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“That’s Rachel,” Josh said.
Without a welcome, the door opened and Rachel peeked in. She came inside, carrying a bakery box, and pivoted around them to place it on the kitchen counter. “Oh, good. Are you telling Josh about what happened at the storage unit?”
Forget bolt locks. They needed an alarm system. Maybe that way people would stop waltzing in and out of her house, though Elisa doubted it.
“Storage?” Harris asked. “I feel like I’ve missed something.”
“Hello, by the way.” Rachel came and kissed Josh before facing the rest of the group. “Elisa and I went to the storage place, but it was empty. And there was this weird thing with the storage unit being in her name instead of Josh’s, as she expected.” She nodded over her shoulder. “That’s double-crust apple pie. Josh said it’s Harris’s favorite.”
“You should see your expression. What’s wrong?” Josh asked Harris.
Harris shook his head. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Elisa took responsibility for that. They’d been talkingabout Meredith. Now they were talking about the storage unit. Neither issue was resolved or even fleshed out. Elisa didn’t blame him for being confused. Hell, she was confused.
She also didn’t know if she should mention Meredith and the affair in front of Rachel. She might get furious, and had every right to, but Nathan could overhear. That scenario invited nightmares and questions... Elisa didn’t want any part of that. Plus, she had to admit the fooling around might not be her business. It was up to Josh to figure out when to stop lying and disclose the affair. Now, in her house, wasn’t the right time.
“We should concentrate on food,” Elisa said, hoping to change the subject to literally anything else.
Josh shook his head. “Let’s clear up this issue first. I put the stuff Abby left behind in storage then switched the unit to Elisa’s name when I gave her the key.”
“Oh, okay.” Rachel slid her arm through Josh’s and tugged him into her side. “That makes sense.”
It really didn’t. Not to Elisa. The timing was all wrong. The name change was unnecessary and apparently top secret since he never told her. “How did you get my license? It’s on file there.”
Josh shrugged. “You gave it to me and I took a picture.”
Did not happen. Whatever last little bit of hope she had for Josh being the unluckiest man on earth and getting sucked into a relationship mess he didn’t create died. He was an active participant in this... and Elisa vowed to figure out whatthiswas.
Josh stood right there in the middle of her family room andlied. Didn’t even blink while making these things up. “When did you supposedly do this?”
“When we talked about the unit,” Josh said.
“The date, Josh.” Elisa hoped pinning him down on details would trip him up.
He shrugged. “Not that long ago.”
She now had a long list ofnever happeneditems bouncing around her head when it came to Josh. “So, who cleaned it out?”
Josh snuck a peek at Harris before answering. “Uh... I guess you did.”
Planting more doubt. Making her sound unhinged and losing it. Blaming her appeared to be the sole focus of this impromptu dinner they’d never talked about. Elisa saw it all so clearly now. “No, I didn’t. I hadn’t been there before going with Rachel.”
Before she could fire another question at him, Harris stepped in. “What was in the unit?”
“Personal things. A few boxes. A duffel. Some clothes and books.” Josh ticked off the list before lowering his voice and adding the rest. “Not exactly high-end items.”
He strategically left out the laptop sitting on the couch in her bedroom right now. Elisa wasn’t sure what that meant. “None of it was in the unit when we unlocked it.”
“Someone stole the contents?” Harris sounded skeptical. “How could they?”
“They really couldn’t. Did you ask the guy on duty about the items?” Josh asked.
“He wasn’t helpful.” Elisa didn’t know what to make of Josh’s helpful suggestions. He should just tell the truth . . . for once.
“Okay, wait a minute.” Harris took a step back and glanced into the den. Nathan hadn’t moved. “We’re talking about a bunch of different topics and not really resolving anything.”
Elisa still held her cell in her hand and it started to buzz. She recognized the name because someone from the office showed up via message, or sometimes personal visit, every few days—Ashburn and Tanaka. The private investigators searching for information about the shooting. She couldn’t handle that on top of everything else and declined the call.
