Selena hesitated. “I’m not sure—”
“Please,” Liz said firmly enough to make her point that it was an order.
Temper flared in Selena’s dark eyes. “I don’t work for you,” she said heatedly.
“Which raises an interesting question,” Liz said. “Who exactly do you work for now that Larry’s dead?”
“Roland, of course. He’s in charge now.”
“He told me he doesn’t have much use for an executive assistant. He only needs someone to take messages. I imagine Barb can handle that just fine. We probably should think about cutting expenses around here now, anyway.”
“You wouldn’t dare fire me,” Selena said fiercely, clearly trying not to let them see how shaken she was by the threat. “You don’t have the authority, for one thing. For another, I would make a very bad enemy.”
“Why is that?” Liz inquired, trying to sound only mildly curious rather than outraged by the sudden shift in Selena’s demeanor.
“Because I can destroy this place,” Selena said bluntly.
“Really?”
Selena smiled, but it wasn’t a happy expression. “You have no idea how much I know.”
“About?”
“All of Larry’s shady dealings with the SEC, about the way he lined up investors with a phony prospectus, about the insider trading that went on.”
“So that’s what you were holding over Larry’s head? Were you blackmailing him?” Liz asked, being very careful not to turn to look at Tucker and give away her sense of triumph.
Selena looked genuinely horrified by the idea. “Of course not!”
“Did he know just how much you were aware of?”
“Of course. He trusted me with everything.”
“And you never once hinted at how much damage you could do to him if, say, there were to be a change in your relationship?”
“Absolutely not. I loved him, which is more than I can say for you.”
Ah, the gloves were definitely off now. Selena no longer had any reason to feign even mild pleasantries for the wife of her lover. “You know nothing about my relationship with my husband,” Liz countered.
“I know that you were a cold, heartless bitch,” Selena shot back.
Liz chuckled. “Is that what he told you? It must be what he told all of the others, as well.”
Selena fell silent at that.
“You didn’t know about the other women?” Liz persisted. “Funny. For a long time, neither did I. I suppose that’s something we have in common. Larry made fools of both of us.”
“He did not make a fool of me,” Selena said, though she looked as if she were about to cry.
“He convinced you to keep silent by telling you he loved you, didn’t he? And at the same time he was sleeping with who-knows-how-many other women.” Liz nodded. “Yes, I’d say that makes you a fool.”
“Dammit, get out of here,” Selena said. “I did not have to blackmail him into staying with me. I won’t listen to this.”
“Because in your heart, you know it’s true,” Liz said more gently. “Don’t you, Selena? How long have you known that you weren’t the only other woman in his life?”
“I don’t believe it,” Selena insisted.
“I can show you a list of names and dates,” Liz told her. “The police are looking into the names on that list. They’re all considered possible suspects in Larry’s death. I started writing them down a few weeks ago in case I needed them for the divorce.”
Selena paled, looking seriously shaken for the first time. “You were divorcing him?”
Liz nodded. “I told him the day before he was killed. I’m sure you heard about the fight at Chez Dominique.”
Selena nodded.
“That’s what it was about. I told him I was leaving him for good.”
“He said you’d never agree to a divorce,” Selena whispered, looking shattered.
“He never asked for one. That was one more lie,” Liz told her gently, reminding herself that Selena was only a naive young girl. It must have been incredibly easy for Larry to manipulate her and keep her in line. “I’m sorry.”
Selena stood up slowly, swiping viciously at the tears tracking down her cheeks, her expression grim. “I’ll get you those papers,” she said tightly, and hurried from the room.
Liz started to speak to Tucker, but he held up a silencing hand. She nodded and waited for Selena to return.
“Here,” she said, shoving the papers into Liz’s hands, then reaching into a desk drawer and removing her purse. “I’m taking the rest of the day off.”
“Selena?”
“What?” She stood stiffly, her back to Liz.
“I really am sorry.”
