The Couple Next Door(59)

“What do you mean?” Marco says. His voice is strangely cold.

She looks at him, her eyes pleading. “It isn’t that I forgot because of the wine. I’ve never told you, but when I was younger, I was ill. I thought I was past it when I met you.”

“Ill how?” Marco says, startled.

She’s crying now. “It’s like I just check out for a bit. Then, when I come back, I don’t remember anything.”

He looks at her, astonished. “And you never bothered to tell me?”

“I’m sorry! I should have told you. I thought . . .” She doesn’t finish her sentence. “I lied to the police about the onesie. I don’t remember changing her. I just assumed I did it, but I don’t actually remember any of it. My mind is . . . blank.” She is becoming hysterical.

“Shhhh. . . .” Marco says. “Anne, she was fine. I’m positive.”

“Because the police think I hurt her. They think I might have killed her, smothered her with a pillow or strangled her, and that you took her away to protect me!”

“That’s ridiculous!” Marco says, angry now with the police for suggesting such things to her. They all know that he’s the one they’re after—why do they need to push her to the brink of a breakdown?

“Is it?” Anne asks, looking at him wildly. “I hit her. I was angry, and I hit her.”

“What? When? When did you hit her?”

“When I fed her, at eleven o’clock. She was fussy. I . . . I kind of snapped. Sometimes . . . I would lose control . . . and slap her, when she wouldn’t stop crying. When you were at work and she wouldn’t stop crying.”

Marco looks at her, appalled. “No, Anne, I’m sure you didn’t,” he says, hoping what she’s told him isn’t true. This is disturbing, as disturbing as her confession about having some kind of illness that makes her not know what she’s doing.

“But I don’t know, you see?” Anne cries. “I can’t remember! I might have hurt her. Are you covering up for me, Marco? Tell me the truth!”

He takes her face between his hands and holds her still. “Anne, she was fine. She was alive and breathing at twelve thirty. This is not your fault. None of this is your fault.” He takes her into his arms as she breaks down weeping.

He thinks, This is all my fault.





TWENTY-SEVEN


After Anne finally falls into a restless sleep, Marco lies awake in bed beside her for a long time, trying to figure it all out. He wishes he could discuss the entire mess with her. He misses how they used to talk, about everything, all their plans. But he can’t talk to her about anything now. When he does sleep, his dreams are terrifying; he wakes at four in the morning with a start, his heart pounding and sweating all over, the sheets soaked.

This is what he knows: Richard is negotiating with the kidnappers. He and Alice are going to pay whatever it takes to get Cora back. Marco has to hope and pray that Richard will be successful where he was not. Richard has Derek’s cell phone, and he was expecting it to be Marco on the other end. Richard—and Alice—know Marco was colluding with Derek, that he kidnapped his own child for money. Marco’s first thought, that Richard had killed Derek and taken his phone, now seems absurd. How could Richard possibly have known about Derek? Was Richard capable of bashing in another man’s head? Marco doesn’t think so, even though he hates the bastard.

If it’s true that the kidnappers sent Richard the phone, that’s good. That means the police don’t know about it—not yet anyway. But Richard threatened him. What had he said, exactly? Marco can’t remember. He must talk to Richard and persuade him not to tell the police—or Anne—about Marco’s role in the kidnapping. How will he manage that? He’ll have to convince them that Anne couldn’t withstand the shock, that exposing Marco as being involved in Cora’s disappearance would utterly destroy her.

Anne’s parents would hold it against him forever, but at least maybe he and Anne and Cora could be a family again. If they got their baby back, Anne would be happy. He could start over, work his ass off to provide for them. Maybe Richard doesn’t actually want to expose him. It would embarrass them socially, hurt his reputation in the business community. Maybe all Richard wants is to have dirty secrets to hold over Marco for the rest of his life. That would be just like Richard. Marco starts to breathe a little easier.

He has to get rid of the phone. What if Anne hits REDIAL and gets her father? Then he remembers she doesn’t know the pattern to open it. Still, he must get rid of it. It ties him to Cora’s disappearance. He can’t have the police getting their hands on it.

There’s still the problem of Cynthia and her video. He has no idea what to do about that. She’ll keep quiet in the short term, as long as he can convince her he’ll be able to get her the money she wants.

Jesus, what a mess.

Marco gets up in the dark and moves quietly around the carpeted bedroom, careful not to wake his wife. He dresses quickly, pulling on the same jeans and T-shirt he wore the day before. He then goes down the hall to the office and removes the phone from the desk drawer where he put it last night. He turns it on and checks it one final time. Nothing. There’s no need to keep the phone. If he needs to talk to Richard, he’ll do it directly. The phone is the only physical evidence, besides Cynthia’s video, that there is against him.