The Wilsons made a striking couple, though I was a little put off by their youth. I tried not to be disappointed. Andrew wouldn’t have sent me if they weren’t excellent investigators.
“Ella,” she said with a disarming smile. “He’s Luke. You must be Elizabeth.”
I nodded.
“Take a seat,” she said, indicating what looked like her desk, with a jar of purple pens.
“You can type on my computer,” she said. “I’ve got a chat program open. I’ll sit with Luke so we can both see your answers.”
“Coffee or tea?” she said, waving to a kettle of boiling water and a coffee maker with fresh coffee.
I sat and typed,“Tea, please.”
She fixed tea for the two of us and set out a tray with sweeteners, so I helped myself. She poured coffee for her husband and gave him a stunning smile when she placed it beside him.
His thank you to her was as personal as a kiss. They looked so in love. What was their story?
Impressed with her thoughtfulness, I leaned back in the comfortable black leather chair. Their preparedness elevated my opinion of their competence.
“I read about selective mutism,” Ella said once we were ready. “I don’t expect you to talk, but the more information we get, the more likely we are to help.”
I nodded.
“Tell us about your case,” she said.
“It’s weird,”I typed,“Which makes me nervous about explaining. Last time I told someone, I spent seventy-two hours in the psych ward.”For a second, I wished I hadn’t shared that, but if they investigated me, it might come up.
Luke said little. He let Ella take the lead, but he was watching at me. Analyzing.
My eyes flicked in his direction.
“Shoot,” he said. “We can handle it.”
“Last May, I made a wish and traveled back in time five years to this time. I’m from the future. I don’t plan to go back. I can’t do it at will. I’ve made different choices, fallen in love with someone new, and gotten engaged.”
I glanced up to see how they’d taken ‘time travel’ and ‘future.’
No reaction. Their faces were impassive as they read the screen. I wasn’t sure if that was a positive sign or not. At least they weren’t mocking.
I took a deep breath and told them the short version of my time in 2017.
“Has your former-late-husband-turned-stalker hurt you?” said Ella as I finished.
She made a note on a notepad.
I shook my head.“Christopher interrupted him the first time in June. He abducted me from my office Christmas party in early December, but I escaped. We haven’t seen him since. I’d hoped he was gone. It’s hard to live looking over your shoulder all the time.”
Luke and Ella exchanged glances, making me wonder anew about their story.
“On the first, Christopher received a call from his estranged brother. He got upset and went for a drive. Five hours later, his car was found with all four tires slashed. He was gone. There have been no leads. It’s like he vanished.”
“Have they traced his phone?” said Ella as she made another note.
“It was under his car on the ground, with my texts unread. That gave the police the time of disappearance as between five and six p.m. Nobody at the grocery store saw anything unusual. A tub of ice cream and a tray with steaks were on the backseat.”
I’d put both in the freezer to enjoy when he came home.
“You think your stalker had something to do with his disappearance,” she said.
