“And you think he’s here now?”
“I don’t know. But I can find out.” She called Jeremy’s cell phone. He picked up right away and confirmed that he was at the hotel, in the courtyard. “Come to the lobby now. It’s important,” she told him.
They were still waiting for Jeremy when Jeff showed up with a man who Henson introduced as Sergeant Peters.
Jeff was speaking so quickly, it was hard to follow. An email to Meghan from Kate that wasn’t really from Kate. The phone left at the pier. Meghan only called the lawyer because they were having a baby.
Detective Henson was unmoved. “We’re going to sort through all that once you have a chance to explain it at the station. But, right now, Jeff, we need to find your wife. It doesn’t look good that she’s missing. We have some questions that we need to ask her. Running off like this makes her look guilty.”
“Guilty? Wait, I was sure that you’d think I did something to her. You think Meghan-?”
“We just have questions,” Henson said, “which means we need to find her. Now, we can start by you turning over that phone.”
Jeff blinked in disbelief. “No.” He placed the phone in his front pocket.
“That’s a mistake, sir.”
“It’s called the Fourth Amendment. No searches without a warrant.”
“It’s going to look like the two of you killed Amanda together,” she said.
“No, it’s going to look like what it is. My wife is missing. Someone took her from that pier, and you clearly don’t believe me. So if she calls this number for any reason, I want to be the one who answers it.”
Laurie was about to try to intervene when she spotted Jeremy coming into the lobby, hurrying toward them. “Jeremy, please tell me you’ve seen Meghan.”
70
Jeremy looked frightened, his eyes shifting between Henson and the other officers. “They look like police. They always turn everything around. They think the worst of me.”
“It’s okay,” Laurie assured him. “I told them that I’m the one who asked you to be here. I hired you to photograph people from a distance. Do you know something about Meghan?”
“I saw her.”
“Where? When?”
“About twenty minutes ago, maybe thirty. On the pier. But I don’t want to get her in trouble.”
“She’s not in trouble, but we need to find her.”
Now Jeremy was giving a nervous look to Jeff. “I don’t think he’s going to like what I have to say.”
“I just want to find my wife,” Jeff pleaded. “Tell us anything you know.”
“I saw her with another man. At the pier.”
“What man?” Jeff asked. “Where did they go?”
“I don’t know who he was. I’m good at night photography, but it’s impossible to make out faces. But she met him at the pier. Then they got on the boat.”
“Jeremy,” Laurie said, trying to sound calm, “we need as much information as you can give us. It’s an emergency.”
Jeremy covered his camera protectively. Laurie could tell he didn’t trust them. They couldn’t force him to talk or give them his camera. She thought about how she was able to connect with him earlier today at his house.
“This is your chance to help Amanda, Jeremy. Whatever you saw could help us find her killer. But we must act quickly.”
His eyes brightened. “Meghan was sitting on the pier and a man came off the boat. I couldn’t see everything, but she went away with him.”
He lifted the camera from his neck and began scrolling through photographs on the digital screen. “You can’t see his face, like I said, but he’s taller than Meghan.”
All Laurie could see were dark figures next to a boat. As Jeremy continued to flip through images, she asked him to go back to one that seemed to have a higher contrast than the others. “That one,” she said. “I saw something that looked a little clearer.”
When he reached the picture, he explained. “That bright spot is a white sign on the boat. The white metal catches the moonlight. It’s a very good shot, isn’t it? That’s why I chose it for a close-up. You have a good eye.”
But Laurie wasn’t interested in the artistry of the shot. What mattered was the sign. LADIES FIRST.
“Ladies First,” she said. “Why does that sound so familiar?”
Jeff was looking over her shoulder. “That’s Nick’s sign,” he shouted. “He hangs it on every boat he charters. Meghan’s with Nick? But he’s in Boca with a client.”
“No, he’s not,” Laurie said. “He was here, at least until this picture was taken.”
“He texted me during dinner. He left hours ago.”
“Then he never really left or must have come back,” Laurie said. “Jeremy, are you certain Meghan got on that boat voluntarily?”
His brow wrinkled in confusion. “I can’t be sure. I’m good at reading body language and facial expressions, but in the dark, from that distance? I just assumed-” He looked at Jeff, almost apologetically. He simply assumed Meghan was meeting up with another man, a guy with an impressive boat.
“I don’t understand,” Jeff said. “Nick’s my friend.”
“Or, he’s not,” Laurie said. She could feel all the pieces falling into place. She had been so focused on Jeff and Meghan, because they were the ones with a motive to kill Amanda. Jeff, for money. And Meghan, to be with Jeff. She was assuming that whoever killed Amanda-and Carly before her-was actually after them. But Laurie, of all people, should have realized that not all killers go after their actual targets. Some killers are willing to target people just to hurt someone else. A sociopath uses victims as pawns in a game no one else is playing.
Greg’s killer had had nothing against Greg. He murdered him, and would have killed Laurie and Timmy, all for a personal vendetta against someone else.
She thought about Grace saying that Nick was much more appealing than Austin. But Jeff, unlike his friends, didn’t even have to try. When Laurie first met Jeff, she’d thought of Greg. He’d had a natural ease that couldn’t be learned or bought.
“He’s doing this because he hates you, Jeff. He’s jealous. You’ve found happiness with women who love you. All Nick has is loneliness and rage. Don’t you see? Nick finds comfort around Austin, because he doesn’t think Austin is as good as he is. But you’re different. You’re a threat. He wants what you have but he can’t. Was Nick interested in Carly Romano at Colby?”
The mention of Carly’s name seemed to spark a memory. “As I said, she was one of the prettiest girls on campus. We were all interested. But no, there’s no way Nick would do that. And a second ago, you acted as though Meghan was guilty.”
“I don’t think she is,” Laurie said. “She’s innocent, and she’s in danger. Detective Henson, how can we find that boat? Nick told me it was the most impressive charter in the region.”
71
Nick felt at home with his hands on the wheel, the ocean’s air blowing against his face. He found himself smiling. LADIES FIRST. Normally that sign referred to his many female boating guests. He laughed out loud. Neither Carly nor Amanda had ever been at sea with him. Meghan would be the first.
Three different women, all distinct, but they all had one thing in common: they’d all rejected Nick’s advances and fallen for that phony Jeff Hunter.
Taking Meghan had been much easier than forcing Carly into his car as she walked home from that party, or luring Amanda away from the hotel. One email from an untraceable, anonymous account, purporting to be from Kate, had done the trick.
With Amanda, he hadn’t claimed to be someone else. He should have known she wouldn’t want to talk to him alone. She was just like Carly. Women like them always raised their noses at him, like he was just a joke, a temporary flirtation. Amanda had rolled her eyes at him and Austin the entire trip at the Grand Victoria until he told her that Jeff was seeing another woman behind her back. That sure did get her attention! Suddenly he was the one in charge.