The Perfect Wife Read online

  “I was thinking I might do it at the club. But now that he’s scaling back going there, I may need to find a nice restaurant instead. Any recommendations?”

  “Scaling back?” Teddy asked, perplexed. “What are you talking about?”

  “Didn’t Kyle tell you that he’d be cutting back how often he’d be visiting the club?”

  “No,” Teddy said. “I’d remember that, considering how much effort he put into getting in there.”

  “What do you mean?” Jessie asked, trying not to sound like she cared too much.

  “It’s just that, well, Kyle and I knew each other in high school but we weren’t super tight. So I was actually a little surprised when he called me out of the blue one day.”

  “What did he want?” Jessie asked. She could feel her blood pumping faster but tried not to let her voice betray it.

  “He said you two were moving down here and he’d heard great things about Club Deseo. He wanted to know how get in.”

  “He already knew about it when you first talked?” Jessie asked. “You didn’t tell him about it?”

  “No. He knew all about it and that I was a member. He had lots of specific questions.”

  Like what?”

  Teddy looked suddenly uncomfortable again, as if he’d revealed something he shouldn’t have.

  “Just stuff,” he said unconvincingly.

  “What kind of stuff?” Jessie asked again, trying to be playful.

  But it didn’t work. She could see Teddy shutting down.

  “Listen, I really should get back to Daughton,” he said plaintively.

  Jessie decided the time for a light touch was over. She needed to play hardball.

  “Teddy, I know about the club. I know what really goes on there.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, looking over her shoulder in the direction of the front door.

  Jessie glanced back as well. Melanie wasn’t there but clearly he was worried that she would hear. Could he really think his wife was oblivious to the goings-on there? The things he’d been doing?

  “You do know,” Jessie said. “You know because you’ve been taking advantage of what they offer. I saw you with that brunette in the little upstairs nook off the dining room. What was her name again—Kelsey? I really liked her black minidress, even though she wasn’t wearing anything under it.”

  Teddy’s eyes went wide and Jessie realized he must have gotten so used to not being called on his behavior that it didn’t occur to him that it wasn’t a secret.

  “Listen, you can’t tell Mel about Kelsey,” he said, his voice pleading.

  “I don’t want to,” Jessie insisted. “And I won’t if I don’t have to. But I need you to tell me the truth about Kyle.”

  Teddy stared at her, trying to gauge just how serious she was. She decided to jumpstart things for him and turned toward the house.

  “Let’s see how Mel reacts to the minidress story,” she said over her shoulder.

  “Okay, wait, stop,” he hissed.

  “Spill it,” Jessie said, turning around. “Last chance.”

  “Fine. Listen, your husband may be a successful businessman but he’s also got some desires he’d rather keep under wraps. He told me a while back that he was bored with married life; that he wanted to spice things up. Someone had mentioned Deseo to him. He did all this research and knew everything about it when he called me. He had very specific questions about how he could partake of stuff they had there without risking his reputation.”

  “So you’re saying our whole move down here was just so he could join that club?” Jessie asked skeptically.

  “He’s the one who suggested expanding that satellite office and offered to come down here. He knew you’d never go for the lifestyle he wanted to live. He said you were super straight—definitely no swinging or orgies. But he figured that once you were here, living in a fancy house, with a ton more disposable income, a baby on the way, away from anyone you knew but him, you’d feel like you had to stay. And if you discovered something fishy, by then you’d be so entrenched that you’d just have to put up with it. That’s not unusual around here.”

  Jessie stared at him, wondering how he could be so dense as to not get that what he was describing was going on his very own house. But since he didn’t get it, she wasn’t going to say anything. His fear of his wife “finding out” what she already knew was really her only trump card.

  “And the boat?” she prompted.

  “How do you know about the boat?” he demanded.

  Something told Jessie that they weren’t discussing the same thing and she decided to let him take the lead, lest she say the wrong thing.

  “You tell me,” she said.

  “You know, you act all holier than thou. But you and Kyle are more alike than you think. You threaten to tell my wife about Kelsey. He did the same thing when he heard I’d taken her out to the boat a few times.”

  “You had sex with Kelsey on your boat?” Jessie asked, equally shocked and disgusted.

  “Mel gets seasick even when it’s docked,” Teddy said. “I knew she’d never go out there. I’m just glad he didn’t know about the bonus feature or he’d probably have tried to blackmail me with that.”

  “Bonus feature?” Jessie asked.

  Teddy looked panicked. It was clear that he’d said more than he intended.

  “Um, yeah,” he said, obviously coming up with a bogus answer as he spoke. “I bought an upgraded navigation system. It was really expensive. I didn’t tell Mel. If Kyle knew, he’d have held it over me.”

  “Teddy,” Jessie said, doing her best to sound comforting and forceful at the same time. “You’re independently wealthy. You cheat on your wife with a club hostess. I just don’t believe that you’d care what she thought about you buying a new navigation system. Tell me about the real bonus feature or Mel hears about Kelsey. I’m not going to give you another chance. And I’m getting pretty tired of your pathetic attempts to snow me. Spill it all now.”

