Page 104 of The Illusion
His handshake is firm and professional. He's carrying a black duffel bag that he sets on the coffee table.
"Thank you for doing this," I say.
"Of course." He unzips the bag and starts pulling out equipment—cameras, a tablet, what looks like a GPS tracker. "Let me walk you through how this is going to work."
For the next hour, Marcus explains everything. He’s going to be running a deep background check into Asher, very discreetly.
“Chances are better than good that someone who works in the cyber security field will have silent alarms tripped to warn him if anyone starts looking. It’s better for you not to know what I can do, but suffice it to say, my people and I can get around any counter-measures he’s taken. It’ll just take time. If there’s anything wrong in his digital footprint, I’ll find it.”
He goes on to explain that he’ll be following Asher any time he leaves the house. He'll document everywhere he goes, everyone he meets with, everything he does. He'll take photos,video if possible. He'll track his movements via GPS. And he'll report back to us every evening with updates.
"What about Devon?" I ask. "Are you following her too?"
"If she's with him, yes," Marcus says. "But my primary focus is on your husband. If they split up, I stay with him. Big picture, she can’t know enough to be worth tailing. She’s a problem right now, but he didn’t know her before you got married, so she has no bearing on anything he did before she moved into the house.”
I nod. That makes sense.
"One more thing," Marcus says, looking at me seriously. "If this goes the way we believe it will and I find evidence of infidelity, I'll document it. I need you to be prepared for what that might look like. Photos can be explicit. Are you ready for that?"
My stomach turns, but I am ten toes down on this. I fell for his lies. Now, I’m scraping him off with surgical precision, no anesthesia. I think the pain and the shock are necessary. "Yes. I need to know the truth."
"Understood." He hands me a burner phone. "This is how I'll contact you. Keep it on you at all times. Ryan was right to assume your husband has access to your phone records, your location, everything."
I take the phone. It's a cheap flip phone, the kind you buy at a gas station. It feels like a prop from a spy movie. How the fuck is this my life?
"Any questions?" Marcus asks.
I have a thousand questions. But the only one that matters is: "When will you know something?"
"Depends on how quickly he lets his guard down and what kind of trail he's left.” Marcus zips up his bag. "But if there's something to find, I'll find it."
After he leaves, Jamie comes back downstairs. "So. What do we do now?"
"Now," Ryan says, "we wait."
My least favorite thing to do.
CHAPTER
FORTY
JULIE
We orderpizza and sit around the living room eating off paper plates, trying to be normal. Jamie tells stories about the shop, and Ryan talks about a project he's working on, and I try to focus on the conversation instead of the fact that Asher is at home right now doing God knows what.
Ryan's mother has texted Asher as me, from my phone which is with her on San Juan Island. He texted back a thumbs up emoji, said have fun, and then hasn't texted since. I bet that smug fucker feels good about the fact that I'm away. If only he knew.
I keep checking the burner phone even though I know Marcus likely won't call tonight. He needs time to fully set up.
"You should try to sleep," Jamie says around ten.
"I don't think I can."
"Try anyway." She stands and stretches. "I'm taking the room at the end of the hall. You want the one next to me?"
"Yeah. Okay."
She heads upstairs, leaving Ryan and me alone again. He's sitting on the couch, one arm stretched along the back, looking at me with an expression I can't quite read.
