Apples Never Fall

Actually, Stan Delaney was not behaving like a guilty person. Guilty people overexplained. They talked too much and gave unnecessary detail. They were too polite and tried too hard to hold eye contact for too long. Stan answered their questions with terse impatience, as if he had somewhere else to be.

Amy said, “I mean, you haven’t found anything at the house, have you? Like, you haven’t found any actual … evidence?”

There was a tiny flinch on the word evidence, as if she’d burned her tongue.

Christina ignored the question. Instead she threw out a piece of information like a fishing line.

“Amy, were you aware that your father had his car washed and detailed the day after your mother went missing?” she asked. “He took it to a car-wash café he’d never visited before and he got the most expensive service they had to offer. Their ‘premium’ treatment. Normally only people with luxury cars choose that option. It cost him four hundred dollars.”

“Four hundred dollars?” The color left Amy’s face. “You’re saying my dad spent four hundred dollars getting his car washed? Are you sure?”

Christina said jovially, “Would you say that was out of character?”

She didn’t need to hear the answer.

From a forensics point of view the car told Christina nothing. The car detailers had done an excellent job. No one at the car café remembered anything unusual about the car. They did proudly confirm the use of oxidizing cleaners, which would have removed all evidence of blood stains.

But a man who gets his car cleaned the day after his wife goes missing has something to hide.

“Do you know a Dr. Henry Edgeworth?” she asked Amy.

“Doctor who?” said Amy.

“Edgeworth,” said Christina. “Henry Edgeworth. Your mother had a long telephone conversation with him on the day she disappeared.”

“Really?” said Amy. She brightened. “We should call him!”

It was like she honestly thought they hadn’t considered this idea.

“We’ve been trying to contact him,” said Christina. “But he’s out of the country. At a conference.”

“Wait, do you think my mother could be with him?”

“We can’t find any record of your mother having left the country,” said Christina. “We also know she hasn’t got her passport with her.”

“Unless she traveled with a fake passport?” said Amy.

Christina couldn’t tell if she was serious.

“Does that seem likely?” Ethan spoke up. “That your mother would have a fake passport?”

“No,” admitted Amy. “But I guess it’s possible she could have a secret life that I know nothing about, right? I mean, your parents can surprise you, can’t they?”

“Is it possible your mother was having an affair?” asked Christina.

Amy’s mouth dropped. “Absolutely not.”

“You did just say it was possible that she had a secret life.” Christina finished the brownie and licked her fingers.

Amy scratched an insect bite on her arm so hard she drew blood. She pressed her thumb against the spot of blood and said, “I did just say that, didn’t I? Do you really think that’s possible? That’s she’s having an affair with this doctor? I guess stranger things have happened, right? You probably see lots of strange things in your line of work. It’s just that my parents, my parents—” She dropped her thumb from her arm and looked back at them, her face open and earnest. “My parents were the only parents holding hands at school events. They kiss, in public, all the time! They worked together, they played doubles together. Their marriage isn’t perfect, I’m not saying that, but it’s a good marriage, I know that for a fact. Their marriage is my benchmark.”

There was something almost childlike about her view of her parents’ marriage. Christina thought of her mother’s google search: How does a divorce affect adult children? No wonder Joy Delaney was worried.

“When you first reported your mother missing you mentioned that things had been ‘a little tumultuous’ lately between your parents,” Christina reminded her.

“Did I?” said Amy vaguely, and, it seemed to Christina, regretfully. “Well, you know that Mum and Dad argued before she left. Dad isn’t hiding that from us. He told us that straight away.”

“Right,” said Christina. “But what did you mean when you said things had been a little tumultuous lately?”