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‘There wasn’t much of an investigation at the time,’ Patrick admits. ‘They took her body away for an autopsy. The sheriff asked me to come down to answer a few questions. I went in his car. I was a mess. I don’t think I was making much sense.’
He rubs his face with both hands. ‘At the Sheriff’s Office, they asked me what happened. They were trying to comfort me, telling me that these kinds of accidents happen, that every year something like this happens somewhere.’
‘Are you saying there was no investigation at all?’ Stephanie asks.
He looks at her sharply, a bit taken aback at her tone. ‘They obviously believed it was an accident. They did the autopsy very quickly – that afternoon, I think – and it showed that she had died from carbon monoxide poisoning. So why would they do anything else?’
He doesn’t like the way she’s looking at him, as if he’s to blame for there not being a more thorough investigation. It seems to him that the fact that they’d ruled it an accident so quickly is in his favour.
‘They never talked to anyone else?’
He frowns, shaking his head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘It isn’t good that they weren’t thorough,’ she says now, clearly uneasy.
‘Yeah, well, I disagree. Obviously they thought there was nothing to investigate.’
‘But if Erica—’
‘Fucking Erica!’ It comes out explosively. The babies startle in their swings. He tries to calm down. ‘She’s a greedy bitch. There was never any question until Erica came along. She should mind her own fucking business.’ He looks at Stephanie, at her pale, anxious face. He takes a deep breath and tries to keep his anger in check. ‘The lawyer’s going to find out if she had a baby. Apparently the sheriff can investigate, if he wants to. And the coroner can also decide to call an inquest, call witnesses – even after all this time.’ He clenches his jaw and looks at his wife nervously. ‘The lawyer warned me that if there’s a new sheriff, or a new coroner, that might be more likely. And it has been a long time.’
‘Oh my God,’ Stephanie whispers.
‘She might get them to take another look, Stephanie, and I think we need to be prepared for that. But what you have to believe is that there’s nothing to what she’s saying. I slept with her a couple of times. That’s it.’
She looks back at him, nodding automatically, as if not even aware she’s doing it. She seems almost to be in a trance.
‘There’s one other thing you should know,’ he says. ‘It’s not important but I’m sure it will come up.’
‘What?’ Stephanie asks.
He sees her clenching her hands on her knees as if she’s bracing herself for more bad news. ‘There was a life insurance policy on Lindsey. We were both insured, because we were going to have a baby. It was the responsible thing to do.’
‘Okay.’
‘Erica’s trying to make a big deal out of it. Saying I stood to gain financially from the death of my wife.’
‘When did she say that? You never mentioned this before.’
He realizes he has made a misstep, and curses inwardly. ‘I – I forgot to mention it.’
Stephanie looks back at him, saying nothing for a moment. Then she asks, ‘Did the police – the sheriff or whatever – know about the insurance?’
He shakes his head. ‘No, I don’t think so. It never came up at the time. They never asked and I – I didn’t even think of it. My wife was dead. I was in shock.’ After a moment he adds, ‘But I don’t think it’s something we really need to worry about. It’s perfectly legitimate to have life insurance once you have a family. I mean – it’s stupid not to.’
CHAPTER TWENTY
THE NEXT MORNING, after a particularly difficult night with the twins, Stephanie is completely drained, moving like a zombie around the kitchen. She finds herself reaching to put the milk into the cupboard instead of the fridge and shakes her head at herself. She has to get more sleep. She can barely function. And emotionally, she’s a wreck. Even when she does finally get to bed, she’s sleeping badly, a bundle of nerves.
She kisses her husband goodbye when he leaves for work, the same as she always does. But this morning she turns her eyes away – because she’s keeping a secret from him. In a little while, she’s going to put the babies in the car and drive to the bank and try to find out what’s in the safety deposit box.
Whatever he’s keeping from her, she must know what it is. She will find out, and she will confront him. Tonight.
She gets the twins ready. She checks that the double buggy is in the boot, puts the twins in the playpen, dressed and ready to go, and then goes upstairs to the office. She kneels down, pulls open the drawer and reaches in for the hidden key. Once she has it in hand, it suddenly occurs to her that Patrick might not have the safety deposit box at their bank. If he wanted to keep it from her, he would probably choose a different bank.
