a relief,” Greg says, glaring at me. His face conveys everything he’s thinking but not saying. He’s thinking, what is he doing here? And how does he know about Jack Mooney? And what else has my wife not been telling me?
Alex’s brow raises. “Except they let him go.”
I wish he hadn’t come. “They what?”
“Yeah. They questioned him about breaking into your house. He has an alibi.”
“Of course he does,” I snap. “But is it legit?”
“Probably not. Though it’s hard to say. And without fingerprints or any kind of evidence…”
Greg shakes his head and then stands and walks over to the bed, turning his back on me.
“Did they search the place where he’s staying?”
“No. He wasn’t picked up there. They’d have to get a warrant…and again, without evidence…it’s hard—”
“How are they supposed to get evidence if they aren’t looking for it?”
“They’d need probable cause.”
“Right.” Alex might as well be speaking gibberish. I hear what he’s saying, but that doesn’t mean it makes any sense.
Greg steals a glance over his shoulder. “I thought you were a divorce attorney.”
When Alex doesn’t respond, I thank him for coming. He stands and walks to the door. “I shouldn’t have interrupted,” he says, glancing at my husband, who is facing the other way. “I’ll keep in touch. And please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“You’ve done plenty,” Greg remarks flatly, pivoting on his heel.
With a nod, Alex leaves just as quickly as he’d appeared.
Greg folds his hands across his chest, and through narrowed eyes he glares at me. He knows me better than I think he does, but clearly not as well as he thought. “Amy,” he hisses. “What have you done now?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Greg paces back and forth across the room, eventually stopping at the window. He folds his arms across his chest and peers out. His reflection shines back at me. His nose is pressed so close to the glass that it might as well be touching it, as though he’s trying to get as far away as possible. “I just can’t imagine what you were thinking.”
“You want to know what I was thinking?” I feel my face get hot. Tears well up. “I was thinking I wanted to avoid something like this from happening. I was thinking I wanted Jack Mooney back in jail.”
“And you thought contacting Alex, of all people, would solve your problems?”
“Actually, yes.”
He crosses the room and sits next to me on the couch, his elbows balanced on his knees. He rests his head in his hands and presses his palms into his eye sockets. “I just don’t get it. Don’t you remember what a creep he was—what he put you through?”
I do remember. I’d been living with Alex when I met Greg. It was actually Alex who introduced the two of us. Back in college, they were study partners. But after we started dating, Alex developed a sudden distaste for Greg, which wasn’t surprising. He found fault with most of my friends. He didn’t think Greg was good enough for me, and he made it clear every chance he got. But he paid the bills on time. He split household tasks evenly, often taking on more than his fair share, and always without complaint. Until the end, he was the perfect roommate.
It was nice to find a member of the opposite sex that I could be completely comfortable and completely platonic with. It helped that he was gay. Or at least that’s what he’d said, and I had no reason not to believe him. Even now, I’m not sure what was a lie and what was the truth. We never made it that far.
One drunken night as we were lying together on a mattress on his bedroom floor, he let something slip. He’d just learned he’d passed the Bar exam, and we were celebrating, talking about everything and nothing, the way inebriated people tend to do. He’d mentioned something that had happened at a party, a party he hadn’t been invited to. When I asked him how he knew about the incident, he was evasive. The way I saw it, it wasn’t a big deal. I saw my questions as harmless. Mostly I was joking. He saw it as an interrogation. Sure, I might have accused him of following me. I thought it was cute. I was admittedly a little honored that he cared that much. I saw Alex as the big brother I never had. Protective and all-knowing. But as I continued to rib