Page 27 of If She Sensed

"And last night?"

"Home alone," he said."I ordered food.I can find the delivery receipt if you need it."

"That would help."She waited while he scrolled around on his phone.Within a few seconds, he had a confirmation email from a delivery app timestamped at 8:47 PM.She knew this didn’t clear him completely, but based on his alibis for the two previous nights, it stood up pretty well. it.It placed him at this address last night during the relevant window, but it wasn't airtight.Delivery confirmation said the food arrived, not necessarily who was home to receive it.

She moved on."You were a member of the Fresh Horizons online forum, correct?"

He exhaled slowly through his nose."Yeah."

"Can you tell me what your intention was in joining that community?"

Marlo looked at the laptop and the ring light, and something moved through his expression that landed closer to embarrassment than anything else."I joined because I thought it was a space where people were actively trying to rebuild their lives after relationships ended.I thought it might be a good fit for what I offer."He waited a moment, as if non-verbally confirming that yes, he knew how sleazy it seemed."I posted a few times, mentioned my services.I wasn't aggressive about it.I just—" He stopped and started again."I'm trying to build a client base, and the forum seemed like a place where people might genuinely benefit from what I do.The admins said it was fine so long as I limited it to no more than twice a month."

"But Carol Paige didn't see it that way," Sloane said.

The embarrassment sharpened."No.She did not."

"How did that feel?"

He was quiet for a moment.He narrowed his eyes at her, clearly annoyed."It was humiliating," he said finally.He said it with enough flatness that she believed the word had been chosen accurately rather than for effect."She called me out in front of the whole group.She didn't message me privately first; she just posted it directly in the thread.And then a lot of people liked the comment."He shrugged and settled back further into his chair."I get it.I mean, yeah, I know how it looks.But to be publicly dressed down like that, in a space I'd been trying to participate in genuinely in addition to the promotional stuff—" He shook his head once and rolled his eyes."I stopped posting for a couple of weeks."

"And then resumed.When he did, it was all very common and nomrla, but still…"

"Without the links.Yeah."He looked at her steadily, and she could see that he was trying to determine if she was buying into the story."I kept the forum because some of the discussions are actually useful to me professionally.I read what people share and it gives me a better sense of what women going through divorce actually need, which makes me better at my job."He said it without apology but also without pride."I wasn't hunting for anything."

Sloane looked at him.He was thirty-five years old and recently divorced himself; she had confirmed that from the registration records, and he was running a side hustle from a small table in a small living room and had been publicly embarrassed in front of a group of women by a woman who was now dead.She had walked into this house ready to press very hard if she needed to.What she was finding instead was a man who was struggling, probably more than he let on.And part of that struggle involved making a poor judgment call about how to grow a fledgling business.

"Had you ever met anyone from the Fresh Horizons forum in person?"Sloane asked."Outside of the program's offices?"

"No," he said."I never met any of them face to face if it wasn’t a meeting at the offices.”

"Did you ever communicate privately with Carol Paige, Donna Holt, or Nancy Briggs?Direct messages, anything outside the public threads?"

"Carol, no.After what happened in that thread, I wouldn't have gonenearher inbox."He said it without bitterness, more like someone stating a practical reality."Donna Holt, I don't think I ever interacted with her at all beyond maybe a like somewhere."

He stopped on Nancy Briggs, and Sloane watched him think about it.

"Nancy I'm less sure about," he said."I think I replied to something she posted once, something about confidence going into a first date, and she might have written something back.But it was in a public thread.Nothing private, nothing outside the forum."He looked at Sloane directly."I can show you my message history if you need it.I have nothing in my DMs from any of those women."

"I may take you up on that," Sloane said.But she only said it to make him understand how serious this was.She didn’t see the point in telling him she already had access to all of that anyway.

She asked a few more questions, covering the general involvement with the forum, and he answered all of them.She didn’t get the feeling that he was being evasive.He was not calm in a way that felt controlled or managed and it didn’t seem that he was simply trying to play a part.He was just a somewhat embarrassed man who wanted this conversation to end and was cooperating because he understood he had no reasonable alternative.

When she stood to leave, he walked her to the door and held it open for her.On the porch, she turned back briefly.

"The client from three nights ago," she said."I'd appreciate it if you could reach out to them tonight.Explain the situation in whatever terms you need to."She then handed him a business card which she took from the inner pocket of her jacket.

"I will," he said.

She went back down the porch steps to the car.She sat behind the wheel for a moment in the quiet of the street before she picked up her phone.

She opened her text thread with Kate and typed:Marlo is a dead end.Recently divorced, running a coaching side-hustle, mortified about the Carol Paige thing.First night alibi is unverified but he reads as zero threat.Second night is solid, photos with two friends timestamped after ten.Nothing here.How's Hanover?

She set the phone in the cupholder and started the car.She pulled out from the curb and drove back toward the main road, passing the shuttered dry cleaner and the nail salon, its lights finally off now.The sign in the check-cashing window the only thing still lit on the block.

Her phone buzzed in the cupholder.She left it until she hit a red light, then glanced at the screen.

Kate had replied with two words:Still there.