Chapter Twenty-Three
“She might not be home,” Amy Sue said as she and Liz looked up at the house after parking their cars in the huge driveway out front. The garage doors were all closed. No way of knowing if there were cars inside.
“I called to tell her I was coming over right after I talked to you,” Liz said. “She’s home.”
“You did?” Amy Sue hated to think what they might be walking into. “You told her why we wanted to see her?”
“Of course not. I did say it was about her husband and it was important, that’s all,” Liz said.
That should be more than enough for starters, Amy Sue thought. “Okay, we tell her what we know and then we get out of there, right?” Liz grunted in response. “We let her decide what to do with the information.”
“Sure,” Liz said.
Amy Sue felt the reassuring weight of her phone in her pocket.
Before she’d exited her SUV, she’d called Russ.
He had told her not to check the phone, let alone disconnect the call.
She had to assume he was still there. His concern had seemed unwarranted.
Yet as she and Liz walked to the front door and rang the bell she found comfort in knowing he was somewhere close by and hopefully still listening.
Christine opened the door elegantly dressed, definitely overdressed for this meeting. She looked relaxed, maybe a little curious, possibly even amused as she let the two of them into her gorgeous house.
“We can talk in here,” she said as they followed her deeper into the house.
“Please excuse the mess. We’re remodeling.
” Amy Sue noticed a large steel door that had been added in one of the walls.
Christine must have seen her staring at her.
“That will be hidden once the safe room is finished. May I offer you something to drink?”
Amy Sue was wondering why they would be adding a safe room off the living room when Liz asked, “Do you have vodka?” She shot her a warning look. The last thing she needed was for Liz to get drunk.
“Just kidding, kinda,” Liz mumbled. “Like I said on the phone—”
“Wouldn’t you like to sit first?” Christine asked, definitely amused now.
Amy Sue wondered if Jack Marshall’s mistresses had paid her visits and she’d heard it all before. Well, maybe not heard it all, she amended.
“We won’t be staying that long,” Amy Sue said.
At the same time, Liz said, “Sure, why not” and plopped down in an offered chair.
“Let’s get right to it. Your husband is a cheater and a killer.
He murdered my friend after he’d been seeing her for months, after he’d promised to divorce you and marry her.
He even took her to a house under construction to show it to her, letting her think he was buying it for the two of them. That’s where he killed her.”
Amy Sue had been watching Christine for a reaction to Liz laying it out the way she had.
Her eyes had widened, but only slightly.
Other than that, there was no reaction or response.
Unlike Liz, the two of them were still standing.
It looked as if this was going to be over even quicker than Amy Sue had thought.
“I know this sounds unbelievable,” Amy Sue said, filling the silence that followed. “But I saw it happen and recognized your husband.”
“She was an eyewitness to the murder,” Liz interjected.
“Later I found out the woman’s name, Whitney Clark. While her body hasn’t been found, she’s been missing since that night.”
“I see,” Christine said, frowning. “Did you go to the police?”
“Of course, she did,” Liz snapped. “But your husband has the cops in his pocket. We thought you should know what kind of man you’re married to. He killed my ex-husband up on the rims.”
Amy Sue saw something change in Christine’s face. It was subtle, but still she realized that Liz had finally hit a nerve.
“Robert was a fool for trying to blackmail him, but you should know, your husband also gave me fifty grand to keep me quiet.”
“Except you didn’t stay quiet, did you?” Christine said.
Both Amy Sue and Liz were now staring at the woman.
“You knew,” Amy Sue said under her breath.
“Seriously?” Liz demanded. “You know you’re married to a murderer?”
“It seems pretty clear, Liz, that she’s okay with it,” Amy Sue said, feeling a new kind of tension in the dense air around them. “We should go.”
Christine sighed and said conversationally, “Don’t you realize how dangerous it was for you two to come here?
As you pointed out, my husband is a murderer.
He’s also a psychopath. You must have realized that if you didn’t stop trying to get him arrested, he would kill you as well and get away with it. ”
“If you know this about him, then why haven’t you gone to the police?” Amy Sue demanded. She thought she heard the sound of a vehicle, then the slamming of a car door outside and breathed in relief. Russ must not have been far away.
“Because it would be my word against his.”
“You’re his wife, if you told the police what you know—”
“If there was even a remote chance I had evidence against him I would be dead. No, he’d never make that mistake. By now haven’t you realized how good he is at this? He doesn’t make mistakes.”
“But he did. I witnessed the murder. I saw him!”
She shook her head. “Still, he isn’t behind bars, is he? And he won’t be even when he kills you both.”
“How can you stay with a…murderer?” Liz demanded.
Christine’s laugh was brittle. “I had no illusions when I married him. I saw potential in him and the life he could offer me. I didn’t care about his affairs with other women. Marriage is a bargaining chip. I got what I wanted, he got what he wanted.”
“You couldn’t have known who you were marrying,” Amy Sue argued, listening for Russ. Maybe he was having trouble getting into the house.
“I got more than I bargained for,” Christine said, and touched the diamond bracelet at her wrist. “Nor do I ever want to have this conversation again. You’ve put me in danger as well as yourselves.” Her voice cracked as she looked toward the front entrance to the house where they’d come in.
“That’s Jack,” Christine cried. “He can’t find you here. Please, hurry. There isn’t time. Quick, get inside the safe room,” she said, moving quickly to open the door. “I’ll get rid of him.”
Liz had risen from the chair and was already heading for the safe room. Amy Sue hadn’t moved, but the urgency in Christine’s voice made her follow Liz.
The moment they stepped in, the door closed with a clunk behind them. Amy Sue heard it lock. Liz must have, too, because she stepped to the door and tried to open it.
“She locked us in,” Liz said, something sounding a lot like fear in her voice. “You don’t think…” Their gazes met. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Amy Sue couldn’t have agreed more as she looked around the small room. It was still under construction, so it was completely empty, the floor as bare as the walls. All she could hope was that Russ was still on the call in her pocket as she dug out her phone.
Her heart dropped as she heard nothing on the other end. When she tried to call him back, she found there was no cell service in here. All she could hope was that he’d heard what was going on before they were disconnected.
Liz had gone to the door and now pressed one ear against it.
“Can you hear anything?”
“Nothing.” She turned to face Amy Sue. “What do you think is going on out there?”
She had to swallow before she said, “I have no idea.” She didn’t say what she was thinking.
Christine had known about her husband and now she’d locked them in this room.
From the thickness of the walls, Amy Sue doubted anyone would hear them even if they screamed, and there was nothing to use to try to break out.
“Our cars are parked out front,” Liz said as if she’d been thinking what Amy Sue had. “She can’t keep us in here.” She looked toward the ceiling. “Shouldn’t there be air vents?”