All Dressed in White (10 page)

“This is your chance to tell the world that,” Laurie said.

“What anyone thinks about me is less important. I just want to know what happened to Amanda. Because I know she didn’t leave that resort on her own.”

21

M
eghan White was greeted by the smell of something delicious roasting in the oven when she got home. Jeff was in the kitchen wearing the apron she’d bought for him last year, the one that said, “Real Men Bake Cookies.”

“That smells glorious.” How lucky she was to have married a man who could cook. Everything about Jeff made her feel lucky. He was sweet and funny and her closest confidant. He was her best friend. She was waiting for the right moment to tell him the news. “What are we having, Jeff?” she asked.

“Rosemary and garlic lamb chops. You claim they’re your favorite.”

He greeted her with a hug that was longer than usual.

When he finally let go of her, he was looking at her as though something was wrong.

“Is everything okay?” Meghan asked.

“Sit down.”

“You’re scaring me, Jeff.”

“Just sit. Please.” Once she did, he poured her a glass of prosecco and waited for her to take a sip, but she did not.

“I don’t need wine to have a conversation,” Meghan said. “How did that meeting go? I absolutely couldn’t get out of the office.”

“I should have waited until we talked. I signed on to do the show.”

•  •  •

Fifteen minutes later, Meghan sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her wineglass, still full, on the nightstand. She had changed into casual slacks and a pullover. She needed some time to think. The decision was already made. She had heard the certainty in his voice. Jeff’s mind was made up. He hadn’t been asking for her permission; he’d been breaking the news: He was doing this show. And Meghan knew that, in reality, he was making the decision for both of them. How could she say no? How would it look that first she took the man Amanda was supposed to marry and now was trying to block a reinvestigation of her case?

She wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. When Amanda’s case had churned through the 24/7 cable channels, Meghan had managed to stay out of the story. Amanda’s parents had been the ones front and center, with Jeff at their side. It was months before the reporters stopped calling Jeff for comments.

When they got married, she had been terrified that the media frenzy would start again. That’s why they had gone quietly to the courthouse. It’s why she didn’t take Jeff’s name. She didn’t want the scrutiny.

But this show would put them before millions of judging eyes. Viewers would want to know what kind of woman would steal her missing friend’s fiancé. They’d want to know what kind of man could marry another woman so soon after his beloved Amanda went missing. Everyone would hate them.

She started to lift her glass, and then put it back down, reminding herself that she shouldn’t.

She pictured herself explaining everything about her marriage to a bunch of strangers on camera.
When Jeff and I started to develop feelings for each other, we were just as surprised as anyone else.
They’d fallen out of touch after college, but their paths crossed after
law school when Meghan helped Jeff navigate a thorny immigration issue for one of his clients. He offered to take her out to dinner as a thank-you. After two dates fizzled, they remained strictly professional colleagues and friends. And then Jeff bumped into Meghan at a coffee shop near the courthouse when she was about to meet Amanda. She immediately sensed a spark between them. Maybe if Amanda had arrived a few minutes later, their paths would never have crossed again.

So how was it that they had ended up together? That’s the question the television show would want to ask. It really was because of Amanda. In the aftermath of her disappearance, they had consoled each other over the loss of a woman they both loved. They had friendship first and then a deep bond that came later. And because of that bond, Meghan now knew what she had to do.

She walked back to the kitchen, stopping first in the hallway bathroom to pour her wine in the sink. Jeff was at the counter, slicing a tomato. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Okay, we’ll do this. Together. For Amanda. And for us.”

He turned around and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I knew I could count on you. How were things at work today? When you got home, it seemed like you wanted to tell me something.”

He always could tell what she was thinking. “Nothing big. I did manage to get an extension on Mrs. Tran’s visa.”

“That’s good. I knew you were worried about that.”

She would wait a few days before telling him the actual news. She did not want all this talk about Amanda to overshadow the fact that she hoped and believed she was pregnant. The home test kit had been positive. She had made an appointment with her doctor for an additional test to confirm. If the news was good, she’d need to make sure that those past problems she’d had with prescriptions wouldn’t affect the baby.
Wow, a baby.
She felt a lump in her throat at the thought.

Jeff wrapped his arms around her again. She felt safe, like everything would be okay. “Don’t worry about this show,” he said. “We’ll just explain that we never had feelings for each other until . . . after. It’ll be fine. People will understand.”

It wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to explain the timing of their relationship. Her parents. Their friends. The familiar story they told was that their feelings developed after Amanda disappeared. It wasn’t the truth in my case, she thought. I was desperately in love with Jeff. But there was no reason anyone ever needed to know that.

Meghan could lie just as well as her old friend Amanda.