Selena turned slowly, her cheeks once again damp with tears. “And I’m sorry for what I said to you before, for what I called you,” she whispered. “And I’m even sorrier for what I did, you know…”
“I know,” Liz said, and watched her go.
“Let’s get out of here,” Tucker said. “There’s something about the atmosphere in here that makes me sick to my stomach.”
“Me, too,” Liz agreed, and followed him out.
Outside in the fresh air, she dragged in a deep breath, then faced Tucker. “Do you honestly think that girl could have killed Larry?”
“She blackmailed him, didn’t she?”
“She says not.”
“Cynthia Miles thought otherwise.”
“Now there’s a reliable source,” Liz said sarcastically. “Maybe Selena didn’t even realize that once she knew so much she could hold it over his head. As for murder, I can’t imagine it. Tucker, she loved him.”
“Right up until the second she found out about the other women,” Tucker pointed out.
“Exactly my point. She didn’t know until I told her.”
“Or so she’d like you to believe,” he responded. “Let’s assume for a minute that Cynthia was right about her. Anyone calculating enough to commit blackmail has to have a strong stomach for lies and deception. On top of that, what kind of love is it that justifies blackmailing your partner to keep him?”
“I suppose,” Liz said, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe that Selena was guilty of anything beyond loving the wrong man and using desperate measures to keep him in her life. “Larry obviously inspired strong feelings in the women around him. Look at Cynthia.”
“And you,” Tucker pointed out quietly. “You hated him at the end, didn’t you? I can only imagine how much he put you through to make that happen.”
Liz thought back over the years of humiliation. Even with all of that, hate hadn’t come easily. Time and again, she had accepted the apologies and the excuses, because she’d wanted to believe in the fantasy.
“Well, it’s over now,” she said wearily. “But even in my worst nightmare, I didn’t want it to end this way.”
Tucker cupped her chin in his hand and looked straight into her eyes. “You’re better off.”
“But Larry’s not. He’s dead.”
“If you believe in a kind and merciful God, then he’s in a better place now.”
Liz sighed. “I’m not sure what I believe anymore.”
“Believe in today. Believe in the future,” he told her.
She nodded and managed a tight smile, purely for Tucker’s benefit. “That’s what I’m hanging on to.”
18
Walker threw down the latest forensics report in disgust and met Tucker’s anxious gaze.
“Nothing,” he said. “Not one damn thing we can use.”
Tucker received the news with mixed feelings. He wanted Chandler’s murder solved, but the fact that nothing in that report implicated Mary Elizabeth was good. It was one thing to believe in her, quite another to have positive proof that someone else had killed Chandler.
“You’re sure?” he asked Walker. “I thought those fibers would amount to something.”
“I’m sure they do, but right now we don’t have the first clue wh
at they might match other than a piece of clothing that we don’t have in our possession.”
Tucker fully released the breath he’d been holding. “Then they can’t be linked to the clothes Mary Elizabeth was wearing that night?”
“Not even close, according to the experts. Of course, we only have her word those were the only clothes she had on that evening,” Walker pointed out.
Tucker wasn’t crazy about even the hint of skepticism behind Walker’s comment. “If she was going to change clothes and get rid of evidence, then why would she wear clothes splattered with Chandler’s blood to my house?”
“A diversion,” Walker suggested. “It makes her look as if she’s being forthcoming.”
“Dammit, Walker, you know she’s not that devious,” Tucker retorted. “Less than twenty-four hours ago, you admitted you thought she was probably innocent.”
Walker gave him a rueful grin. “I’ve been encouraged to reconsider.”
“By whom? Daisy and my father?”
“They certainly don’t have a very high opinion of Mrs. Chandler.”
“Only because they’re being overly protective of me. They liked her just fine when she and I were an item. In fact, she and Daisy were like sisters.”
