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“Right. Now I need to go.”
“That’s not happening.” With the window opened, Elisa rested her hands on the frame and leaned in a bit closer. “Explain.”
“You don’t have the right—”
“I’ve seen you outside of my husband’s office. At Josh’s office. My son’s school and the place where I get coffee. Unless you want me to file stalking charges, Meredith Grange, license plate number K51 588K, you will tell me what you’re talking about.” Elisa was done. Through the bouts of anxiety and shame, frustration and fear, she emerged, maybe only for a second or two, but she’d had enough.
Meredith sighed. “My office is near Josh’s. It’s not odd to find me there.”
“Tell me more about the girlfriend part.” Elisa had lots of questions. Too many. “For how long?”
“About eighteen months.”
Eighteen... what the hell?“What?”
Meredith glanced around, not making eye contact with any of the other people openly gawking now. “I need to go.”
Elisa’s fingers tightened on the door. “Absolutely not.”
She was in it now. She didn’t want to be the mom who bribed her son not to tell his father things, and Nathan would tell. He was a good-natured kid who loved to talk. He would share and share until Harris’s head exploded.
Meredith’s hands slid off the steering wheel. “We started seeing each other when he was with Abby.”
“You had an affair.” The clearer they were about timing and other details, the less chance for Josh to wiggle out of this.
“It was casual at first but became more. Then when Abby left I thought...” Meredith shook her head but didn’t continue.
She really didn’t have to. Elisa was pretty sure she knew what Meredith thought, but she asked anyway. Again, clarity was key on this subject. “What?”
“At first I was upset he started dating this Rachel woman, but now I don’t know what to think.”
Okay, that’s not quite the answer Elisa expected. “I don’t understand.”
Meredith turned her head and stared right at Elisa. “Where is Abby?”
The question Elisa asked herself about a thousand times a day. “I don’t know. Do you?”
“That’s the point. He complained about her and wanted out of the engagement, then she was gone and...” Meredith straightened her arms, almost bracing her body as she sat straight in her seat. “I thought we’d be together. I thought a lot of things, so I guess I just need to know she’s okay.”
That made two of them. “But why follow me?”
“I’ve been watching you and your husband. Following Josh and this new woman.”
That sounded scary. “Stalking us.”
“I’m trying to get answers. Put all the details together. Watch all of you, hoping what happened will make sense.” Her gaze dropped to the steering wheel. “See, I pushed Josh. Gave him an ultimatum. I told him to...”
Oh, God. Not what Elisa wanted to hear, but what she needed to hear. This was the kind of information she could take with her to the police and beg them to open the case again. “What?”
Meredith shook her head. “I need to know he didn’t follow through and do anything to Abby.”
The sordid story started forming in Elisa’s mind. The police would need details. “Like what?”
Meredith started the car again. “I’m going to leave now.”
No, no, no. For the first time in weeks she had to be close to a breakthrough. She’d come this far and now someone else was expressing doubts about the official story regarding Abby’s disappearance. Someone who knew Josh and his lies on an intimate level.
She turned the record function of her phone on. “Did Josh specifically say he was going to do something to Abby?”
