Husband by Choice

Chantel stared at him.

“And she’s okay?”

“She’s fine.”

“I check the hospitals in the area every morning....”

“She’s in no need of a hospital. She’s fine.”

No, she wasn’t. She couldn’t possibly be fine. She wasn’t home.

“Was she alone?”

“No.”

“She’s with Steve.”

“No.”

“She has to be. Maybe not that she’s saying, but I know he’s behind this.”

She wasn’t alone. Thoughts came and went in no apparent order. “Who was she with?”

“I can’t tell you that.” Chantel’s expression, her voice, held more pity than anything else.

If she wanted him to believe that Meri was with another man...that she’d left him for someone else....

“There’s no way you’re going to convince me she’s having an affair....” Not ever. Not Meri. It was just something he knew.

“I’m not trying to convince you of anything, and I have no evidence whatsoever that suggests there’s another man involved here. More that Meredith just wants her freedom.”

“Her freedom.” The words didn’t make sense to him. How did he apply them to the Meri he knew, to the son he and Meri shared, to their marriage? “I didn’t realize she was feeling trapped.” He shook his head. He was not a stupid man. Or an overly spiritual one, either. But he knew his wife.

“What did she say?” He needed Meri’s words. Not an outsider’s interpretation of them.

“She’s using an assumed name,” Chantel said.

Another wave of relief consumed him. With a fear chaser. “It’s Steve,” he said. “There’s no other reason she’d use an assumed name.”

“She has identification under the alternate name, Max. It takes time to get that. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment plan.”

That stopped him. For the moment it took him to remember that his job was to remain calm. “It’s because of Steve. I’m telling you. She knew someone in Vegas, a broker, she called him, who supplied her with identities. He’d been Steve’s snitch at one point, I think. I’m telling you Steve found her and she ran.” Because she didn’t trust him to be able to help her? “Tell me what she said.”

“Wayne asked her if she was Meredith Bennet and she said no. Several times.”

“Who did she say she was?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“But you know.”

“Yes. I asked only so that I could use it as I investigate Steve Smith. If he’s using her assumed name in conjunction with anything he’s doing—the purchase of plane tickets, for instance—I’ll get a hit.”

One thought rang clear in that second. Chantel wasn’t giving up. Because of something she’d heard that she wasn’t telling him?

Or just because he’d asked?

“You’re still looking for Steve.”