Page 211 of The Professor's Wife

“Any reason you’ve got so many cameras?” Sloan asked after we’d wrapped up and were walking him out.

“I have money in the house,” Oliver replied easily. “I also have cleaners who come around, and the cameras make my wife feel safe.”

Then Oliver stopped and stared at the detective for one long moment.

“Why do you ask, Detective?”

Sloan had been smiling, but it began to fade beneath the sudden tension Oliver was exuding. “Cameras are a good thing, Mr. Black. If more people had them, we might be able to solve more crimes around here. I agree with the safety aspect of it, as well. It’s a big house, and the downtown area isn’t always pleasant.”

Sloan looked back at me, and his smile stretched again. He was charming, his eyes glowing when he said, “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Black.”

“They’re turned on when I’m out of the house,” Oliver said, that bite still present in his tone. “She doesn’t need protection when I’m here with her.”

Sloan looked back at Oliver, his brows drawing together in thought. “I’m sure you do a good job of that, too. Any footage of the day in question, by the way?”

When Oliver didn’t answer straightaway, Sloan added, “Just out of curiosity. It’s not necessary in the meantime.”

Oliver’s mask nearly slipped.

I saw the void in his eyes. That empty, demonic look buried only a layer beneath his skin.

Then he smiled brilliantly.

“Nothing in the last several weeks. I’ve been having trouble with the Wi-Fi ever since I changed providers. The cameras run, but they don’t record.”

Sloan nodded before pointedly saying, “Better get them fixed so you don’t have to worry about your money and your cleaners and…your wife.”

I hid my smile, aware that I wasn’t the only person who had noticed I appeared to be far down Oliver’s list of priorities.

Ironically, it was the opposite.

This was a man who didn’t make me safe when he was around. We certainly didn’t have cleaners, and he didn’t keep cash in the house because, even though he had made it abundantly clear he would find me and kill me if I ever left him, he was evidently still paranoid that I’d steal some and flee.

He wasn’t wrong.

Anyway, Sloan left, and we hadn’t heard from him since.

I had hoped we would. That Sloan had sensed the evil he was standing in the midst of.

Over the following days, Oliver said the police had set their sights on an ex-boyfriend of Lucy’s. Apparently, they had fought publicly, and it had been ugly.

The story made me second-guess Oliver’s involvement.

I didn’t know a single thing about her disappearance beyond what he told me. I was locked out of the internet and had no phone. Oliver was the only direct line between me and the outside world.

Louise didn’t count because I had always known he might be listening to every word.

Except…

He hadn’t reacted to our conversation in the kitchen.

Either he hadn’t heard it, or he was waiting.

Still, I had begun to suspect that he really had switched off the camera recordings. He wouldn’t want evidence of himself coming and going at all hours, which he continued to do from time to time.

It didn’t mean he wasn’t keeping an eye on me, though. I still had to be careful, and I was.

I had nothing better to do with my time, but he wasn’t solely focused on me anymore.