“I know,” Eric said.
“It must have been … Do you think it was Bruce?” Abigail said. “I mean, of course it was Bruce. He was testing me. Jesus.”
“I really don’t know,” Eric said. “That was part of the deal, my not knowing. I never met the client. I only reported back to my agent.”
“And you weren’t told why you were doing this?” Abigail said, feeling a flush of anger. “You didn’t think to ask why you were being tasked with trying to fuck a complete stranger.”
“I did think to ask. I did ask, actually,” Eric said. “I just wasn’t told, and, obviously, I feel incredibly guilty that I took the job. There’s no excuse, but I needed the money. I know that’s not good enough. I know that’s not really a reason. And if I’m completely honest, I was intrigued.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.”
“No, hear me out. They showed me a picture of you, so I’d be able to recognize you, obviously.”
“What was the picture from? Where’d they get it?”
“They showed me your Facebook page.”
“Uh-huh,” Abigail said.
“And even just looking at it, I felt something … I was attracted to you. Look, I know it’s creepy, but I did.”
“Did they just show you this picture? Did they tell you things about me? I mean, what else did they know?”
“They told me you’d like my acting background because your parents ran a theater. They said you liked old movies. They said you were funny. That’s about it.”
“Did they tell you my favorite poet was Poe?”
He paused, and Abigail could tell he was thinking about lying. “Yes,” he said. “They did.”
Abigail squeezed both her hands into fists and clenched her jaw. She let out a partial scream.
“I know, I know, I know,” Eric said. “I know how you must feel.”
“You don’t,” she said. “Trust me on that.”
“Okay, I don’t.”
Abigail took a breath, told herself that she could feel rage later. Right now she needed to hear the full story. “So you memorized an Edgar Allan Poe poem in case I brought it up?”
“Yes. I mean, I knew that poem already, if that means anything. But I brushed up. I know it sounds terrible. It is terrible.”
“And they never said why you were being asked to do this?”
“I asked, but my agent didn’t say. When I was told that it was a bachelorette party, then, obviously, I guessed.”
“You guessed that you’d been hired by my fiancé to see if I’d cheat on him?”
“Yes, it crossed my mind.”
“And you did it anyway.”
Eric, already perched on the edge of the upholstered chair, moved forward another half inch. “Listen,” he said. “You don’t have to remind me that what I did was despicable. I know that what I did was despicable. I knew it when I took the job, and while I was doing it, and afterwards. I’m trying to help you out now because I agree with you, something fucked up is happening here, and I think it probably has something to do with me, with what happened that night. But I’m on your side now.”
“And is that why you came here? Because you were worried something bad might happen?”
“It occurred to me, of course. I mean, if what I was doing was helping your groom run a fidelity test, then you failed, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Abigail said.
“So I was surprised when I saw that the wedding was still happening. So, yes, part of my actions were because I was worried about you, but, really, the truth is, the other truth is, I really did fall for you that night. Or maybe it’s just transference or obsession, I don’t know. You do remind me of my wife who died, but that’s not all of it. And maybe it had something to do with the guilt I had about what I was doing to you. I couldn’t get you out of my mind. It was torture, and so I decided to come to New York to look for you, find a way to convince you that you needed to be with me.”
“What about the wedding?” Abigail said.
“What about it?”
“You were there, weren’t you? I think I saw you at the end of the night.”
He let a breath out. “Okay, yeah. I wasn’t going to approach you or anything. It’s just … I don’t know what I thought. I thought something might happen, because at this point it wasn’t just about you and me, it was also about the man you married. As you said, he gave you a test.”
“And I didn’t pass,” she said.
Eric smiled tightly. “No,” he said.
“Did it occur to you that if Bruce was behind the whole thing, he might know who you were?” she asked.
“That’s why I used a fake name. I came up with Scott Baumgart because of Scottie, of course, and Baumgart was my mother’s maiden name. I was still paranoid that your husband would know who I was. It was partly why I talked with him on the beach. I needed to know if he recognized me, and I don’t think he did. Then you went and used my real name.”
“That’s why you were freaked out. I could tell.”
“Yes, I was shocked you knew my real name, but I also realized that if Bruce hired me, he might know it as well. I don’t know if it matters now.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You’re clearly being punished, or you’re about to be punished for what happened in California. That’s why I’m telling you about this, because I think it has to do with what’s going on here.”
“What does it have to do with Jill Greenly and what happened to her?”
“I don’t know. She’s on her honeymoon, right? Maybe she failed some sort of test like you did.”
Abigail nodded. “We talked some, Jill and I. There was an old boyfriend of hers here, and she was freaked out about it. It was strange because it was similar to
