The Couple Next Door(33)

“No! What are you saying? That I killed her? Is that what you really think?” She looks from Rasbach to Jennings to the woman officer at the door, then back at the detective.

“Your neighbor, Cynthia, says that when you returned to the party after you fed the baby at eleven, you looked like you’d been crying and that you’d washed your face.”

Anne colors. This is a detail she’d forgotten. She had cried. She’d fed Cora in her chair in the dark at eleven with tears running down her face. Because she was depressed, because she was fat and unattractive, because Cynthia was tempting her husband in a way that she could no longer tempt him, and she felt useless and hopeless and overwhelmed. Trust Cynthia to notice—and to tell the police.

“You are under the care of a psychiatrist, you said. A Dr. Lumsden?” Rasbach sits up straight now and picks up a file from the table. Opens it and looks inside.

“I already told you about Dr. Lumsden,” Anne says, wondering what he’s looking at. “I am seeing her for mild postpartum depression, as you know. She prescribed an antidepressant that’s safe while breast-feeding. I have never thought about harming my child. I didn’t shake her or smother her or hurt her in any way. I didn’t drop her by accident either. I wasn’t that drunk. I was crying when I fed her because I was sad about being fat and unattractive, and Cynthia—who is supposed to be a friend—had been flirting with my husband all evening.” Anne draws strength from the anger she feels, remembering this. She sits up straighter and looks the detective in the eye. “Maybe you should become a little better informed about postpartum depression, Detective. Postpartum depression is not the same thing as postpartum psychosis. I am clearly not psychotic, Detective.”

“Fair enough,” Rasbach says. He pauses, puts down the file and asks, “Would you describe your marriage as a happy one?”

“Yes,” Anne says. “We have some issues, like most couples, but we work them out.”

“What kinds of issues?”

“Is this really relevant? How is this helping to find Cora?” She moves restlessly in her chair.

Detective Rasbach says, “We have every available person working on finding Cora. We are doing everything we can to find her.” Then he adds, “Maybe you can help us.”

She slumps, discouraged. “I don’t see how.”

“What sorts of issues come up in your marriage? Money? That’s a big one for most couples.”

“No,” Anne says tiredly. “We don’t fight about money. The only thing we ever fight about is my parents.”

“Your parents?”

“They don’t like one another, my parents and Marco. My parents never approved of him. They think he’s not good enough for me. But he is. He’s perfect for me. They can’t see any good in him because they don’t want to. That’s just the way they are. They never liked anyone I dated. No one was ever good enough. But they hate him because I fell in love with him and married him.”

“Surely they don’t hate him,” Rasbach says.

“It seems that way sometimes,” Anne says. She looks down at the table. “My mother doesn’t think he’s good enough for me, basically because he’s not from a wealthy family, but my father really seems to hate him. He baits him all the time. I can’t understand why.”

“They have no particular reason to dislike him?”

“No, not at all. Marco’s never done anything wrong.” She sighs unhappily. “My parents are very hard to please, and they’re very controlling. They gave us money when we were starting out, and now they think they own us.”

“They gave you money?”

“For the house.” She flushes.

“You mean, as a gift?”

She nods. “Yes, it was a wedding gift, so we could buy a house. We couldn’t afford one on our own, without help. Houses are so expensive, at least nice ones in good neighborhoods are.”

“I see.”

“I love the house,” Anne admits. “But Marco hates feeling beholden to them. He didn’t want to accept the wedding gift. He would rather have made it all on his own—he’s proud that way. He let them help us for me. He knew I wanted the house. He would have been happy to start out in a crappy little apartment. Sometimes I think I made a mistake.” She’s wringing her hands in her lap. “Maybe we should have refused their wedding gift, started out in some shabby place, like most couples. We might still be there, but we might be happier.” She starts to cry. “And now they think it’s his fault that Cora’s gone, because it was his idea to leave her at home alone. They won’t stop reminding me about it.”

Rasbach slides the tissue box on the table to within Anne’s reach. Anne takes a tissue and dabs her eyes. “And really, what can I say? I try to defend him to them, but it was his idea to leave her at home. I didn’t like it. I still can’t believe I agreed to it. I’ll never forgive myself.”

“What do you suspect happened to Cora, Anne?” Detective Rasbach asks.

She looks away from him and stares at the wall, unseeing. “I don’t know. I keep thinking about it and thinking about it. I was hoping that someone took her for ransom, because my parents are rich, but no one has been in touch with us, so . . . I don’t know, it’s hard to stay positive. That’s what Marco thought at first. But he’s losing hope, too.” She looks back at him, her face bleak. “What if she’s dead? What if our baby is already dead?” She breaks down and sobs. “What if we never find her?”