The End of Her - Shari Lapena Page 0,74
she can’t catch her breath. It feels like there’s a band across her chest and black spots are dancing in front of her eyes.
‘Breathe,’ he tells her.
The moment passes. The black spots recede and she’s able to lift her head and look at him. He brushes a lock of hair away from her face. ‘What’s wrong, what happened?’ he asks, his voice tense.
‘You had a call,’ she says. ‘From the Grant County sheriff.’ She sees the fear settle on his face; they’re both terrified. ‘He wants you to call him back. He left a number.’
Patrick stands up quickly and looks down at her with frantic eyes. ‘What did he want?’
She looks back at him, frightened. ‘He didn’t say. He just wants you to call back.’
He begins pacing the room. ‘Fuck. Fuck.’
There’s no way out of this, Stephanie thinks, starting to panic. They’ll arrest him. He’ll go to jail. He’ll go to trial. She doesn’t think she can survive a trial. The inquest was almost more than she could stand.
‘I’m going to call Lange. Ask him what to do,’ Patrick says. She nods as he takes out his cell and makes the call.
Stephanie watches as Patrick talks to the attorney. It’s a short conversation.
‘What did he say?’ she asks nervously.
‘He told me not to panic,’ Patrick says with heavy sarcasm. ‘Easy for him to say. He wants me to find out what they want and call him back.’
Patrick paces around the room a few more times, too agitated to phone the sheriff. She watches him go into the kitchen, hears him pouring himself a drink. He comes back into the living room with the glass of liquor and downs it in two gulps. He waits for a long moment and then says, ‘Where’s the number?’
She finds him the piece of paper with the number on it. He swallows and then calls. She can only hear one side of the conversation, but it’s easy to piece together what’s happening.
‘What does that mean, exactly?’ Patrick says. ‘Are you arresting me?’
She watches as his face takes on a new pallor. ‘Fine, sure.’ He hangs up. Slowly, he turns to her. ‘They want me to do a polygraph test.’
Patrick stands completely still, his cell phone still in his hand. He can feel the sweat at his hairline. He reaches up automatically as if to loosen the collar at his neck, but he’s only wearing a T-shirt – he doesn’t have to dress for work any more – and he lets his hand fall.
His wife looks at him. ‘That’s all right, isn’t it?’ she says tentatively. ‘They’re not arresting you. They’ll do the polygraph, and when you pass, maybe they’ll drop the whole thing and leave us alone. They’ll know you didn’t do it!’
He turns on her, his voice tense. ‘It’s not that simple, Stephanie.’
She falters, her face pale and drawn, ‘What do you mean?’ There’s a long, fraught pause.
‘Those tests aren’t reliable. They aren’t even admissible in court.’
‘Then why do them at all?’
He looks back at her, rage building inside him. Those bastards. He tries to remain calm. ‘I’ll tell you why. The police can manipulate them. They’ll make me come off badly.’
‘Surely they can’t make you fail – not if you’re telling the truth.’
He turns away; he doesn’t want to look at her. He turns to his cell. He needs to talk to his attorney.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
THE FOLLOWING DAY, Thursday, Stephanie wakes early. She looks over at her husband, still sleeping. The babies aren’t even awake yet. She stares at his sleeping form, the familiar shoulder, his dark hair, his classically handsome profile. She thinks about how much she once loved him. It wasn’t even that long ago. It makes her wonder if love is just an illusion, one that disappears when reality gets too dark. No, she decides. Love is real. The love she feels for her baby daughters is real. But romantic love – maybe that’s all an illusion.
She must pack up the twins early and take them back to Hanna. She and Patrick have a flight to Denver today. They will meet at Lange’s office in Denver, and then together they will go to the Sheriff’s Office in Creemore. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen. She finds the tension almost unbearable. There was an awful moment, booking the tickets online, when Patrick didn’t know whether to book two same-day return tickets or just one. Lange had warned him that he might not be coming back. In the end, a return ticket