“We should find a way to use that phrase.Because that’s what he was doing right?”
“Please don’t ever say that again.”
“He was!And I just came up with it right now.”
“I’m not ever using that phrase,” Tean said.And, just to make the point clear, he pocketed the phone.
Jem frowned, but all he did was tap the raw edge of the drywall.“Somebody had to have noticed this, right?Or what?Nobody ever moved this picture?Ever?”
“I don’t know,” Tean said.
Jem grimaced, but he nodded.“Bedroom?”
He insisted on going first, but like the rest of the house, the primary bedroom was empty.The large bed that Tean had seen through the peephole dominated the space, with its crisp white comforter that meant—again—no dogs in the house.A few framed photos hung on the walls, but these were only of Kai’s mother and stepfather.This time, Tean spent more time looking at them.She was thin, her hair limp, and her cheeks and throat and collarbone suggested a great deal of exercise or an eating disorder or both.The man, on the other hand, clearly wasn’t missing any meals.Stockily built, powerful across the upper body, he stared into the camera with a killer’s expression—unsmiling, flat, empty.
The thought caught Tean off guard, and he said, “Do we know what happened to Kai’s stepfather?”
Jem shook his head as he yanked open a dresser drawer.
Tean moved on to the nightstand.It held the usual clutter that accumulated—tissues, a journal that had never been written in, several Bic pens, a cluster of cough drops, and so many bottles of half-used lotion that he decided Mrs.Curtis had a dermatological problem.An open door connected to the en suite bathroom, where he found a Lady Gillette in the shower and soap scum in the tub, but nothing interesting—no prescription drugs, although she had several sprays and pills for allergies.
Jem was still working his way through the dresser, so Tean tried the closet next.It was a walk-in.He flipped on the light.Three-quarters of the closet was full of women’s clothing—blouses, slacks, dresses.Some of it was still wrapped in dry-cleaning bags.Some of it still had tags.Shoes were lined up in neat pairs below.
The last quarter, though, was empty.
Tean moved over to check the hang rods—not that there was anything to see.Then he began to search the hanging clothes.He checked them in sections, patting down a few articles at a time for anything that might have been left in the pockets, pushing them aside to see what was behind them.He found nothing but more drywall.No hidden safe.No secret passage.Nothing.
When he finished, he put everything back the way he’d found it.
“Some of her clothes are missing,” he said when he stepped out of the closet.
Jem was on the floor now, searching under the bed.His voice was muffled when he said, “Maybe she’s packing up her winter clothes.”
“I don’t think so.She has a lot of space.”
“She might have a lot of clothes.”
“But it’s only one section.”
“She might have just gotten started before Kai came back and killed her.”
“Something is weird about it.”
Jem backed out from underneath the bed.He checked his hair in a standing mirror, grimaced, and adjusted the angle of the glass.Then he said, “Let me see.”
But as Jem went to the closet, Tean found himself considering the mirror.He moved over to it.He and Jem were about the same height, and now that Jem had changed the angle, he had a good view of himself.He tilted the mirror back to where it had been.
The whisper of Jem’s ROOS on the floor made Tean say, “The mirror is too far back.”
“Maybe she bumped it,” Jem said.“Those are men’s shoes.So, I’m guessing men’s clothes were hanging there.”
“Her husband’s.”
“I guess.”
“So, where are they?”
“Maybe she got rid of them.”