She makes her way back downstairs. The babies start to fuss, but she ignores them.
She calls the bank from the kitchen phone, a finger over one ear to muffle the sound of the babies’ crying. When she’s put through, she asks to speak to the manager.
‘Yes, what can I do for you today?’ the manager asks.
‘I’ve been trying to reach my husband to ask him, but he’s in meetings all day. Can you tell me, has he been in to our safety deposit box yet this morning? He was supposed to get me some documents. His name is Patrick Kilgour.’
‘Hang on a sec.’
Stephanie waits at the end of the line, her heart pounding.
She hears the manager come back on the line, sounding puzzled. ‘I’m sorry, we don’t have a safety deposit box here for a Patrick Kilgour. Maybe it’s at another bank?’
‘Oh, of course,’ she says. ‘My mistake. Sorry to bother you.’ She quickly hangs up the phone. She stands in the kitchen, the babies wailing now from the living room, her hand still on the phone, trying to breathe.
When Patrick arrives at the office, Niall says he needs to speak to him. Patrick’s anxiety spikes. What if Niall knows what’s going on? What might Erica have told him? He’s still hoping that somehow he can make Erica go away. But if Erica’s already told Niall …
‘Come into my office,’ Niall says, his quiet voice relaying concern.
Patrick enters the other man’s office, slumps, exhausted and uptight, into a chair.
‘How are things going at home?’ Niall begins.
Patrick feels a slow spreading of relief. Maybe this isn’t about Erica, then. Maybe this will just be the same old conversation. At that, he feels a stab of annoyance. Niall already knows how things are at home. They’re bloody difficult with the twins, and so little sleep. He takes a deep breath. ‘No better,’ he admits. ‘If the twins don’t get over the colic soon, I think we’re both going to lose our minds.’
Niall purses his lips tightly. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says simply. Then he says, ‘I’ve been looking at the cost overruns on the Melnyk project.’
‘I know. I’m doing my best,’ Patrick says defensively.
Niall studies the top of his desk and says, ‘Kerri tells me that you cancelled an appointment yesterday.’
Now he feels anger wash over him. Is there anything Kerri doesn’t tell Niall? Did she have to mention it? Does she have no loyalty to him?
‘I didn’t cancel. I asked her to reschedule.’
Niall looks up from his desk and meets his eyes. ‘Why?’
‘Because I didn’t feel up to it,’ he says bluntly. ‘I didn’t feel properly prepared. I thought it was better to appear too busy and have to reschedule than do it unprepared.’
‘So why weren’t you prepared?’ Niall asks, raising his voice. ‘You’re always prepared – at least you used to be. What the hell is going on?’
Patrick begins to breathe a little easier. Niall doesn’t know – not yet, anyway. Erica’s keeping her mouth shut so far. ‘Nothing’s going on. I’m sleep-deprived, I told you. Sleep deprivation can really mess you up. They use it as a method of torture – didn’t you know?’
Niall looks back at him and narrows his eyes. ‘That’s not it, Patrick, so don’t try to bullshit me. Something’s going on, and I want to know what it is.’
Patrick tilts his head back and decides to bluster his way through. ‘Why wouldn’t you believe me, Niall? When have I ever been less than completely honest with you?’
Now Niall shrugs. ‘I know. You’ve been a good business partner and a good friend. I’ve always trusted you. It’s just – I’m worried, Patrick. You seem – off lately, as if something is bothering you. I wondered if maybe you were having marital problems, if that’s what’s been distracting you.’ He leans in slightly, and says, ‘You can tell me, you know.’
‘Maybe I should ask you how things are at home,’ Patrick says, with an edge to his voice.
‘Why would you say that?’ Niall responds quickly.
But Patrick doesn’t want to push it; he doesn’t want to let Niall know he knows about him and Erica. Doesn’t want to let him know he has a history with Erica himself. Better let sleeping dogs lie.
‘To see how you like it,’ he says. Then he shakes his head, gives a tight smile. ‘Forget it. I have a short fuse these days. Everything is fine. I just need to get some sleep.’ He gets up. ‘I’ll take another look at how to offset some of those costs on the Melnyk project.’
