That everything I had was really his.
Officer Hale wrote something in his notebook.
The officer with the ponytail looked at Vanessa. “Ma’am, did you sign this lease in the presence of Ms. Whitaker?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Did you ever see her sign it?”
“No.” Her voice cracked. “He brought it home already signed. He said he’d met her for coffee.”
“When?”
Vanessa thought. “In September. Middle of September.”
I almost laughed again.
“On September 14th,” I said, “I was at the dentist in the morning and at my old job’s retirement party in the evening. There are about forty photographs of me there. And I didn’t own this house yet.”
Vanessa put her face in her hands.
PART 7
The sergeant arrived at 3:10.
Then a detective, a soft-spoken woman named Detective Moreno, who sat at my kitchen table and asked Mark the same questions three different ways while he gave three slightly different answers.
