Welcome to Case Closed.

You're listening to The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins,

narrated by Emily Schaefer, Lauren Fortgang, and Kirby Haybourne.

There are always two deaths, the real one and the one people know about.

Jean-Rice, Wide Sargasso Sea.

Part 1, Jane Chapter 1, February

It is the absolute, shittiest day for a walk.

Rain has been pouring down all morning, making my drive from center point out here to day for a walk. "'Rain has been pouring down all morning,

"'making my drive from center point out here to Mountain Brook,

"'a nightmare, soaking the hem of my jeans "'as I get out of the car in the Reed's driveway,

"'making my sneakers squelch on the marble floors of the foyer.

"'But Mrs. Reed is holding her dog bear's leash,

"'making a face at me.

This frown of exaggerated sympathy that's supposed to let me know how bad she feels about sending me out in the rain on this Monday morning.

That's the important thing, that I know that she feels bad.

She still expects me to do it, though.

I've been walking dogs in the Thornfield

estate subdivision for almost a month now, and if there's one thing I've definitely figured out,

it's that what matters most is how everything looks. Mrs. Reed looks sympathetic. She looks

like she absolutely hates that I have to walk her collie bear

on a cold and stormy day in mid-February.

She looks like she actually gives a fuck about me as a person.

...