into the hallway.
I hear the delicate sound of dishes coming from the kitchen, and when I turn the corner I see Doug standing at the sink, rinsing a coffee cup.
“Morning,” I say.
He looks back at me, then points to the table. “Have a seat. Want some coffee?”
“Sure.” I pull out one of the chairs and sit down. There is a silver ring of keys sitting on the table next to a folded map.
“I woke up early,” Doug says. “Couldn’t sleep.”
I start to apologize again for dropping in so late, but he stops me before I finish.
“It wasn’t that. I was just thinking about your situation.” He motions toward the hall. “Is Diane still sleeping?”
I nod.
Doug reaches for the coffee pot and fills two cups. He hands one to me, then pulls out a chair and sits down. “I didn’t ask many questions last night. I know you’ll only tell me what you want to tell me, so I didn’t see the point in pushing.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Well, you might not in a minute.” Doug takes the key ring off the table. “These are the keys to my place in El Regalo. If you’re set on going, I’ll give them to you.”
“But?”
“But I want to know what happened. I want to know why she’s back and why you think Gabby wants to kill her. From what I know of him, he watches out for you, so why would he want to kill your wife?”
I don’t say anything.
“Is it money?”
I sip the coffee and it burns. “Of course it’s money.”
Doug sits back and waits for me to go on. The house is still, and the only sounds I hear are the morning birds on the lawn outside the window.
“Where do you want me to start?”
“The last I heard of Diane, she was dead. Now she’s not. Why don’t you start there?”
I nod. “Okay.”
I go over everything, trying to keep it all straight in my head as I talk. Doug listens, refilling his coffee cup once while I speak. He doesn’t show any emotion at all until I tell him about the statues and the diamonds. Then his left eye starts to twitch.
“And Gabby wants to kill her because of the diamonds?”
“Because of the company that owns the diamonds,” I say. “He thinks she’s a loose end and will lead them to him if they come looking.”
“It makes sense.”
I hesitate for a moment. “He also thought she was working with Briggs. He thought she was using me the entire time to find the statues.”
“And you didn’t believe him?”
“Of course I didn’t. I still don’t.”
“But?”
“What makes you think there’s something else?”
Doug shrugs. “Tell me there isn’t.”
I pause, look down at my cup. “It does seems a little coincidental.”
“You could say that.”
I finish the last of my coffee then set the cup on the table in front of me. “But I trust her.”
Doug stands and grabs the coffee pot. He refills my cup.
“Why don’t you spit it out. I know you’ve got thoughts on all of this. Do you think Gabby’s right?”
Doug shakes his head. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I’ll say this. People might fake their deaths in the movies, but not in the real world, not like this.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you don’t just decide one day to do something like that. You can’t just hit a reset button on life. It’s not that easy.”
“She did it.”
“And that’s what bothers me,” Doug says. “She did it. She faked her own death.”
“I don’t see your point.”
Doug puts the coffee pot back, then sits. “How would you go about faking your death? Any ideas?”
I shake my head.
“She knew how to do it.”
“She had help.”
“That doesn’t make it better,” Doug says. “Whoever did it knew what they were doing. They were able to arrange the entire thing. They were pros, and that worries me.”
“Worries you?”
Doug leans forward and rests his arms on the table. “How much do you really know about Diane?”
“She’s my wife.”
“Can you trust her?”
“She’s my wife.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s my answer.”
Doug leans back, doesn’t speak.
“Do you think Gabby’s right? Do you think it’s all a lie, our marriage, our life together?”
“Do you?”
My immediate reaction is to tell him, “No, of course I don’t, none of it was a lie.” But no matter how much I want to say it, I can’t do it.
Doug watches me for a moment, then he picks up the keys and twirls them once on his finger.
“You still want them?”
“Yes.”
“Then they’re yours.” He slaps them on the table and slides them toward