops again. “What do you guys think? Is it time to move on?”

“Is that what this is about?” I asked. “Is Gina pressing charges? That was six weeks ago. I thought it was over.”

Reece gestured toward the cluttered dining room table. “Why don’t we sit down and talk, Mr. Hansen?” He waited for me to move, and when I didn’t, he spoke again. “Please?”

He was acting like we were in his apartment and I was the guest. He’d reversed the situation and taken over my turf. I couldn’t say anything to stop him, so I sat down. Reece took the seat across from me, and after he did, he reached out with his hand and brushed some old crumbs off the table and onto the floor. Then he took out his phone and started scrolling through it. I waited. For all I knew, he was checking his Twitter feed or looking up movie times.

“Can I ask—”

“Where were you last night, Mr. Hansen?” Reece asked.

I looked over at the beer cans on the coffee table, the deep indentation in the couch where I’d slept without a pillow or a blanket.

“I was here,” I said.

“All night?”

“All night.”

“Were you alone?” he asked.

“Yes. I live alone. I work a lot. I’m single.” Then I glanced at the dog. “Riley was here.”

“What time did you get home from work?” Reece asked.

“About five thirty. I stopped at the grocery store first.”

Reece nodded. He peeked at his phone, tapped it a few times, and then looked back up at me. “I’m going to show you a photograph of someone. I want you to tell me if you know this person, and if you do know them, I want you to tell me how you know them.”

“Okay.”

He turned the phone around so that I could see the photo. I should have guessed who it was going to be before he even handed it to me.

It was a photo of the girl from the grocery store.