PART 7
Finally, a text appeared.
We need to talk.
Another.
Please don’t do anything until I explain.
Then:
I can explain everything.
I stared at the messages.
Patrice saw my expression.
“Don’t respond.”
“I won’t.”
A fourth message appeared.
Carol, I’m asking you as your husband.
I laughed.
It was the first laugh I’d had in days.
“Your husband,” I whispered.
Patrice raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“He always says that when he wants something.”
“What?”
“‘I’m asking you as your husband.’”
I looked at the phone.
“It used to work.”
Another message arrived.
Please come home.
I turned the phone face down.
“No.”
Patrice nodded.
“Good.”
But I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
At 1:06 p.m., Ashley called.
I almost didn’t answer.
Then I remembered the look on her face Friday.
I picked up.
“Hello?”
She was crying.
“Miss C?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know who else to call.”
I closed my eyes.
“What happened?”
“He came to my apartment.”
My stomach tightened.
“Is he there now?”
“No. He left.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
“What did he want?”
Silence.
Then Ashley whispered,
“He wants me to lie.”
I sat straighter.
“About what?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?”
“He said if I tell anyone what I know, he’ll make sure I lose everything.”
I glanced at Patrice.
She was already writing.
“What exactly did he ask you to say?”
“That you knew he was married.”
My eyes narrowed.
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