The Girl Who Went Nowhere by Marc Daniel

Author:Marc Daniel [Daniel, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-21T22:00:00+00:00

*****

Jennifer moved the armchair that stood by the window so it would face Ethan and sat down. What was he talking about? “Okay… I’m listening.”

“When I asked you to come with me it wasn’t simply because I needed you to investigate the ranch while I was looking into the oil side. It was part of it, but it wasn’t my only motivation.”

He paused, looking uncomfortable.

“Go on,” she encouraged.

“There’s a reason I no longer work murder cases, kidnappings, serial rapists and the like.”

Jennifer was pretty sure she knew why that was, but she didn’t interrupt.

“It’s not simply that I don’t have a taste for it after what happened to my wife. It’s not that I don’t want to have the death of another victim on my conscience if I fail to identify a human predator. It’s that I no longer have the brains for it, either. I haven’t been able to solve anything more meaningful than a cat’s disappearance in a year.”

This was the first time Ethan had brought up his wife in front of her. Jennifer had pieced the story together from news articles and his behavior, but he’d never once mentioned Amanda.

“I saw the way you figured out that what Farzin Kazemi had been putting in his glass was Viagra and I realized I had significantly underestimated you. You can do what I used to be able to do. You can take isolated pieces of information and weave a web, linking them to get to the true story.”

“I got lucky with the Kazemis, Ethan. My brain’s nothing special. I’m just a secretary, remember.”

“False modesty isn’t helpful right now. Until we find a way to get out of here, our best chance of stopping the killer is to figure out who he or she is.”

“You think it could be a woman?”

“Anyone can poison someone, Jennifer. It takes no particular strength or special skills. A child could have done it.”

She knew all that already but wasn’t interested in discussing the recent murders at the moment. What she wanted was an answer to the riddle that had been bugging her for months. And now was as good an opportunity as she’d ever get. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” he said.

“I never dared ask before but there’s something I’ve been wondering for a year. And since you brought up the subject of your wife…” She saw a shadow fall upon Ethan’s face, but she’d said too much to stop there. “What exactly happened the night your wife died? From what I could piece together and, let’s be honest, some eavesdropping on your conversations with Theo, it looks like your wife willingly followed Avery out of that club. Why?”

He remained silent for so long that she no longer expected an answer when he finally spoke. “Because of me.”

Perplexed, she repeated, “Because of you?”

“My wife and I were swingers. We’d go to clubs and parties that specialized in that sort of thing and find a couple to our liking. Then we’d split and most of the time I’d take the woman home while Amanda ended up at the man’s place.

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