  She stared at him, her eyes burrowing into him. For a long, ecstatic second, there was an electric silence between them, as she waited to see if he would break.

  Is this what all my interrogations will be like?

  The complicated cocktail of adrenaline, anticipation, and dread was more intoxicating than any drink she’d ever had.

  “I have a camera,” he muttered, finally caving.

  “A camera?” Jessie repeated, suddenly breathless.

  “Yeah. I have a security camera in the bedroom. It’s motion activated and I sometimes like to…review the footage. If he knew about that, he’d absolutely hold it over my head.”

  Jessie said nothing.

  Teddy seemed to belatedly realize the can of worms he’d opened and quickly asked, “You’re not going to say anything about that, are you?”

  “Of course not, Teddy,” she said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “I promised that if you were honest with me about Kyle, I wouldn’t tell Mel anything. You lived up to your end of the bargain. So will I.”

  Teddy glanced over her shoulder again and she knew Mel must be at the door. She turned around to see a scowl on her diminutive friend’s face.

  “Everything okay out here?” Mel asked.

  “Everything’s great,” Jessie said. “Your husband was just giving me some good birthday ideas for Kyle. Sorry to be so cloak and dagger about it.”

  “You didn’t think I could keep a secret?” Mel asked.

  “You? Yes. But I wasn’t sure how much little ‘boom!’ boy in there might pick up. I didn’t want to risk it. Isn’t that right, Teddy?”

  Teddy nodded unconvincingly.

  “And I can count on you not to spill the beans to Kyle, right?” she added with extra emphasis. “It would really be a bummer if someone revealed something they shouldn’t, don’t you agree?”

  Teddy nodded more vigorously this time.

  “All right. I’ve got to go. See you guys later,” J
essie said as she got in her car.

  As she pulled out, she waved to Mel, who didn’t wave back but stared at her with a mix of doubt and disdain.

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  Jessie’s mind was racing. With the new information about why they’d moved to Westport Beach, she began looking back at everything over the last decade through a new lens. She made two calls on her way to the marina where Teddy’s boat was docked. The first was to Lacey. Amazingly, she picked up.

  “Hey, lady,” her friend said warmly.

  Jessie was surprised at how normal Lacey’s voice sounded until she remembered that they hadn’t spoken in days. That was actually a good thing, as Jessie wanted to cut to the chase and that wouldn’t be possible if Lacey knew everything that was going on.

  “Hey to you,” she replied, putting on her happiest voice as they engaged in a few minutes of catch-up conversation.

  Only when she was sure that it wouldn’t seem out of left field did she pose the question she’d been meaning to ask all along.

  “Hey, can I ask you a random question?”

  “They’re my favorite kind,” Lacey said.

  “Kyle and I were telling a neighbor about how we met and he mentioned how we ended up going out the first time. He reminded me that I was supposed go out on a date that night with some guy who stood me up. Do you remember that?”

  “Of course.”

  “What was that guy’s name again?” Jessie tried to recall.

  “Khalid. He was a sophomore.”

  “Right, Khalid. Didn’t he end up getting kicked out of school or something crazy like that?”

  “Um , yeah. But not just that. Maybe you don’t remember because Kyle was busy sweeping you off your feet. But the guy got deported.”

  “What?” Jessie asked, incredulous. “How did I not hear about that?”

  “The school tried to keep it quiet. I only found out all the details months later. He got busted for selling drugs. They found a huge stash in his dorm room. He was here on a student visa from Jordan. It got revoked and he was deported less than a week later.”

  “How did they find out about his stash?” Jessie asked. “I mean, half the kids in school, including me, could have been busted for what we had stashed in our sock drawers.”

  “It’s been a while so I don’t remember all the details but I think it was an anonymous call.”

  “That’s weird,” Jessie said. “Who would even know to call that in?”

  “You think that’s weird?” Lacey countered. “How about this? Khalid was a devout Muslim. From what I heard, he’d never even had a sip of alcohol, much less taken drugs. His friends said the idea that he was a dealer was beyond ridiculous. But he was gone so fast that there was never even a chance to mount a defense.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “Well, you were off falling in love around that time. I don’t remember you paying attention to much of anything other than Kyle in those days.”

  “Yeah, I guess not,” Jessie agreed, wondering how much else she hadn’t paid attention to.

  “Hey, are you okay, sweetie?” Lacey asked. “You sound troubled.”

  “No, I’m good,” Jessie quickly assured her. “I guess I just feel bad that I was so unaware of what was going on back then.”

  “Don’t feel too bad. I know he came from a well-connected family. I think he ended up transferring to a school in England.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Jessie said, glad she’d thrown her friend off the scent. “Listen, I’ve got to run. But let’s get together soon, okay. I miss hanging out.”

  “You got it,” she heard Lacey say just as she disconnected the call.

  At the next stop light, she pulled the business card for Detective Ryan Hernandez from her purse and dialed the number. It went to voicemail.

  “Hi, Detective,” she said. “It’s Jessie Hunt, the student from Professor Hosta’s class who figured out your case study. I’m sorry to bother you but I had a…law enforcement question I was hoping to ask you. Can you please give me a call back when you get a chance? Thanks.”

