All Dressed in White

68

Jeff knew instantly that the phone wasn’t accidentally left behind. It had been deliberately placed between those boards, he was certain of it. The question was, why?

Her only recent text messages were the ones he’d sent her, asking her to come back to their room. No voice mails of interest. He pulled up her emails. The most recent message was from Kate. She thought the TV show was going to set him up as the prime suspect. No kidding, he thought. She wanted to meet Meghan on the pier.

Now where were they? His first instinct was that he didn’t have Kate’s cell phone number, but then he checked Meghan’s contacts. Of course she had a perfectly updated address book. Typical Meghan.

Kate answered after two rings, but the wait felt like an eternity. He heard a television in the background.

“Kate, it’s Jeff. Can I talk to Meghan?”

“Um, I thought this was going to be Meghan. You’re calling from her number.”

“I have her phone. Meghan’s not still with you?”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen her since dinner.”

“You emailed her to meet you at the pier. I found her phone here, but not her.”

Kate’s voice was clearly worried as she said, “I hate to tell you this, Jeff, but I didn’t email Meghan, and I haven’t left my room since I got back. If she was meeting someone at the pier, it wasn’t me.”

When Jeff hung up, he realized he had no one he could turn to. Kate may not have written that email, but whoever did was right: Jeff was the prime suspect. He could already picture the detectives’ response once he reported his wife missing. They’d never believe him. They already thought he killed Amanda. Now they’d think he’d hurt Meghan, too.

Why had Meghan left her phone behind? What was he missing?

Jeff scrolled further back into her emails. Everything appeared to be about work. Then he saw one sent yesterday from a medical office. He opened it. It was signed Dr. Jane Montague, OB/GYN. He was about to close it when one particular word caught his attention.

“Hi Meghan, the nurse sent me your message inquiring about the effects of ultra-rapid metabolization on your pregnancy. Though it’s good to know you metabolize drugs faster than most people, this only helps your doctors make sure you’re on appropriate dosages when you require a prescription. It will not affect the baby one bit! Best, Dr. M.”

Her pregnancy. The baby. They were having a child.

It all made sense now. That’s why Meghan had been so eager to put this television show behind them. She didn’t want to tell him while they were in the middle of an investigation.

He also understood now why Meghan called Amanda’s attorney. Now that their family was growing, he and Meghan absolutely would need a larger apartment.

Jeff never wanted to take money from Amanda, but the fact that he was named in her will was exactly that-a fact. If Jeff would eventually inherit all that money from Amanda, wasn’t Meghan’s question to the lawyer reasonable, especially since they were now having a baby? The fact that Amanda’s body was found only a few hours later was a horrible coincidence. But it looks really bad.

He felt tears burning his eyes. He couldn’t believe he had ever doubted her.

He looked at the phone in his hand. Meghan must have left it for a reason.

He scanned the texts, phone calls, and emails one more time. He even looked through her photographs, hoping for some clue.

What else could it be?

The location. That was what she had wanted him to know. Not anything in the phone, but the location of the phone itself. Something terrible had happened on that pier.

He jerked when Meghan’s phone rang in his hand. Please, let it be her. Let this nightmare be over.

“Hello?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, followed by, “Is this Jeff? This is Laurie Moran. I’m sorry to call late, but I managed to lose the release Meghan signed for the show. My boss will go nuts. Would Meghan mind if I stopped by real quick? I’ll sleep better knowing it’s done.”

“Meghan’s not here. She’s-gone. Please help me find her.”