“Yes.”
“And you’ve been carrying her things? For two years? You’ve been coming to our pool?”
“For four months.”
“Four months.” I could barely say it. “You’ve been watching us all that time? Why?”
“I saw your post,” Marcus said quietly. “The one about your Saturday swims with Ben. I recognized the pool from the photo.”
I could barely say it.
“Why didn’t you just knock on my door? Why didn’t you call? Why didn’t you just hand her belongings to the police, to anyone?”
Marcus stared at his hands.
“Because I’m the reason she isn’t here.”
I felt Ben go very still.
“Say that again,” I whispered, anger flooding my body.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Why didn’t you call?”
“When the storm hit, the boat started listing hard. Claire didn’t panic. She started thinking. Your wife pulled off her bracelet, took her wallet, dug a shopping list out of her jacket pocket, and wrote something on the back. She shoved all of it into my dry bag and made me promise that if anything happened, I’d give it to you. In person. Not by mail. Not through a stranger. Me.”
