Page 93 of I Will Ruin You

But Marta wasn’t prepared to do that. Not yet, anyway. Just suppose Marta’s instincts were wrong, that her sister and brother-in-law were being straight with her, imagine the fallout if Marta turned the case over to a colleague who turned their lives upside down. Good luck at the next Thanksgiving dinner.

Shit.

Heading for her car, she stopped halfway down the driveway and decided part of the story she’d been told could be verified right now. She went to the neighbor’s house and rang the bell.

She had met Jack and his wife, Jill, a few times. They’d all been invited to a barbecue for Bonnie’s birthday one time. Jack had asked her a few questions about her work, and Jill had seemed nice enough.

It was Jill who answered the door. It took her a second to place Marta, but once she recognized her, she smiled and invited her in.

“That’s okay,” Marta said. “Sorry to bother you, but—”

Jack appeared. “Hey,” he said amiably. “Detective Harper. How are you today?”

She smiled. “Marta.”

He smiled. “Nice to see you, Marta.”

“What’s up?” Jill asked.

“I wondered if I could ask a favor of you.”

“Sure, yes, how can we help?” Jack asked.

“You know, of course, the kind of stress Richard and Bonnie have been under lately. The pressures they’ve been dealing with.”

“No kidding,” Jack said. “A terrible thing. But Richard really saved the day.”

“He did,” Marta said, and thought, Yes, he did. Which didn’t make her feel any better about checking to see whether he had lied to her. “But not everyone sees it that way. You probably heard about the lawsuit.”

“Ridiculous,” Jill said.

“There’s always people out there who can find a way of turning a positive into a negative.”

“There’s so many nuts,” Jill said, nodding agreeably.

“So all I wanted to ask is, if you should see anything suspicious, anyone driving by too often, something that doesn’t look right, don’t be afraid to get in touch.” As she was saying this, she was taking a card from her pocket and handing it to Jack. “That number, the second one, you can always reach me at that.”

“Absolutely,” Jack said, tucking the card into his shirt pocket.

“Of course,” Jill said.

“That was really all I wanted to say. And to say hello.” She smiled at both of them, then focused on Jack. “Did I hear right, that you’re buying Jack’s boat?”

Jack grimaced. “Oh, well, that kind of didn’t happen.”

“Oh,” she said, feigning surprise. “Richard sold it to someone else?”

He looked uncomfortable. “I think there were some crossed signals. Richard offered to sell it to me, I said yes, and then Bonnie explained that the deal was off.” He paused, then added, “She said Richard had made some impulsive decisions since what happened at the school, that he hadn’t been thinking everything through. So that was okay by me. I didn’t want to get into the middle of anything.”

Marta nodded.

“That’s too bad,” she said, “but maybe it’s for the best. They get a lot of use out of that boat in the summer. Listen, you folks have a pleasant evening.”

Goodbyes were said, and the door was about to be closed, then Jill said, “There was something.”

Marta stopped, turned around. “Something?”

“The other day. I think it was Friday? Although I could be wrong about that.”