My Wife Is Missing(103)
“You’re not the only person from Michael’s past he didn’t recognize,” Natalie said with conviction. “He and Audrey were having an affair. I don’t think he recognized her as Brianna’s sister, or maybe she didn’t recognize him—that Michael was really Joseph. Either way it’s pretty twisted.”
Kennett’s expression remained impassive.
“Yeah, we had our suspicions about their relationship, but nothing concrete,” he said in a low voice. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t know who he was. She was so young back then, and people do change a lot in twenty-five years.”
“But you ID’d my husband right away,” said Natalie.
“I was older than Audrey, that’s all. And truth be told, if it wasn’t such a high-profile case, and if the case hadn’t continued to haunt me, he might have been lost to me under the avalanche of scumbags that I’ve dealt with over the years.
“I guess you should know that while we were on the road together, Michael told me that he’d had an affair—an ‘indiscretion,’ he called it. Gotta say, I didn’t imagine it was with his victim’s sister.”
“So you knew about Audrey, and figured her murder was somehow connected to my running away from Michael? Is that what made you go looking for me, Detective?” Natalie asked.
“Pretty much. Audrey’s murder wasn’t high profile, but I caught wind of it from colleagues who had worked Brianna’s case back then,” Kennett said. “Obviously I didn’t know about you and Michael, not until he turned up at the hotel and I found out you two didn’t live far from Audrey. So yeah, you’re right. I got it in my head that he was involved in her death, and I came up with the idea of playing good cop to get him. I surprised Mike with a visit to your house, where I offered him my services to help him find you. When people let you in, that’s usually when the secrets spill out. Didn’t quite work out as I planned, so I improvised, came up with a new approach while we were on the road together.”
“My arrest,” said Natalie.
“Your fake arrest,” Kennett corrected her.
“You did a good job finding me. From what I gather you were already headed to Kate’s farm when she called.”
“Actually it was Michael who did most of the detective work. Hard as it may be for you to believe, I have a real sense from my time with him that he truly loves you. He’s full of regrets, but he’s also full of shit. He’s a killer, cold-blooded and cruel. So tell me, Natalie, why do you think your husband and Audrey were involved?”
“Not think—I know,” Natalie answered bitterly.
She then launched into her story about hearing a crying woman at work—how she’d invited Audrey to lunch, hoping to hatch a plan to catch her husband cheating, only to find out that the woman across from her was already sleeping with Michael.
“She tells me her lover’s name is Chris, which is Michael’s middle name, or the one he gave himself anyway, and that was just the start. There were all these arrows pointing to Michael as Audrey’s lover. He fit the description she gave, same number of kids, same gym, same nervous habit.”
She mentioned seeing Michael’s car during a rendezvous with Audrey in the McDonald’s parking lot, but left out the part about how she’d fallen asleep, along with her many hallucinations. She didn’t need Kennett doubting her, nor did she want to incriminate herself—which is why she neglected to mention her own crime. While it wasn’t murder, breaking and entering into Audrey’s home and taking those items was still against the law. Since her children were down to one parent, and the police had ample evidence against Michael, Natalie opted not to mention finding Michael’s shirt and gym locker key in Audrey’s apartment.
“I all but accused Audrey of sleeping with Michael, and she got visibly upset when I showed her his picture. He had basically the same reaction when I showed him hers,” Natalie remarked.
“All this came on the heels of my receiving an anonymous note from someone at work informing me—out of the goodness of their heart, bless them—that Michael was involved with a woman at our gym. Later I found a second note shuffled in a pile of papers in my desk drawer. I have no idea how long it was there. It got mixed in with some files I hadn’t looked at in a while. To me, it’s a note from the grave. I’m certain it was Audrey who left it. Guess all my accusations got her conscience going, but she never had the chance to come clean to me in person. Michael didn’t give her one.”
“Do you still have the note?”
“Yes, it’s at my house.”
Also at her house was the plastic bag containing Michael’s shirt and gym locker key. Eventually, Natalie would clean out the locker. Should she find something of consequence, of course she’d inform Kennett straightaway, and make up a story as to where she found the key. For now, less was more.
“I’d like to see that note if I may,” Kennett requested.
“Well, I’d like to go home,” Natalie replied curtly. “So what’s the favor, Detective? What is it you want me to do?”
A slight frown darkened Kennett’s expression in a clear warning that his ask wouldn’t be easy.
“At first I wanted you to wear a wire and get a confession from Michael on tape for us, but Massachusetts has a two-party consent law that pretty much makes that plan a no-go unless Michael was also involved in organized crime.”