“When did you realize she was missing?” Laurie asked.
“She didn’t show up for brunch on Friday morning. At first, we thought she was sleeping in. I tried calling the room to see if she wanted me to send up some breakfast. When she didn’t answer, I went to check on her. Meghan came with me. Amanda didn’t answer. We looked all over-the gym, the beach, the pool-and finally asked the hotel for a key. When I saw her wedding gown laid out across the bed, I was so relieved. I could imagine her trying it on one last time and leaving it out. But then Meghan told me Amanda tried the dress on before the dinner the night before. That’s when she told me they never actually saw Amanda go back to her room. It was obvious that something was seriously wrong. Housekeeping had not made up her room that morning. The bed had not been slept in on Thursday night.”
Jeff’s description of his moment of panic when he realized that Amanda had not slept in her hotel room seemed too authentic to be fabricated. Then Laurie reminded herself that he’d had over five years to rehearse his story.
“Mr. Hunter,” she said, “it’s obvious that many people suspect you in Amanda’s disappearance and that you want the opportunity to clear your name. We want to take on this case. Since I’m sure you’ll want to see it eventually, I took the liberty of bringing the standard release we ask people to sign before production.” She reached into her briefcase and slipped him the agreement.
“If I do the show, I assume that all of this would be fair game? The will. My relationship with Amanda. Were we actually happy? Was I cheating? Did she leave me at the altar? Why did I marry her best friend?”
Laurie was not going to lie to the man. “Yes, those are the kinds of things we’d get into.”
He was nodding slowly as he flipped through the pages, taking it all in. “Okay.”
“I can send you our previous specials if you want to re-watch them and get back to us with any questions.”
“No, I mean, okay, I’ll do it.” He walked to his kitchen, grabbed a pen from the counter, and began signing.
“Well, that’s great.” Laurie couldn’t remember a time when anyone had agreed this easily. Alex gave her a quick wink when Jeff wasn’t looking.
“You sound surprised,” Jeff said, handing her the signed agreement.
“No, just pleased.”
“I’m no Alex Buckley, Ms. Moran, but I’m a good lawyer, and I can read a witness’s expression. You were surprised because part of you thinks I may have killed Amanda, in which case the last thing I’d want is to sit down on camera and talk to you about her disappearance. So, Alex, I look forward to being on the receiving end of one of your trademark cross-examinations, because I didn’t do anything to hurt Amanda, and never could have.”
“This is your chance to tell the world that,” Laurie said.
“What anyone thinks about me is less important. I just want to know what happened to Amanda. Because I know she didn’t leave that resort on her own.”
21
Meghan White was greeted by the smell of something delicious roasting in the oven when she got home. Jeff was in the kitchen wearing the apron she’d bought for him last year, the one that said, “Real Men Bake Cookies.”
“That smells glorious.” How lucky she was to have married a man who could cook. Everything about Jeff made her feel lucky. He was sweet and funny and her closest confidant. He was her best friend. She was waiting for the right moment to tell him the news. “What are we having, Jeff?” she asked.
“Rosemary and garlic lamb chops. You claim they’re your favorite.”
He greeted her with a hug that was longer than usual.
When he finally let go of her, he was looking at her as though something was wrong.
“Is everything okay?” Meghan asked.
“Sit down.”
“You’re scaring me, Jeff.”
“Just sit. Please.” Once she did, he poured her a glass of prosecco and waited for her to take a sip, but she did not.
“I don’t need wine to have a conversation,” Meghan said. “How did that meeting go? I absolutely couldn’t get out of the office.”
“I should have waited until we talked. I signed on to do the show.”
Fifteen minutes later, Meghan sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her wineglass, still full, on the nightstand. She had changed into casual slacks and a pullover. She needed some time to think. The decision was already made. She had heard the certainty in his voice. Jeff’s mind was made up. He hadn’t been asking for her permission; he’d been breaking the news: He was doing this show. And Meghan knew that, in reality, he was making the decision for both of them. How could she say no? How would it look that first she took the man Amanda was supposed to marry and now was trying to block a reinvestigation of her case?
She wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. When Amanda’s case had churned through the 24/7 cable channels, Meghan had managed to stay out of the story. Amanda’s parents had been the ones front and center, with Jeff at their side. It was months before the reporters stopped calling Jeff for comments.
When they got married, she had been terrified that the media frenzy would start again. That’s why they had gone quietly to the courthouse. It’s why she didn’t take Jeff’s name. She didn’t want the scrutiny.
But this show would put them before millions of judging eyes. Viewers would want to know what kind of woman would steal her missing friend’s fiancé. They’d want to know what kind of man could marry another woman so soon after his beloved Amanda went missing. Everyone would hate them.
She started to lift her glass, and then put it back down, reminding herself that she shouldn’t.
She pictured herself explaining everything about her marriage to a bunch of strangers on camera. When Jeff and I started to develop feelings for each other, we were just as surprised as anyone else. They’d fallen out of touch after college, but their paths crossed after law school when Meghan helped Jeff navigate a thorny immigration issue for one of his clients. He offered to take her out to dinner as a thank-you. After two dates fizzled, they remained strictly professional colleagues and friends. And then Jeff bumped into Meghan at a coffee shop near the courthouse when she was about to meet Amanda. She immediately sensed a spark between them. Maybe if Amanda had arrived a few minutes later, their paths would never have crossed again.
So how was it that they had ended up together? That’s the question the television show would want to ask. It really was because of Amanda. In the aftermath of her disappearance, they had consoled each other over the loss of a woman they both loved. They had friendship first and then a deep bond that came later. And because of that bond, Meghan now knew what she had to do.
She walked back to the kitchen, stopping first in the hallway bathroom to pour her wine in the sink. Jeff was at the counter, slicing a tomato. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Okay, we’ll do this. Together. For Amanda. And for us.”
He turned around and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I knew I could count on you. How were things at work today? When you got home, it seemed like you wanted to tell me something.”
He always could tell what she was thinking. “Nothing big. I did manage to get an extension on Mrs. Tran’s visa.”
“That’s good. I knew you were worried about that.”
She would wait a few days before telling him the actual news. She did not want all this talk about Amanda to overshadow the fact that she hoped and believed she was pregnant. The home test kit had been positive. She had made an appointment with her doctor for an additional test to confirm. If the news was good, she’d need to make sure that those past problems she’d had with prescriptions wouldn’t affect the baby. Wow, a baby. She felt a lump in her throat at the thought.