The network name popped up on the beach, just as Jeff was about to head back to the hotel. He scanned as far as his eyes permitted, searching for anyone who might possibly be Meghan. He felt a pang in his stomach as he spotted an elderly couple holding hands. They seemed very much in love. He wanted to be walking hand-in-hand with Meghan well into their eighties.
He kept walking, the light from the hotel growing dimmer. He stumbled across the uneven sand in the dark.
He continued to walk north, counting his steps until Meghan’s wireless signal dropped. Forty-one steps, about a hundred and twenty-three feet. He returned to the spot where he had originally noticed the signal and walked south. Only eleven steps, or about thirty-three feet. He began again from that starting point and walked inland thirty steps before the signal dropped. No sign of Meghan anywhere.
There was only one direction left-the ocean. He felt a moment of panic until he realized that her phone wouldn’t emit a signal from the bottom of the ocean. There was a pier, but he didn’t see anyone on it. Still, he had to check. It was the only place left.
He walked the full length of the pier but saw nothing. Alone in the dark, he became so desperate he called out her name: “Meghan!” His phone was still getting her signal. Where was she?
He was about to turn back to the hotel when he saw the moonlight reflect off something between two wooden boards of the pier. He reached down and felt something metallic in the gap. It was the edge of a cell phone. It was Meghan’s.
He’d found the signal, but his wife was gone.
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.”
69
After her call ended, Laurie turned and faced the detective.
“He said she’s ‘gone’?” Detective Henson was clearly unhappy about everything she’d learned in the last half hour. That Laurie had evidence she hadn’t shared with the police. That her officers had watched Jeff, but not Meghan. And now, that their plan to find Meghan without scaring her off had failed.
Henson signaled to the officer next to her-she called him Tanner-to hand her his radio. “Peters, you still got eyes on Hunter?”
“Yeah, on the beach. Almost back to the hotel. He just got off the phone.”
“Yeah, unfortunately that was us calling the wife. He said she’s missing.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Bring him back here-we’re in the lobby-so we can figure out what in God’s name is going on.”
Detective Henson made no attempt to mask her anger. “I can’t believe you people didn’t tell me all this hours ago,” she said. “You should have given me those photographs the moment you had them.”
Leo held up a palm. “Hold on a second. I backed Laurie up on that. We didn’t think there was a rush. And we’re able to do more as private individuals than the police. The minute we start working with you, the Constitution applies. We thought we were doing the right thing.”
“We, huh? Funny, in my world, cops are a different breed than reporters and defense attorneys.”
Leo was about to further defend himself when Alex interrupted. “I think it’s safe to say we could have played things differently today. What can we do to help you now?”
“You can start by telling me what else you’ve been hiding from me.”
Laurie started to say there was nothing else, but then she remembered there was one other thing. “Jeremy, the photography intern. I hired him to come to the hotel and take photographs of our subjects. His secret pictures from five years ago were helpful. I figured it was worth trying again.”