Chapter 2 — Look Harder

“My husband is paying you to watch me?” I repeated, after he’d told me. The boy nodded.

His name was Eli. He explained that David had approached him at a church meal program almost two months earlier, claiming his wife had memory problems and sometimes wandered around town not knowing where she was.

He’d offered Eli three hundred dollars a week to report where I went, who I spoke to, and whether I drove toward the lake.

At first the requests sounded like concern. Then they changed. David began asking whether I met other men, bought alcohol, or seemed confused.

“Have you ever seen me confused?” I asked.

“No,” Eli said.