Page 17 of Drowning in Lies

"Maybe you should call your doctor to see if they will prescribe sleeping pills or something for you," she suggested. "Just for a little while at least."

I shook my head sharply."Nope, I tried that once a couple of years ago, remember? I'm one of the lucky ones who has a weird reaction.It made me sleepwalk.David had an entire conversation with me in the middle of the night before he realized it.I'd set the alarm off, trying to go sit out on the deck to read at 3:00 am."

"Oh hell, I'd forgotten that. Well, maybe you can try some melatonin or something.You're going to make yourself sick with all this stress and no sleep."

"I know," I sighed.I heard Chris shuffling down the stairs, and looked over to greet him as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning. Do you want some coffee?"

"Good God, yes.We stayed up too late last night finishing that movie." He peered closely at me. "No offense honey, but you look like hell."

"Chris!" Sherry scolded him, swatting him on the arm.

He winced and shot me an apologetic grin."Sorry, Lila. You do look really tired though."

"No offense taken, I promise.I was awake most of the night, trying to figure out what's going on. It's funny, I used to think that I knew David better than anyone in this world. We were so attuned to each other's thoughts and emotions. Now, I wonder if any of it was real. Did he change into this awful person, or is that who he was all along, and I just didn't see it?"

"He changed, Lila". Chris said sadly. "I've racked my brain since Horton's visit yesterday, and I think he changed, and we all missed it. It was so gradual we didn't notice, but now - looking back - I can see that things were a little off."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He started distancing himself. He didn't even play in the golf league this season because he said he was working such long hours, but he always seemed to have time to go out with Scott. Whenever we would all get together, he didn't have much to say. I even asked him a couple of times if he was OK, thinking he wasn't feeling well or something. He was constantly on his phone. His insomnia was getting worse, and he was pretty damned irritable sometimes," he finished.

"Lila," Sherry said gently. "At the time, I just put it down to grief or shock, but he changed a lot after your miscarriage." I couldn't help but flinch at her words.

"I'm sorry, honey, I'm not trying to make things worse. I just remember being surprised that it took him so long to get to the hospital once Chris reached him that night, and then he didn't even stay with you when the nurse offered to bring a rollaway bed in. Then, when you were released from the hospital, he said he was too busy to take time off to stay home with you after that first day, so Idid it. I stayed with you for the next three days to look after you because you couldn't even climb the stairs without help. None of that was the David I knew."

My mind was spinning, memories of the past year or more flashing through my brain like pictures on a movie screen. David coming home later and later. More frequent business trips. Excuses for missing dinners or get-togethers with friends. Getting pissed off over the smallest things - or ignoring me for days on end. It was true. All of it.

"He stopped calling me 'baby' all the time. You guys used to tease me that he'd forgotten my name because he never called me Lila. It was always 'baby', remember that?" I asked, my voice strained as I tried to hold back the sob I could feel building.

I thought about his texts with Vanessa. "Obviously, he found somebody else to call 'baby' instead."

Chapter 9: The Mortgage Scam

Sherry leaned over to wrap her arm around my shoulder as I cried. "How could he do this to me, Sher?"

"I don't know," she whispered, rubbing her hand up and down my back in a soothing gesture.

I heard Chris's phone ring and he cursed under his breath and stepped out of the room to answer it.He came back several minutes later, as I was drying my tears.I was so fucking tired of crying.

"That was Det. Horton. They would like permission to search David's office at your house. He's also getting a search warrant for his office at work. He said they've found more evidence and need to expand and expedite the investigation."

"What the hell does that mean? What have they found?"

"He wouldn't elaborate over the phone, and believe me, I pushed." He sighed heavily. "I did ask if you could be present at the house while it was searched, and he agreed, so that's good at least."

"Why?" I asked, not sure why my being there mattered one way or another.

"It means they don't suspect you of any wrongdoing in any of this mess, hon. Suspects aren't typically allowed inside the premises while a search is being conducted."

"So, no more side-eye or snide remarks from him about insurance payouts?" Sherry asked, clearly still salty overthatparticular line of questioning.

"No, my love, so you can calm down. No need to go all Mama Bear to protect Lila from the mean police detective," he said, shaking his head fondly at his wife. "So, Lila, are you OK with them searching the home office?"

"They can search whatever the hell they want at this point."

"Good, I figured that's what you would say, but I told him I would need to check with you. Let me text him and see what time he wants us there."

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