My Wife Is Missing(69)
“We will, Mike,” Kennett said assuredly. “I’ve got confidence. Natalie’s been pretty slippery, I’ll give her that much, but the sun doesn’t shine on the same dog’s butt every day.”
Michael came to a hard stop, a quizzical look on his face. “What the hell does that mean?” he asked. “Is that cop talk or something?”
Kennett sent Michael a crooked smile, staring him hard in the eyes.
“It’s a Southern expression, Mike,” Kennett said, his voice carrying a hint of menace. “I had an aunt who lived outside of Atlanta, I’d go there most summers. It’s a pretty common phrase down there. It means sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I’d think a Southern boy like yourself would know that, but I guess you’ve moved around a lot. Right, Mike?”
Kennett patted Michael on his shoulder in a patronizing gesture.
Holy shit, thought Michael, a burning in his belly. He knows. Kennett knows.
And with that, the game got a whole lot more dangerous.
CHAPTER 30
NATALIE
BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED
Natalie, Tina, and Sarah Fielding gathered at La Hacienda. It was good for Natalie to get out of the office. She was having a hard time focusing at work—a hard time doing much of anything, really, including being at home. Michael had been acting like all was normal, which made everything he did feel even more sinister. His every action, from taking out the trash to doing the dishes, seemed layered with menace. He’d smile at her, kiss her on the cheek, on the mouth, and she’d see a knife in his hands; could almost feel him plunging the blade into her body instead of Audrey’s.
* * *
“What’s wrong, babe?” Michael asked one evening after dinner. According to him, she was being cool and distant again.
“Nothing. I’m fine,” said Natalie, sounding anything but.
“Yeah?” Michael’s eyebrows rose. “The kids are asleep. Why don’t we head upstairs and you can show me just how fine you really are?”
Natalie pulled away from his pleading touch.
“Not tonight,” she said, turning her head.
Michael grunted in disgust.
“You know, we don’t have much of a marriage anymore,” Michael said. “I’m trying here, I really am. I want to blame all our problems on your sleep troubles—your irritability, your distance and forgetfulness, the lack of sex or touch of any kind, but you know what? This is destroying both of us. We may live in the same house and parent the same kids, but there’s nothing between us anymore. This isn’t what I signed up for.”
“Yeah, well, maybe if you weren’t getting your needs met elsewhere I’d be a little warmer.”
Natalie delivered her assessment with cool indifference.
“You just won’t let it go, will you?” Michael seethed. “Maybe I should go and do just that so you can be right about me for once.”
“Please have the decency to divorce me first before you do.” Natalie tried to leave the room, but Michael lunged, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back toward him with force. He put his face close to hers. She felt an anxious flutter in her chest.
“I’m not going to blow up my life over your damn delusions about me,” he said. “Honestly, I’m worried you are not in your right mind. Let me ask you, Nat, where’d you really go that night Scarlett came back here? Maybe you were getting something somewhere else. Got a receipt for the peanut butter you bought? Oh, I bet you paid cash.”
“What are you getting at?”
“What I’m getting at, Natalie, is that it doesn’t feel good to be the object of scorn and innuendo. This is my family too, and I’m going to keep it together no matter what. So don’t try to leave me. It won’t work out well for you. I’m not the one who can’t sleep, who’s seeing things, acting irrationally. A judge might not look on that too favorably.”
Natalie felt a sputter of fear. She had heard him loud and clear. He hadn’t made a demand of her. No, he had made a threat.
Natalie spent the night on the trundle bed in her daughter’s bedroom. The next morning, Michael gave her a tender kiss on her cheek on his way out the door.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said with sincerity. “I know it’s been a lot on you … our marital stress, the sleep troubles, all that. But believe me, I’m on your side, not in your way. We’re a team, and we need to stay a team for the sake of our kids, for all we’ve built together, my love for you … we need to ride this out and find a way to come back together.”
Natalie heard a different message: keep quiet, soldier on, and this too shall pass.
Dead Audrey flashed in her mind. Both she and Michael had motive, method, and opportunity.
Michael was sending her a second message, she realized: they were in it together now.
“I love you, Natalie,” he said, looking her in the eyes. She felt his words, his love, and wanted to cry.
* * *
The La Hacienda waitress took their food and drink orders. Unfortunately, Natalie’s order didn’t include a margarita this time, because Sarah had warned her that she’d want to be clearheaded for what she was about to hear.