Be with the Dead by Matty Dalrymple

Author:Matty Dalrymple [Dalrymple, Matty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

34

Throughout the day following the burial of Marilee’s body, Jeanette or Jeremy would occasionally beckon the other into the pharmacy’s back room to whisper frantically about an aspect of the situation they had overlooked in their initial panic.

Should they do something with Marilee’s car? No, they had had enough trouble deciding how to handle her body—they had no idea how to dispose of a car. They also agreed that leaving Marilee’s phone in the condo, assuming it was still there, was the best idea for similar reasons. They didn’t know how to guarantee it couldn’t be tracked and didn’t want to search for the answer online. In fact, the fewer online searches about anything related to the situation, the better.

Should they remove some of Marilee’s clothes and a suitcase from the condo so that, when they eventually reported her disappearance, it looked as if Marilee’s departure had been planned? Jeanette pointed out that they couldn’t risk having the police get their hands on security video of one of them leaving the condo with a suitcase, and neither of them wanted to use an Eden Beach cart again to try to sneak something out to the CR-V. Maybe it would be useful if the police thought Marilee had left her condo on what she expected to be a quick outing.

That evening, Jeremy hurried into the kitchen, where Jeanette was thawing two servings of turkey chili for dinner. “We forgot about the books!”

“What books?”

“We were supposed to bring the signed books for the New York store down to the security desk for his driver to pick up.”

Jeanette groaned. “Oh, no.” She got her phone out of her pocket and checked her texts and email. “Nothing from Ezra about it. I’m going to call him.”

“Shouldn’t we let sleeping dogs lie?”

She grimaced. “Not sleeping dogs who are as vindictive as Ezra. Let’s do whatever we can not to make him madder than he already is.”

“What are you going to say to him?”

She thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll tell him Marilee couldn’t sign the books because her wrist was bothering her.” After a moment, she added, “Although sending him a text might be less irritating for both of us than a phone call.”

“Both good ideas.”

She tapped out the message to Ezra, then slipped her phone into her pocket. “I’ll let you know what I hear,” she said to Jeremy.

He nodded and returned to the living room.

Jeanette’s phone rang a minute later.

“Hello, Ezra,” she answered.

“Good thing I checked with Eden Beach security to see if the books were ready before I sent the truck down. When I heard they weren’t at the desk, I figured this was just another example of Marilee’s disregard for her contractual obligations.”

“It’s not disregard for her contractual obligations. I told you—her wrist is bothering her. She’s been signing a lot of books lately.” She drew a deep breath. “She doesn’t want to sign any more.”

“Doesn’t want to sign any more ever? Or just until her wrist recovers?”

Jeanette closed her eyes against the vision of Marilee’s gray-faced body, stiff on the study sofa.

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