Page 33 of The Thinnest Air
CHAPTER 14
GREER
Day Four
“Oh, Jesus, you scared me.” I startle in the middle of the kitchen when Andrew appears out of nowhere. “I came down for some water.”
“Can’t sleep either?” Andrew asks.
It’s odd to see him sitting in the dark, staring blankly ahead. No laptop. No iPad. NoWall Street Journal. No chiming cell phone.
I almost consider the fact that he might be sleepwalking.
“Nope,” I say, quietly retrieving a crystal glass from the cupboard. Running it under the filtered water dispenser in the fridge door, I turn back toward him and take a swig.Good Lord, this water tastes like it was sourced from a spring in heaven.“Can I ask you something?”
Four in the morning might not be the best time to bring up the things that’ve been burning in my mind the last several days, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to get Andrew alone again. Could be tomorrow. Could be next month. There are always people here, coming and going, all fucking day.
“Sure.” He leans back in his chair, arms folded, already on the defensive.
I do that to people: put them on the defensive. Meredith always said it is because I always look so tense, like I’m in desperate need of a massage and an all-expenses-paid vacation. And she says I talk too fast, but I can’t help it. My mind is constantly running, never stopping. It’s a wonder I can get my mouth and brain on the same page half the time. When I was little, I used to garble my words together because my little mouth couldn’t keep up with my warp-speed thoughts. My mother used to sigh, roll her eyes, and tell me to“slowwwww downnnn.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police to talk to Meredith’s best friend?” I ask.
“I wasn’t aware she had a best friend.”
“Bullshit.” My jaw tightens, head tilting. “She’s one of your neighbors. They were together all the time.”
“If they were, it was during the day, when I was at work. She probably mentioned her a few times, but never in any detail.”
“I find that incredibly hard to believe, Andrew.” I call his bluff despite the fact that I’m beginning to accept that I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did ... and that maybe none of us truly knew her.
His nostrils flare. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. I’m telling you, I had no idea she had any friends, at least not any friends around here. Always took her as more of an introvert, a loner. She was always doing her own thing. We’d see each other in the evening. I never asked how she spent her days, and she never volunteered the information.”
“Sorry. Not buying it.”
Our eyes lock, and his fist clenches on the table. I’ve never seen him like this before. Is he upset because I’m pointing out cracks in the case that might paint him in an unflattering light? Is he upset because I’m onto him? Because I’m the only person unafraid to call him out when shit doesn’t add up?
“What’s her name?” he asks.
“Allison,” I say. “Allison Ross. She lives in that cabin-looking place on top of the hill.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.ThatAllison,” he says, sighing. “They had a falling-out last year. They hadn’t spoken in months.”
“That’s not the impression I got,” I say.
“You talked to her?”
“I’ve spoken to most of your neighbors,” I lie, but it’s for the greater good. I want him to know nothing’s going to get past me.
Nothing.
“I mean, maybe Mer made up with Allison? If she did, she didn’t tell me,” he says. “I just know they were close, and then they weren’t.”
I try to imagine how Andrew is as a father to Isabeau and Calder and how he would be to Meredith’s baby. He strikes me as the kind of man who lets his wife do all the worrying and tending to details.
“Allison saw a bruise on Meredith’s wrist once.” I cut to the chase. “Said she was trying to hide it.”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” he says. “But I know what you’re getting at, Greer, and you need to watch yourself.”
