Before She Knew Him(34)

“She came here,” Mira said.

“What do you mean?”

“I never told you because it was the day I flew out to Charlotte, but she dropped by the house and asked if she could have a tour again. Look at all the rooms.”

“What did you say?”

“What do you mean what did I say? I said sure. I was excited to see her.”

“So she went through all of our rooms?”

“Don’t get mad at me. It wasn’t like I left her alone in here. We walked through the rooms together just like we did at the dinner party.”

“Did she want to see my room?”

“What, our bedroom?”

“No. My office.”

“We measured the size of your desk because she told me she was thinking of getting one. It never even occurred to me . . .”

“I know. I’m not blaming you. I’m just still freaked out. I think she’s insane, Mira. I think she’s decided I’m a murderer and now she’s out to get me. She probably planted some kind of evidence here.”

Mira frowned. “I believe you, but I just don’t get it. Why you?”

“I think she made a connection between me and Dustin Miller. He was a former student from school who got killed a couple of years ago.”

“While at Sussex?”

“No, no. Many years later. I honestly don’t know that much about it, but the case is still open. And a police officer from Cambridge came out and talked with me about it.”

“When? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you. And you were away on your trip to Charlotte. It was nothing. At least I thought it was nothing.”

“And you think that Hen sent the cop to you?”

“I know she did.” Matthew didn’t want to mention the fencing trophy, knowing that it would look strange that he’d gotten rid of it. “I don’t think it’s personal. I think it’s just . . . a problem she has. Like a compulsion. She sees murderers where there aren’t any.”

“Well, not really, Matthew. There’s a real murderer. Someone killed that singer last night.”

“Right. I guess she just latches on to someone and begins to think that person’s guilty.”

“But why was she there? I mean, she witnessed the crime. That doesn’t sound odd to you?”

Mira got up and went to the window that faced their neighbors’ house. She moved the curtain two inches to one side.

“Lights on?” Matthew asked.

“Nope.”

“What were you saying?”

Mira turned. “Maybe she had something to do with it. I mean, are they looking at her? She was there. You weren’t. Maybe she’s framing you for a crime.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why not? She thinks you’ve killed someone and gotten away with it, so she kills someone else and says she saw you do it.”

“It’s ridiculous. But if that’s what happened then the police will figure it out.”

“Can you show me that article, the one about her in college?”



That night, in bed, Matthew listened to his wife’s breathing as it slowed and began to purr a little. He thought she was finally asleep when she said, “What time do you think the police detectives will be at work in the morning?”

“I have no idea.”

“I’m calling as soon as I get up. You never know, they might get there early.”

Five minutes later, she asked, “Are you sure the door is bolted from the inside?”

“I am,” he said, “but I can check again if you’d like.”

“No, I believe you. What a bitch,” Mira said, as though they’d been in the middle of discussing their neighbor. It was not a word Matthew had ever heard his wife use.

“Let’s not totally jump to conclusions, either. Maybe it’s just a big misunderstanding. Maybe she really did think she saw me there.”

“I’d think that, too, but that article. What she did to that girl in college.”

“I know,” Matthew said. And now she’s wrecked everything. I had two lives before I met Henrietta Mazur, both of them simple, with their own comforts and rewards. And from out of nowhere she’s come along and turned those two lives into one. One complicated mess of a life. I never thought I’d lie in bed and listen to Mira talk about murders, but here I am. I want to call Hen a bitch as well, but that is what my father would’ve called her. She’s not a bitch, but she is too smart for her own good. I feel like I’m on a small boat in the middle of a huge storm. I need to ride the waves and wait for it all to blow over.

Before she finally fell asleep, Mira said, “I love you, Bear,” a name she hadn’t used for at least a year. He immediately curled up next to her, making himself small, moving his leg across her thighs.

“Love you, too,” he said, burrowing his face into her neck.

“Shh,” she said as he tried to squeeze closer to her, as though he were freezing and she was his only source of warmth. “Shh, it’s going to be all right.”

“You promise?” he said, his voice whispery.

“I promise, Bear, I promise.”