Walker seemed surprised by that. “They were?”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t know it by the way Daisy’s carrying on now, would you?” Tucker said, not even trying to hide his disgust. “It all goes back to the fact that she found out about Mary Elizabeth and Chandler before Mary Elizabeth told me. I knew the two of them were friends. They liked to get together to talk politics, and old man Swan encouraged it. I guess somewhere along the way Daisy saw something that suggested to her it might be more than a casual friendship. She called Mary Elizabeth on it. The next thing I knew, Mary Elizabeth was telling me that she was falling in love with Chandler.”
“Did Liz ever explain why she kept silent in the first place?” Walker asked.
“She told me that her relationship with Chandler had been entirely innocent, but that Daisy’s observation had made her take a harder look at the way she felt. She said she wanted the freedom to figure out how important the relationship might really be. It didn’t hurt that her grandfather was encouraging things between them. Her grandfather liked me well enough, but I wasn’t showing enough ambition to suit him, so he was pushing her toward Chandler. She’d always wanted to please him, and now she had a chance. I’m not sure if she even realized what a factor that was.”
“Are you saying that in a weird way Daisy’s pressure pushed her straight into Chandler’s arms?” Walker asked.
“If I’m being honest, I’d have to say she probably would have ended up there, anyway,” Tucker admitted, then sighed. “But knowing what I know about Chandler now, I’ve got to wonder if in time Mary Elizabeth wouldn’t have seen him for what he was and made a different choice. Instead, the minute she gave Chandler an opening, he started rushing her straight toward the altar. They were married within months.”
Walker’s gaze narrowed. “You’re not blaming your sister for the breakup, are you?”
“For a long time, a part of me wanted to,” Tucker said. “But the bottom line is, Mary Elizabeth made the decision. She wanted what she thought Chandler could give her more than she wanted what the two of us had.”
“Money? Status? What?”
“All of that, to some degree, but she says it was because she thought that married to him, she’d really be able to make a difference in people’s lives.” Tucker said. “Add in her grandfather’s approval, the chance to live in Richmond, maybe even Washington, and the marriage was all but destined.”
“What makes you think anything’s changed?” Walker asked. “She could decide to go back to Richmond tomorrow and resume her life there. She’d made a life for herself, completely apart from Chandler. She must be on half a dozen charitable organization boards. She has been making a difference.”
Tucker scowled at the question. “She says she’s not going to go back,” he said defensively. “That she wants to come home.”
“And you believe her?”
“I’m hoping she’s being honest with me,” Tucker corrected. “And with herself.”
“You’re hoping?” Walker said derisively. “Isn’t it awfully risky pinning your entire future on something you don’t know for a fact?”
“I’m not pinning my future on Mary Elizabeth,” Tucker insisted.
“Like I believe that,” Walker retorted. “You’re falling for her again. Your family can see it. I can see it.”
“I’m helping her,” Tucker corrected. “I’m trying to be a good friend.”
“Sure you are. I’ll make you a deal. You let me hook you up to a polygraph, and then sit there and tell me you haven’t thought about hauling her off to bed. If you pass, I’ll personally get King and Daisy off your case.”
Tucker made an obscene gesture that told Walker exactly what he thought of that idea.
“Thought so,” Walker said with a knowing smirk. “Now I suggest that you and I go to the marina, have a couple of beers, ponder the facts of this case and see if one damned thing makes sense.” He gave Tucker a sly look. “And you can tell me all about your meeting with Selena Velez.”
Tucker muttered an expletive. “You know about that?”
Walker shook his head at Tucker’s shock. “Hell, I knew about it five seconds after you walked through the front door of the building down there. My men may be country lawmen, but they know their stuff, Tucker. Since you’re the one who trained them, you ought to know that.”
“I suppose it slipped my mind.” Even with the prospect of being cross-examined about the unauthorized meeting he and Mary Elizabeth had had with Selena, the suggestion of going to the marina was the best offer on the table.
“You’re on,” he told Walker.
