Page 91 of Finding Amanda

"Um, Baxter and I stopped by your house last week."

"What day was that?"

"Friday. We were on our way to a conference in Falmouth. We were only there a few minutes."

"And McIlroy was there the whole time?"

"He was in the bathroom."

Listening. He'd been listening and gathering information. Or searching the downstairs. In her office maybe . . . Mark tapped his pencil on his pad of paper again. He wrote on his notes,at house Friday.

"Maybe . . . maybeheleft the box," Mark muttered.

"What box?"

Mark told Roxie about the box he'd found on Amanda's front porch Saturday morning. "I've been picturing Sheppard on our doorstep, but maybe it was McIlroy."

"He was with me in Falmouth."

"All night?"

"Well, not all night. But we were together for dinner."

"Did you see him between dinner and breakfast?"

"There was a meeting that ended about nine. I didn't see him after that."

"Plenty of time to drive back to Norwell and leave the box for Amanda. I'm not saying he did it, I'm saying it's a possibility. On the drive to Falmouth, did you talk about Amanda or the memoir or anything? Did he ask questions about her?"

"Nope. Never."

"Did he seem surprised or worried or anything when you mentioned Gabriel Sheppard?"

"I didn't mention his name, Mark, because I didn't know it. Remember, Amanda doesn't use the name in the manuscript."

"Right. Okay." Mark studied the notes he'd made. On paper, this guy looked like the connection between his wife and that madman Sheppard, but there was something missing. Could it be a coincidence that he worked for Roxie, or had he gone to work for her to spy on Amanda? And if so, then how did Sheppard find out that M.L. Johnson was the girl named Amanda Prince he'd had an affair with over a decade earlier? And why would McIlroy know about the affair? Why would a professor share that with his student?

It was weak, and yet, this was the only connection they'd made to Sheppard. And if he was the link, then McIlroy would have told Sheppard Amanda wasn't going to publish the manuscript, which meant that maybe, just maybe, Sheppard would leave her alone.

Mark felt the slightest loosening of tension in his chest. Amanda would divorce him, but if she was safe, he might survive it.

"Okay, one more question."

"Why am I not having this conversation with Amanda?" Roxie asked.

"It's a long story. Don't worry, I'll tell her about it. And you can, too. I'm not trying to keep anything from her. Does McIlroy know about Amanda's plans to go out of town this weekend?"

"I doubt it. Where's she going?"

"She's teaching at a hotel in the mountains. And she has a book signing in Concord."

"That's right," Roxie said. "Honestly, I'd forgotten about that. We booked the signing a long time ago. I'm sure I haven't mentioned it to Baxter."

"But would he have access to your files?"

"It doesn't matter, because he could've found out about the book signing on her website. And the teaching thing—I don't keep track of that stuff, so it wouldn't be in my files. I don't even know where she's going to be."

Mark wrotecheck websiteon his sheet of paper.

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