“You did a good job finding me. From what I gather you were already headed to Kate’s farm when she called.”
“Actually it was Michael who did most of the detective work. Hard as it may be for you to believe, I have a real sense from my time with him that he truly loves you. He’s full of regrets, but he’s also full of shit. He’s a killer, cold-blooded and cruel. So tell me, Natalie, why do you think your husband and Audrey were involved?”
“Not think—I know,” Natalie answered bitterly.
She then launched into her story about hearing a crying woman at work—how she’d invited Audrey to lunch, hoping to hatch a plan to catch her husband cheating, only to find out that the woman across from her was already sleeping with Michael.
“She tells me her lover’s name is Chris, which is Michael’s middle name, or the one he gave himself anyway, and that was just the start. There were all these arrows pointing to Michael as Audrey’s lover. He fit the description she gave, same number of kids, same gym, same nervous habit.”
She mentioned seeing Michael’s car during a rendezvous with Audrey in the McDonald’s parking lot, but left out the part about how she’d fallen asleep, along with her many hallucinations. She didn’t need Kennett doubting her, nor did she want to incriminate herself—which is why she neglected to mention her own crime. While it wasn’t murder, breaking and entering into Audrey’s home and taking those items was still against the law. Since her children were down to one parent, and the police had ample evidence against Michael, Natalie opted not to mention finding Michael’s shirt and gym locker key in Audrey’s apartment.
“I all but accused Audrey of sleeping with Michael, and she got visibly upset when I showed her his picture. He had basically the same reaction when I showed him hers,” Natalie remarked.
“All this came on the heels of my receiving an anonymous note from someone at work informing me—out of the goodness of their heart, bless them—that Michael was involved with a woman at our gym. Later I found a second note shuffled in a pile of papers in my desk drawer. I have no idea how long it was there. It got mixed in with some files I hadn’t looked at in a while. To me, it’s a note from the grave. I’m certain it was Audrey who left it. Guess all my accusations got her conscience going, but she never had the chance to come clean to me in person. Michael didn’t give her one.”
“Do you still have the note?”
“Yes, it’s at my house.”
Also at her house was the plastic bag containing Michael’s shirt and gym locker key. Eventually, Natalie would clean out the locker. Should she find something of consequence, of course she’d inform Kennett straightaway, and make up a story as to where she found the key. For now, less was more.
“I’d like to see that note if I may,” Kennett requested.
“Well, I’d like to go home,” Natalie replied curtly. “So what’s the favor, Detective? What is it you want me to do?”
A slight frown darkened Kennett’s expression in a clear warning that his ask wouldn’t be easy.
“At first I wanted you to wear a wire and get a confession from Michael on tape for us, but Massachusetts has a two-party consent law that pretty much makes that plan a no-go unless Michael was also involved in organized crime.”
“He can’t even organize his sock drawer,” Natalie tossed out.
Kennett couldn’t suppress a laugh.
“So what then?” she asked. “No wire. What’s your ask?”
“I want you to get a confession. We have evidence that Michael had been in contact with Audrey, communications suggesting he was concerned about certain things coming to light. It’s some evidence, but not enough. I need his confession. Talk to him. Tell him that you love him. That you want to keep your family together, make it work.”
“But he’s a murderer.”
“He killed Audrey to guard his secret, to protect you and the kids, the life you have together. You’re going to tell him that you know what he did, and that while you’re horrified by his crime, you understand why he did it. All you want is the truth so that you can move forward as a family again. As for your arrest, we’re going to drop the charges against you—the story here is that your lawyer found errors with your arrest warrant. As a result, a judge is going to order your immediate release. You’ll tell Michael you want to see him. Tell him almost losing it all has made you rethink your life. Now that you’re better rested, you’ve had a change of heart about the marriage, even though you know he killed Audrey Adler.”
Natalie silently mulled the offer over.
“Let me give this some thought. I think I can do better than that,” she eventually said.
“Okay, well, I hope so. There are no other suspects. He’s our guy and you’re going to help us get him.”
“And where will you be when all this is taking place?”
“Outside your house, waiting. You’ll turn a light on and off two times and that’ll be our signal to move. We’ll come in, arrest him, and you can get on with your life. We’ll want you of course to be a witness at trial.”
“I’ll think it over,” said Natalie, even though she’d already decided.
“I appreciate it,” said Kennett, who, judging by the slight twinkle in his eyes, might have been a mind reader. “One other thing, Natalie, if I may. If you do agree to help, and I hope that you will, we’d like to find out where Michael hid the murder weapon.”
“If I agree to participate, I’ll do my best to help you find it,” she said.
Natalie was also thinking of a different weapon, one used to murder Brianna Sykes. She’d give that knife to the police as well, but not before it served another purpose, one directly connected to her newly formed plan to get Michael out of her life forever.
CHAPTER 43
MICHAEL
He stood outside his house, unsure of what to do. Should he ring the bell or march right in? In the past, it wouldn’t have been a question. The new normal, however, meant new norms that hadn’t yet been established. His finger hovered near the button while another thought scuttled about in his head.
Where are the reporters?
He had expected a gauntlet of them to be camped on the front lawn, covering Natalie’s surprise release after the charges against her were dropped. She got off on a technicality was all she told him on the phone. Perhaps that news hadn’t yet made it to the media. It was the only logical explanation as to why his street held the same quiet stillness it always had.