Page 100 of Happy Wife

“We’re told this man, Marcus Campbell, owns and operates a very popular restaurant in Winter Park. And the way they’re standing next to each other in the photo, you have to wonder, just how close are these two? And does the chef know anything about what happened to Will Somerset that night?” Lindy says. “We’ll be joined by a body language expert after the break.”

A fucking body language expert. Is this a joke? There must be bigger news happening elsewhere. What’s the karma of praying for a natural disaster at a time like this?

I kill the shower water and have just started to dry off when I hear the trilling of my phone. It’s Fritz.

“Shit.” I pause for a second, wanting to duck the call, but I know I can’t. “Hello?”

“Nora, Ardell called. They have the murder weapon.”

“What?”

The murder weapon?

I feel dizzy. A fog of disbelief settles around me, and I want to curl up in a ball. But I remember what Este said.

Pay attention.

Fritz exhales a heavy sigh. “The divers found it buried in the mud under your dock.”

“What was it?” I ask.

He hesitates before saying, “A hammer.”

I’m gripping the phone so hard that my fingers go numb. I stand in my bathroom, naked, water pooling all around my feet.

“I want to see it,” I finally say, trying to make my voice sound assertive.

“That’s not going to happen. Forensics has it now.”

A fucking hammer.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the mental images that rush forward. No matter what I do, though, I can’t stopimaginingthe sound of a hammer making contact with someone’s head. Will’s head.

Fritz walks me through a few scenarios of what could happen.

“Hopefully, there’s nothing that could tie the hammer to you,” he says. And it’s not at all comforting.

I feel lightheaded at the thought of Will being attacked, of him enduring such a violent death. I put a hand out and hold on to the wall to make sure I stay upright.

“Nora,” Fritz calls through the line. “You still there?” He sounds almost annoyed.

I hang up and my hands are shaking. My memory flashes to the last time I had seen someone with a hammer.

Fucking hell. This is not real.

Chapter39

Before

“Hey, Nora,” Beau called from what appeared to be a scattered pile of lumber as I crossed the distance from my backyard to his and Este’s. “You look great.”

Este was on a lounge chair in a bathing suit and sarong, reading a book about Eastern healing. “That’s because she’s got that dreamy love glow after a long weekend at the Breakers.”

I looked down at my sundress. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but maybe I was smiling a little bigger than usual. After our epic fight, Will had booked an oceanfront suite at the famed hotel, and we spent four days on the sandy coast of Palm Beach. After months of feeling lonely and cut out of his life, it seemed like that rocky season of our marriage was finally coming to an end. Will was attentive and supportive again. Even after we got back from Palm Beach, he had made time to eat dinner with me a few times a week. I wasn’t too surprised that Beau could see the lightness of relief on my face.

The setting sun reflected a glare off the lake that made me squint as I looked back at Beau. “What are you working on?”

He gestured proudly at the pile of tools and supplies surrounding him. “Planter boxes for the garden.”

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