Welcome to Case Closed.

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

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

Let's pick up where we left off last time.

Chapter 11.

It takes forever to plan my first accidental meeting with the ladies of Thornfield Estates.

The moment had to be perfect after all.

I was only getting one shot at this, and I wanted to be sure I nailed it.

I thought about trying to engineer something in the village, bumping into them at roasted, maybe just strolling down the sidewalk,

bags from one of the pricier boutiques hanging off my arms. I'd spend hours imagining that scenario,

and while it was satisfying, it didn't have

quite the impact I wanted. Then I thought about being really bold and just texting them,

inviting them over for lunch at Eddies, but the house still held too much of B, and I was worried

that I'd look like a pale imitation standing in her space.

Then I remembered that Emily Clark and Campbell Reed both loved to walk the neighborhood in the

mornings, and suddenly I knew exactly how I wanted that first meeting to go down. So, here I am,

walking the sidewalks of Thornfield Estates, Adele on her leash pulling me along.

Walking a dog when you're not being paid to do it is actually kind of fun.

The weather is nice, Adele is well-behaved, and I like how she looks back over her shoulder

at me whenever she spots something new, wagging her tail, giving me her little doggy smile. Or maybe I just like her

more now because she's mine. Mine and Eddie's together. But after B was long gone. I'm so busy

thinking about that, this idea of Eddie and me having something that's only ours, that I almost

...