The Night Before - Wendy Walker Page 0,77

fell into Pearson, who opened her arms and held her.

“Shhh … Calm down, Mrs. Ferro.”

“It’s him.… It’s him.…” Rosie repeated the words, though her voice began to soften as the man disappeared down the hall.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Joe walked into the same conference room where Rosie had been counting his calls and texts to her sister. She sat still, staring at her folded hands. She couldn’t look at him.

“Jesus, Rosie…” Joe moved cautiously around the small table and knelt beside her. “What the hell happened? They said you attacked some man in the waiting room.”

“It was him, Joe. It was Jonathan Fields. Only that’s not his real name. He was at an apartment two blocks from here on Thursday night. With a woman—the neighbor heard them. He was with Laura.”

Joe sighed and hung his head. “Okay, but did you have to attack him? They’re questioning him now, about Laura. But he wants to press charges.”

Perfect, Rosie thought. “He’s done something to Laura—I know it. I can feel it. She was in that apartment! And now he wants to press charges against me for demanding to know what he did? Has everyone lost their mind?”

Joe touched Rosie’s back. “It’s okay. Just calm down.”

Rosie stood up abruptly, pushing him away. “I won’t calm down! This is crazy—they should have a team of forensic people in that apartment. They should be interrogating him, not asking polite questions. Do you know what he’s done to other women? He’s a monster!”

Joe stared at her as she paced the room. He wouldn’t speak now because he knew he wouldn’t convince her that she was wrong, or that she shouldn’t be this upset about what was happening two doors down where they’d taken that man. But that didn’t mean he believed her. Or that he thought she was being rational.

“Where’s Mason?” she asked. Her eyes opened wildly as she remembered Joe had been alone with their son. “What did you do with him?”

“Rosie!” Joe was angry now. “I called Zoe. I texted you that. What did you think I did with him? What’s wrong with you?”

Shit. He had told her that. Zoe had come to the house. She knew she should apologize. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Joe saw the papers on the table. He looked once, quickly, then back again when he realized what they were.

“The phone records?” he asked cautiously. “What did they find?”

Rosie watched as he picked up the pages. She’d marked his number with a pencil—a small gray dot in front of every one of the calls and texts between his phone and Laura’s.

His face didn’t change when he saw the markings, but she knew he was seeing it. The evidence.

“Rosie…” Now his voice was contrite. He set the papers down, then looked back up at her.

“It went on for weeks,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “And you visited her in New York—at her apartment. And all those nights when you stayed up together, getting drunk and laughing. I could hear you all the way upstairs. Lying in bed with our son, thinking how happy it made me that you were being so generous with her. Making her laugh again when she’d been so sad. I never thought … It never crossed my mind.…”

“What didn’t you think?” Joe looked confused. “What are thinking now? What do you think you’ve discovered?”

Rosie felt the clutch in her chest like she was about to cry, but no tears came. She was too exhausted.

She held her hands to the sky. “Is that what happened to her?” Rosie asked the question at the same time it entered her consciousness. Maybe it had been there since Laura’s roommate had said his name. Or maybe it had come only after she’d seen his phone number in Laura’s records. It didn’t matter—it was here now. The pieces falling into place. “Did you have something to do with her disappearance?”

Joe was frozen, though Rosie could see his world coming apart.

But was it coming apart because she’d stumbled on the truth? Or because she had just wielded a fatal blow to everything that was between them? A lifetime of friendship and trust. And love.

“What am I supposed to make of this, Joe? You’ve been seeing my sister behind my back. Calling and texting her. Staying up late with her. And the one night she decides to start over, to meet another man, she disappears.”

Oh God … Another thought. Another piece of evidence was suddenly before her.

“Where