  She considered calling back with more specifics but by then she was pulling into the marina parking lot and decided vague was safer for now.

  *

  It wasn’t hard to get on Teddy’s boat. A leathery-looking older guy held the security gate to the dock open for her without asking any questions and the guard who wandered the dock never gave her a second look as she walked purposefully past him.

  When she got on board she headed straight for the bedroom, making sure not to look at the bed itself. It took only seconds to find the hidden camera, which wasn’t actually hidden so much as out of the way, nestled on a tiny bookshelf between two books.

  From what she could tell, it had a clear view of the whole bed and most of the room. Now all she had to do was find a way to access the footage on it. Thinking about what she knew about Teddy, it wasn’t hard to guess where he’d left the instructions for the camera. He wouldn’t have wanted Mel asking questions about why he had the thing so he would have kept the information here on the boat, where she was unlikely to visit and find it.

  Within minutes, she found a cabinet with a plastic bin marked “Paperwork.” Inside were several manila folders. One was marked “boat docs.” Another read “scuba docs.” The one on the bottoms said simply “camera docs.”

  She flipped it open and found the page that listed information on the camera website and app. Just below that were spaces for the owner put in the username/email and password. Written in neat handwriting was the email address, [email protected], followed by the brilliant password, “TeddyCWestportboatcamera.” Jessie gave quiet thanks that Teddy was such a simple guy.

  Jessie punched them into the app on her phone and was heartened to see the login work. A video log popped up for the last six months. She scrolled chronologically until five days ago and found the timestamp for 10 p.m., the last time she remembered being conscious.

  She decided to watch the footage somewhere more private. So she quickly put everything back where she found it and left the boat, trying to look as casual as possible. As she walked down the dock, she passed the spot where she and Natalia had argued and where she’d subsequently collapsed. Seeing it, a comment Kyle had made that night popped back into her head. As he’d scooped her up to take her to Teddy’s boat, he’d said, “It’s the perfect spot. We’re lucky it’s right there.”

  How very convenient.

  When Jessie got back to her car, she opened the app again and watched the video. It picked up at 10:09 p.m. with Kyle carrying her into the bedroom, placing her on the bed, and pulling the sheets over her. He left the bedroom and after about thirty seconds with no movement, the video ended.

  The next clip began eighteen minutes later, at 10:27 p.m. as Kyle carried a second woman into the room, her head lolling sloppily over his arm. It was clearly Natalia. Jessie couldn’t help but notice how impassive Kyle’s expression was, as if he was just taking the trash out to the curb.

  He laid her down next to Jessie, who hadn’t changed position from the previous video. Then he took each one of Jessie’s individual fingers and scraped her nails along the skin on Natalia’s neck.

  Jessie paused the video briefly as the magnitude of that action threatened to overwhelm her. Her gut twisted into a knot of revulsion and she had to step out of the car for a minute to regroup. When she was sure she could handle it, she hit “play” again.

  The video resumed with Kyle concluding the fingernail scraping. When that was done, he rolled Natalia on her side and pulled the sheets over her as well. He then locked the bedroom door and pulled the chain latch across. After that, he opened the large portal window, climbed out, and closed the window behind him. Seconds later, the video cut out.

  A new clip picked up the next morning as Jessie stirred into wakefulness. It was unsettling to watch an incident she’d personally experienced from such a distant remove, especially without any sound to give i
t context. But it was as she remembered it: the slow creep into consciousness followed by the awareness of the woman next to her and finally the realization that the woman, whom she recognized, was dead.

  She watched herself unlock the chain latch and the doorknob, Kyle come in looking confused, then shocked. She watched him close the door, talk to her, help her to sit on the bed and talk to her some more. Jessie remembered that was around the point he proposed dumping Natalia’s body.

  She watched him maneuver around the body to look out the large portal window. But this time, from the camera’s angle, which was different from hers that awful morning, she noticed something new. As he looked out the window, he slid its locking latch closed.

  Only moments later, as he talked to her some more, he would note that only she could have committed the murder because the door and windows were locked. But in front of her was clear evidence that he had left through the window, surreptitiously locked it later, and then tried to claim that she was responsible for the crime because everything had been locked.

  She may not have had video of him actually strangling Natalia, but what she did have certainly suggested he—her own husband—was trying to frame her for it. The video cut out again. It resumed again later as Kyle, and Kyle alone, returned to carry Natalia’s body from the room.

  The next clip was later that morning, as Kyle returned to the bedroom one last time to change the sheets. After that, the only remaining clip was of Jessie from this morning, entering the bedroom and discovering the camera.

  She sat in her car for a long time, deciding how to proceed. Part of her, the desperate panicky part, wanted to just delete the whole thing. Until she’d watched the footage, it had been marked as “unviewed,” so she knew she was the only one to see it so far.

  But the longer she sat there, as the late afternoon sun began to dim over the horizon, the less inclined she was to dump the video. Instead, a plan began to percolate in her head. The more she thought about it, the more she liked it, despite the enormous risks.

  As the last bits of sun dropped below the Pacific Ocean, she resolved to go for it. She’d been a patsy for too long. Now she was going to take charge of her own destiny, regardless of the consequences.