The End of Her - Shari Lapena Page 0,20

No, his wife probably doesn’t have a clue. She won’t know what’s hit her, if and when it all comes out. She should be grateful, Erica thinks – maybe he was going to try to kill her and her babies one day. A man like that. Erica tells herself that really, she’s doing the woman a favour.

She turns onto the highway to Aylesford, consumed with curiosity about Patrick and his new little family. She already knows where they live, what they look like. She’s been there. She’s even viewed a house for sale a couple of doors down from the Kilgours’ on Danbury Drive. It’s one of the nicest suburbs in Aylesford, according to the real estate sites. She knows they’ve got money. She’ll drop by again today, to Danbury Drive. Take another look at his new wife.

Stephanie wakes with a start. She has no idea how long she’s been asleep – it could be minutes, or hours. She looks at the digital clock to orient herself. It’s 2.37 p.m. Someone is calling her name. Who is it? She sits up, thinking she’s imagined it.

‘Stephanie?’

She recognizes Hanna’s voice, calling her from downstairs. What is Hanna doing in the house? Is something wrong? Stephanie remembers the fire in the kitchen and gets out of bed and rushes to the stairs – no smell of smoke; she’s halfway down when she sees Hanna in the front hall, the door wide open behind her. ‘What are you doing here?’ Stephanie asks, confused.

Hanna looks up at her, her face showing concern. ‘I saw your front door was open. I came by to check on you.’

Stephanie reaches the front hall. She thought she’d locked the door on her way in from the grocery store – but maybe she hadn’t. She can’t remember.

‘Maybe I forgot to lock it,’ she says, worried, one hand to her forehead. ‘I must be losing my mind.’ She shakes her head and frowns. ‘Honestly, if these babies don’t start sleeping soon, I’m going to completely lose it.’ She hasn’t told Hanna about the incident with the stove. She hasn’t told anyone but her husband. Hanna only has one baby, and his sleeping habits are excellent; she might judge, even if she doesn’t mean to.

‘Sorry to wake you,’ Hanna says, ‘but I was worried.’ She closes the door now.

‘No, it’s fine,’ Stephanie says, giving her a wan smile and looking dully at the area near the door. She’d dropped her handbag there on the floor, by the narrow table in the entryway. She’s sure of it. ‘Where’s my bag?’ she says, looking around for her large black handbag.

Hanna’s eyes sweep the vestibule, following her anxious gaze.

‘I left it right there,’ Stephanie says. It’s obviously not there now. She goes into the kitchen and checks the counter and the table. The floor. She doesn’t see her bag anywhere. Hanna has gone into the living room to look, and now comes back to join her.

‘Could it be upstairs?’ Hanna suggests.

Stephanie shakes her head, but charges up the stairs anyway, looks in her bedroom, then goes swiftly down the hall and checks on the still-sleeping twins. But the bag isn’t there, either. She’s getting upset now. It’s dawning on her: someone was in the house and took her handbag. They could have taken the babies, too, and she wouldn’t have known. And it’s her own damn fault for not locking the front door properly. And she left her bag right there on the floor, by the front door. ‘How could I be so stupid?’ she fumes at Hanna, back downstairs once again. ‘My wallet was in there, all my ID. Everything! I’ll have to get it all replaced.’ Just the thought of the effort that will require is enough to flatten her.

‘Don’t blame yourself,’ Hanna tells her. ‘You should be able to leave your door unlocked and not expect someone to come in and steal your handbag.’

‘You said it was wide open.’

‘It was when I saw it,’ Hanna admits.

‘Patrick will be upset. He worries about me,’ Stephanie says. ‘I’m so absent-minded these days, so forgetful.’

‘I’ll help you get your ID replaced,’ Hanna offers. ‘I’ve done it before. I had my bag snatched once in New York City.’

Stephanie manages to swallow her dismay. ‘Thanks, Hanna. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ Then she realizes something else. ‘I had a spare house key in there too. I’ll have to get the locks replaced.’

She wants to invite Hanna to have a cup of coffee and tell