22

W
hen they left Jeff’s apartment, they went directly to the Gotham Bar and Grill. The host greeted Alex with an enthusiastic handshake. “Good evening, Mr. Buckley.”

Alex introduced the man to Laurie as Joseph. She had been to the restaurant several times, but was not on a first-name basis with the staff and surely would not have been able to get a reservation on ten minutes’ notice with a phone call from the car.

Once they were seated, a sommelier arrived with three Cabernet selections for Alex to consider. He certainly was a regular. But she already knew that.

As Alex’s chosen wine was being poured, Laurie checked her cell phone. There was a text message from her father, responding to the one she had sent from the car.
Timmy’s thrilled with the pizza we ordered. Stop worrying, and have a good time at dinner.

She knew that her father was more than happy to spend time with his grandson, but she still felt a pang of guilt. There was no way she’d be home in time to say good night to Timmy.

“Is everything okay at home?” Alex asked. Of course he would know that’s where her thoughts had drifted.

“All good. It’s amazing what a pepperoni pizza can do for a nine-year-old boy’s happiness.” Determined not to spend the
entire night talking about Timmy, Laurie asked Alex what he thought about Jeff. “Did you notice that he was the one who brought up Amanda’s will?”

“He struck me as a smart guy, so he knows why people are suspicious.”

“Tell the truth, you just think he’s smart because Alex Buckley is his idol.”

“You love to get a rise out of me,” Alex commented with a smirk. “So did you believe him when he said he never wanted Amanda’s money?”

“I think so, actually. You saw that apartment. It was modest but comfortable. If he wanted more, presumably he could earn it by leaving his public defender job. Or he could have Amanda declared legally dead so he could inherit.” Since speaking with Sandra, Laurie had learned that New York law gave Jeff the option of filing in court to have her declared dead without waiting a full seven years. A judge could evaluate all of the circumstances of the disappearance and conclude that the person is almost certainly dead.

“He may not know that, Laurie. Criminal defense lawyers don’t know all the ins and outs of wills.”

Whether Jeff was aware of his ability to seek to inherit Amanda’s trust fund with no body having been found was the kind of detail they’d need to explore before production. Their usual approach was to use a soft touch with the show’s participants at first, as they had in the apartment. Once they finished their research, Alex asked the tough questions on camera.

“Alex, thank you again for going to Brooklyn with me.”

“You didn’t even need my help. If anything, Jeff seemed eager to sign on. He sounded confident that he’d be able to persuade his wife, too.”

“He certainly was right when he said I was surprised. I nearly fell out of my chair.”

“Was it only because he’s a lawyer that you were expecting him to be so uncooperative? Not all of us are so difficult.” He smiled wryly.

“Amanda’s mother, Sandra, made him sound like a money-grubbing ladies’ man. Apparently his two best friends are flashy bachelors. Jeff, in contrast, seemed quite sweet and earnest.”

“I hate to tell you how many guilty clients I’ve had who can put on an act when necessary. I should start handing out Oscars in my office.”

“I’m sure you’re right. But I have to wonder if Sandra may have jumped to conclusions. This is why I’m very careful about taking cases submitted by the families. It’s too easy to get steered into one person’s opinion.”

“I know you, Laurie. You always keep an open mind.”

A waiter appeared and began describing the new additions to the menu. Laurie nodded along, even though she already knew what she wanted. She hoped that Alex was right about her ability to remain neutral. What she hadn’t told him was that something about Jeff reminded her of Greg. She realized the similarity when Jeff mentioned that he’d walked into a press conference wearing two different shoes. Greg had once come home from the hospital sporting mismatched loafers after too many hours on call. But it wasn’t just that one anecdote. From the second he’d tossed his keys out the window, Jeff had struck her as easygoing and warm.

Could that really be so easily faked? Laurie doubted it.

But how was he going to react when Alex started pinning him down?

23

T
wenty-four blocks north, a waiter carried three pounds of rare porterhouse to a table at Keen’s Steakhouse. Nick Young gazed at the perfect char on the outside of the meat and signaled his approval. Once their martini glasses were refilled and the waiter had left, he held up his for yet another toast.

“Oh, why not?” Austin Pratt agreed.

“Here’s to ‘yucks’ and yachts!” They both laughed.

Last year they had both signed with an upscale international boat charter service. From now on in many locations where they might be staying near water, they could request a boat to be delivered for their use to the local dock. Both men really liked small yachts with sleeper cabins, crafts they were licensed to pilot on their own. They had been doing it since the past summer, sometimes together and sometimes separately. They had already taken three boating vacations in the Caribbean.

Nick had a custom-made sign he put over the railing of whatever boat he chartered. It read
LADIES FIRST
, and he meant it. More ladies than clients set sail with Nick.