If nothing else, it would dull the temptation to go running out to Swan Ridge for another quiet evening with Mary Elizabeth. Walker was right about one thing—he’d long since lost his professional objectivity where she was concerned. The admission that he’d made to King that he still loved Mary Elizabeth was more truth than it was retaliation against King for his meddling.
And the prospect of getting her back into his bed was nagging at him like an itch that wouldn’t quit.
Liz opened the door expecting to find Tucker on her doorstep. Instead, it was Anna-Louise and another woman who looked only vaguely familiar.
“Is this a bad time?” Anna-Louise inquired. “I took a chance that you’d be home and grateful for a little company.”
“You were right. I’m going stir-crazy out here,” Liz said. “Please, come in.”
“Liz, this is Gail Thorensen. She owns the bookstore and café in town.”
“Of course,” Liz said, remembering the day she’d spent browsing through the latest bestsellers and mysteries. That was where she’d seen the other woman.
“Her husband’s retired from the D.C. police force,” Anna-Louise continued. “Andy’s one of Walker’s best friends.”
Gail gave her an engaging grin. “Now that you know all of my dirty little connections to the cops, I hope you won’t hold that against me. I begged Anna-Louise to bring me out here.”
“Why?” Liz said. “Curiosity?”
“That, too,” Gail admitted candidly. “But mostly because Anna-Louise and I have a proposition for you.”
“Let’s go in the kitchen, then. I’ve just made a fresh batch of lemonade and some cookies.”
“Chocolate chip, I imagine,” Anna-Louise said, then looked at Gail. “Tucker’s favorite.”
“Ah,” Gail said. “Then it’s true? The two of you did have a thing once?”
“A long time ago,” Liz replied, unable to keep a note of wistfulness from her voice.
“Were you expecting him tonight?” Gail asked. “We don’t want to intrude.”
Before Liz could reply, Anna-Louise said, “I think we’ve got time. Last I heard, he, Walker, And
y, Bobby and Richard were all at the marina supposedly discussing the investigation. Since they haven’t had a big break yet, my guess is they’re drinking beer and talking about women. Primarily us.”
“In that case, maybe we should get Daisy and Jenna over here,” Gail said at once. “They should be in on this anyway.”
Liz shook her head. “Jenna maybe, but Daisy won’t come.”
“Why on earth not?” Gail said. “Where’s your phone?”
“She hates me for breaking up with Tucker years ago,” Liz said, trying to prevent Gail from blindly walking into a brick wall, especially if she and Daisy were friends.
“Ancient history,” Gail said breezily. “She needs to get over it.”
Liz and Anna-Louise exchanged an amused look.
“Are you planning to tell her that?” Liz inquired.
“Absolutely. Besides, this is too important to let some old squabble get in the way. Hand me that phone.” She punched in numbers, then grinned. “Daisy? This is Gail. Anna-Louise and I are starting a project, and we really need your input. Can you meet us now? Terrific.” She winked at them. “Where? We’re at Swan Ridge.”
Liz could hear Daisy’s explosion clear across the kitchen. She winced as Gail held the phone away from her ear. “Told you so,” she mouthed.
“That’s nonsense,” Gail said briskly, when Daisy had finally wound down. “That was then. This is now. We’re going to talk about a youth center for Trinity Harbor, and I think you need to be a part of it. Now, act like a grownup and get over here. I’m not taking no for an answer.”
The call to Bobby’s wife went more smoothly. Jenna agreed at once and promised to be there in a half hour. When Gail hung up, she exaggeratedly dusted off her hands and grinned at them. “Piece of cake.”
“Run any small countries lately?” Liz inquired with awe and respect.
“No, but my husband is a stubborn man. I learned a few techniques over the years for dealing with difficult people,” Gail told her. “The bulldozer strategy works best in certain situations. That’s how I managed to get my bookstore down here. After that, I used sweet talk to convince him to retire. He never stood a chance.”
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