'No.'
Valerie looked momentarily disappointed. 'Oh. I'm sorry. Please forgive me, I shouldn't be asking you questions like that. It just helps me to know who you are.'
'That's all right.'
'For the longest time, I thought I didn't want kids. But then my mom died, and thirty started looking big down the road. Suddenly, it was all I could think about.' She stared at the empty crib and rubbed away a tear that escaped from her eye. 'It took me three years to get pregnant. I had given up hope.'
Serena chose her words carefully. 'How did Marcus feel about having kids?'
'He had doubts. I had to convince him.' Her face darkened, and she looked away. 'I know what people are saying. About Marcus.'
'You shouldn't listen to anything they say on the news.'
'It's ridiculous. Mean. Marcus would never, never, never hurt Callie.' Her fists clenched. 'He loves her.'
'Of course.' 'Do people know how hurtful they are?' she asked.
'All I can tell you is to close your ears to the gossip. Focus on getting Callie back.'
'I suppose next they'll be saying I was involved,' Valerie said.
'No one thinks that. You were out of town.'
'But you checked, didn't you, Serena? You called the hotel. You made sure I was there.'
'Yes, we did,' Serena admitted. She added, 'Why were you in the city?'
'I had a nonprofit board meeting in Minneapolis. It went late. I wanted to drive back, but Marcus said the fog was getting bad. So I got a room.'
'He encouraged you not to come home?'
'Yes, he said he didn't want me out on the roads.' Valerie read Serena's face and said, 'See, you think that's suspicious when it's nothing. No one trusts anyone anymore. I guess we all hate to face the horror of finding out that people aren't who they pretend to be.'
'I do need to ask you some personal questions,' Serena said.
Valerie winced, almost as if expecting a physical blow. 'Yes, go ahead.'
'If a stranger did this, they knew things about you and Marcus and Callie and your lives. The crime was carefully planned. Whoever did this was able to get into your house, find Callie, and leave quickly and quietly, as if they knew where she slept.'
'So you want to know how this person knew all these things.'
'Exactly.'
'You don't think it was a stranger, do you?'
'I don't know. It's possible that someone has been watching you and gathering information about your life. But that's not easy to do in a small town without being noticed. It's also possible that someone who knows you gave up information to the wrong person without being aware of it.'
'Well, I think if someone had been watching our house, I'd know it. You're right about small towns. Nothing gets past anyone around here. I also think that if a stranger had been asking questions about us, we'd have heard about it.'
'And there's been nothing like that?' 'No.'
'Forgive me, Valerie, but I need to know. What's your marriage like? Are there any problems?'
Valerie stared at the ceiling. 'Is this really necessary?'
'It is. I wish it weren't.'
Valerie twisted the square-cut diamond ring on her finger. She studied Serena with the eye of a woman admiring another woman. 'You're beautiful, Serena. You know what it's like.'
'What do you mean?'
'A beautiful woman can't have any substance. People look at me, and they think, trophy wife. Come on, that was your first reaction, wasn't it? Marcus didn't marry me, he hired me to dress up the place.'
'I don't think that,' Serena told her.
'Well, that was the general consensus in town,' Valerie said. 'I was twenty-five when we got married. I'm not a fool. I know I'm attractive, and when you're a man like Marcus, you don't settle for anything less. Are there days when I feel more like a portrait on the wall than a living, breathing human being? Yes. Sure. But the truth is much more complicated than people think. I love him. He loves me.'
Serena thought she was trying to convince herself that it was true. 'You've been married for eight years?'
'Yes.'
'Have there been any affairs?'
'I don't see what that has to do with Callie,' Valerie said.
'Probably nothing, but I don't know what's relevant and what's not until I know everything.'
'You have an ugly job, Serena. I guess I see why Denise didn't want to do this.' She added, 'I feel pretty worthless compared to my sister, l our kids and the kind of job she has. Talk about strong. I'm fragile compared to her. Of course, she has Tom to help her, and he's a gem.'
'You didn't answer my question.'
'No, I didn't, did I? All right, yes, there have been other women. Flings. Men look at these things differently. When you're a wife, you have to decide if it matters or not, and I just decided that it didn't. At least until Callie came along.'
'Were there any relationships that were more than a fling?' Serena asked. 'Someone who wasn't just a one- night stand?'
Valerie's lower lip trembled. 'Yes. Last year.'
'Who was it?'
'I don't know. Someone at the hospital. I made a point of not knowing who.'
'How did you find out about it?'
Valerie sighed. 'How hard do you think it is? How many times do you have to smell the same perfume on his clothes and in your bed? How many hang-ups do there have to be on your phone?'
'I'm sorry.'
'When Callie was born, I made him end it,' Valerie said. 'I didn't want any details. I just wanted it over.'
'And he stopped seeing her?'
'Yes, he did.'
'Are you sure?'
'No, but if he's being deceitful, he's much better at it now than he used to be. And honestly, I don't think Marcus would bother hiding it.'
'Do you think this woman was in your house?' Serena asked.
'I'm pretty sure she was, yes.'
'Could she have a key?'
Valerie shrugged, as if the weight on her shoulders had grown impossible to bear. 'I have no idea. As far as I know, Marcus, Migdalia, and I are the only ones who have keys.'
'Migdalia is your babysitter?' Serena asked.
'Yes.'
'Tell me about her.'
Valerie rolled her eyes. 'Let's just say she wouldn't have been my first choice. I don't mean to sound like a snob, because that's not me, but Migdalia is coarse. She swears. She doesn’t dress well. Oh, she's lovely with Callie, don't get me wrong. But she's not exactly Mary Poppins.'
'Why hire her?'
'Micki lives in Sago, where Marcus grew up. Her mother is sick, her father is out of the picture. Marcus wanted to help her.'
'Is that all?' Serena asked quietly.
'You mean, is he sleeping with her? He says no. Believe me, I asked.'
Serena heard the resignation in Valerie's voice and tried to imagine an eight-year marriage of loneliness and suspicion. Nothing surprised her any more. Lives that looked pretty and perfect on the outside were often as fragile as glass.
