I hadn’t given much thought to Lizzie as a mother. I’d never considered her as a fully rounded person. To me, she was frozen in the one-dimensional role of girlfriend with good legs who Ali might have loved more than me.
“How old are your children?” I asked.
“Payne, our son, is seventeen. The girls, Emma and Amanda, are twins. They’re fifteen.” He paused, sipping his coffee. “Elizabeth has always been a little high strung, but, after the divorce, she really started behaving in ways that were out of character.”
“How so?”
“At first, we decided to share equal time with the children. But then Elizabeth changed her mind and gave me full custody.”
“Your children live with you?” What kind of mother would voluntarily give her kids up?
He nodded. “And then, not long after that, she moved five hours away. The Elizabeth I thought I knew, who was devoted to her children, would never relocate so far from them. They were still quite young when she left.”
I did a quick calculation. The oldest child would have been nine and the twin girls just seven when Lizzie left. “Do you know why she decided to settle in North Carolina?”
“Her grandmother once lived there, but there’s no family left in the area. Honestly, I have no idea why she’s in Durham.”
“Does she see the children?”
“Not nearly as much as they’d like.”
“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t imagine moving to another state and leaving my children behind, especially not when they were that young. Or even as adults. Ali and I used to joke with a horrified Ayla and Adam that they’d never be rid of us. We intended to retire wherever they moved to be close to our grandchildren.
“It is what it is,” Sean said with a sigh. “I’ve given up trying to figure my ex-wife out.”
“She’s definitely an enigma.”
“I drove myself half crazy trying to understand the choices she’s made. Elizabeth has always been a bit selfish, but she was also, for the most part, a loving mother. Why would she choose to hurt our kids like that?”
“Did you come up with any answers?”
He shook his head. “I finally realized that I might never know what drives Elizabeth. She’s become even more flighty over time. Sometimes we just have to accept that we’ll never find all of the answers to our questions.”
“I suppose it could have been another man,” Lulu said when I called her on my way home. “A million people who went to JMU have those bomber jackets.”
“What do you think the chances of that are?”
“I honestly think it could go either way.” A child chattered in the background. “Yara, go do your homework. I’ll be right there.” Lulu sounded far away. “I’m back,” Lulu said, her voice loud and clear. “Where were we? What were we saying?”
“You were saying bomber jacket boy might not be Ali.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. You said yourself that their college friend group is very tight. It could have been any of those guys.”
“And, of course, she’s a talented interior designer,” I grumbled. “She couldn’t have a boring normal job.”
“What kind of mother hands her kids to her ex-husband and moves away?” In the background, I could hear her girls fighting. Lulu raised her voice to be heard over the racket. “I mean, we all dream of dumping our kids to get some peace and quiet, but none of us actually does it.”
“Her husband said she was a devoted mother until they separated. Then she suddenly relocates and barely sees her kids.” I released a long, frustrated breath. “It’s yet another story that doesn’t add up.”
“Do you think the guy who broke in and ransacked Ali’s office is related to this Lizzie business?” She only knew about the intruder who’d searched Ali’s office. I still hadn’t told anyone about the garage breach.
“I have no idea.” I beeped at a pickup that almost veered into my lane. “I really don’t know what to think.”
“Maybe the break-in is completely unrelated.”
“Maybe. All we can say for sure is that Ali kept secrets from me.” Checking my rearview mirror, I prepared to change lanes to get away from the speeding pickup. The last thing I needed was for him to swipe my van. I did a double take when I caught sight of a vintage sports car behind me, a couple of lanes over, its burnt-orange color catching the sun’s glare.
“Are you still there?” Lulu asked.
