Chapter One
With Me
“You were with me,” Michelle says.
She says it to me, although the police officer is the one who asked. He’s standing inside my open front door with his notebook in his hand. Michelle sits beside me on the couch, her knee pressed against mine.
“Last night,” she adds. “At my house. Seven until eleven.”
I was at Ben’s house last night. I let myself in with the key I still have and waited for him to come home. I told Michelle I was done doing things like that.
The officer looks at me. He’s waiting for an answer, and I want him to ask the other question again. Whether I’m Mrs. Ellis. That was an easy one. I said yes without thinking, pleased that someone still thought of me that way.
Then he told me my husband was dead. I thanked him. I wish I could remember what I thought I was thanking him for.
“Rachel?” Michelle takes my hand.
Her fingers fit between mine. She was here before the officer, before dead, when all I knew was that there was an accident at one of Patrick’s jobs. She called and asked if I wanted her to come. I said yes before she finished asking. I only had time to brush my teeth before she got here. I thought I might have to go to the hospital.
If I say no, he’ll want to know why she said it. I look at our hands. She came as soon as I needed her, and now I have to tell him she’s lying.
