Page 14 of Welcome Home
Another deep breath. “He did.”
“But your husband went missing the day before your birthday. He never came home that night.”
My breath hitches. “I-“
She nods, cutting me off. “You failed to report your husband missing for a full week. Only after his employer called you. Why is that?”
“As I told you before, I didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t entirely out of his character to disappear for weeks at a time.” Not a lie. He often went on sudden weeklong retreats holed up in a hotel room with some woman.
She frowns. “His friends, parents and employer disagree. None of them thought it was in his character to disappear for a week without a word, much less five months.”
“They weren’t married to him, Detective Rappert. I won’t argue disappearing without a word to me at least past a week was new, but it wasn’t shocking. You are well aware of his multiple affairs.” My frustration is leaking into my voice as the weight of my mistake settles on my chest. Making me work just a little harder for each breath.
She nods. “That must’ve been hard seeing him at your house after all this time. All this suspicion. I know you’ve seen the posts and forms, Ms. Neilson. The court of public opinion was not kind to you.”
I swallow hard, wiping my damp palms on my dress underneath the table. “No, they were not, but I'm glad Oliver is home and safe. I'm glad to be putting all this behind me.”
She smiles, leaning forward in a hushed tone. “But you aren’t really, are you? Glad he’s back? I wouldn’t be.” She leans away again, laughing to herself as she shakes her head. “The shit that man used to say to you through texts and emails. I can’t even imagine how much worse it was in person. All the other women, if my wife treated me that way, I would curse the day she walked back into my life.”
I go to respond but again she cuts me off, “Yet all your neighbors had nothing but good things to say about him. You two were perfectly happy. It was all a lie though, Cora, you’re good liars, the two of you. I feel for you, I do. I would be the first to understand if something happened. They all would if you let them see past the lie. You were a victim, Cora.”
I just stare at her, wondering where she’s going with all of this. It’s a carbon copy of the otherinterviews,as they call it.
It’s an interrogation.
“Where was your husband all these months?”
I shrug. Brushing off the whiplash of changing tones and topics. “Vegas he said but I don’t know. I don’t know where he was, who he was with, or why he left. I don’t really care as I said I'm just happy he’s safe.”
She snorts, the guarded rough demeanor slipping away. Another purposeful thing to make me feel more comfortable. It didn’t work in the past and it won’t now. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s bullshit, and we both know it. He was expecting another child. That must’ve been a hard pill to swallow with the fertility issues you’ve had.”
Shut up.
“As I said in my previous statements, I wasn’t aware of the child until you informed me of it.”
She rubs her face, slightly displacing her black rimmed glasses I’ve only seen her wear once or twice before adjusting them. “Okay.”
Okay?
My heart stills as she reaches into her bag, removing several pieces of thick paper laying them on the table upside down so only the white backs are showing. I feel like I'm going to be sick.
“On your birthday, April Twentieth, what did you do all day?”
“As I said before I stayed home. Cleaned, watched TV, I didn’t jog that day, because it was my birthday.”
“And the following day, April twenty-first. What did you do?”
I swear they turned the heat on in this room.
“I stayed home again. Doing the same thing.”
“You didn’t jog?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Just didn’t feel like it.”
