I DON’T END up leaving work after all. I can’t. It would be worse to sit at home, wondering what was going on here. Wondering what everybody was saying to that detective.
I have a view of the conference room if I stand up inside my cubicle. It seems like Santoro is interviewing every single person who works at the company. I just had the honor of being first. And the only one whose fingerprints are all over Dawn’s house.
Seth was second. Like me, he didn’t seem thrilled about the idea of being interviewed by the police. He spent a long time with them. Definitely more than half an hour. I wonder if Santoro asked him about me.
I don’t know why Santoro is so suspicious of me. I was just being a good coworker, checking up on Dawn when I was worried about her. If I did something to her, I would have gotten far away from her house. How could he possibly suspect me? And what does he think she wanted to talk to me about?
He can’t possibly know about… No, I’m being paranoid.
Usually, I eat lunch with Kim, but I’m too anxious today. I just grab a bag of chips from the vending machine downstairs and eat it in my cubicle.
I make a few sales calls to take my mind off of everything, but every twenty minutes or so, I stand up to see what’s going on in the conference room.
It’s just after lunch when Caleb sits down with the detective.
I didn’t even know Caleb was going to be at the office today. He usually doesn’t come in on Wednesdays. But there he is, sitting across from Detective Santoro. He looks nervous—his left leg keeps bouncing on the floor. Twice he scratches at his head until his hair sticks up.
Caleb hardly knew Dawn. So it’s unlikely the detective is spending a lot of time asking him about her. I have to assume the questions being fired at him are all about me.
Yesterday, he agreed to tell the detective we were together all night last night. But he wasn’t happy about it. If I had known he would be interviewed today, I would have checked in with him again and made sure we were still on the same page. Caleb is too honest. I can imagine him cracking and telling the detective the truth—we were together last night, but not the whole night.
I check my watch. How long has he been in there? For God’s sake, what could they be talking about for so long?
Finally (finally!) Caleb emerges from the conference room. As soon as he gets out, his eyes meet mine across the room. He doesn’t look away, which I consider a good sign. I raise my eyebrows at him, and he comes over to me. I nearly yank him by the arm into my cubicle.
“What were you talking about all that time?” I’m trying to sound casual, but my voice comes out screechy.
“Actually,” he says, “he asked me a lot about you.”
My legs wobble beneath me. I had been worried about something like that, but I had tried to convince myself I was just being paranoid. Apparently not. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. A bunch of questions.”
Ugh, Caleb is such a guy. So aggravating. “Like what?”
He shrugs. “Just if you and Dawn were friends, and if Dawn ever talked to me about you. It was strange.”
“Did he ask you about Monday night?” “Yes…”
My chest feels heavy. “And what did you tell him?” “I… I told him we were together the whole night.”
I can’t help myself—I throw my arms around his shoulders. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, but…” He pulls away, his cheeks pink. “I don’t feel great about this, Nat.”
“It’s a white lie.”
He drops his voice several notches. “How exactly is lying to the police about our whereabouts a ‘white lie’?”
I grit my teeth. “So… what? You think I killed Dawn or something?” “No, of course not!” Then he hesitates. “But… when we said we were
going to meet, you said you had to do something else that night. Remember?”
I stare at him blankly. “What?”
“I remember you said that. When I said you should come over, you said there was something else you had to do that night. What was it?”
My cheeks get so hot that I’m sure my face is bright red. “I just had to drop off a couple of cases of Collahealth at a vitamin store. Are you serious? You really think I had something to do with what happened to her?”
“No. Sorry, I just…”
“Look, you’re just saving us both some grief. I mean, between the two of us, you’re much more physically capable of hurting Dawn, and you’re getting an alibi out of this too. So you’re welcome.”
Caleb takes a step back, his face dark. “But I don’t have a motive.” “And I do?”
He averts his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. Anyway, it’s done.”
I’ve been going about this wrong. I’m starting to antagonize my boyfriend, who is already feeling ambivalent about this whole thing. I need to tone it down. And make him remember what a great time we have together.
“Listen…” I run a finger up the thin fabric of his dress shirt. “Why don’t you come over to my house again tonight? I’ll cook you some dinner.”
He looks down at his watch. “I can’t. I came here because Seth told me I needed to talk to the detective, but I’ve got to get out to Newton right now and I’ll be stuck there till late. This took a lot longer than I thought it would.”
“Oh. Maybe tomorrow then?”
“Yeah, maybe.” He sounds distracted. “I’ll text you, okay?”
It’s hard to hide my disappointment. It’s hard not to notice that Caleb isn’t looking at me anymore like he’s lucky to be with me. He looks like he wants to take off. I had really thought Caleb could be the one—somebody who might stick around for the long term. I thought I had found a great guy. And now that great guy is slipping through my fingers.
But before I can get too worked up over it, he grabs my shoulders and plants a kiss on my lips.
“I’ve got to go,” he says. “I’ll see you later, Nat.”
I watch him walk away, his shoulder slumped. I still can’t tell if I’ve blown it or not.
