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“Sounds like you’re in the wrong business,” I said.
“You’re not wrong,” Thea said. “I hate it. But I’ve also got six figures in student loan debt to pay off. I earned my way into that clerkship. No one bought it for me. I might hate it, but I don’t see as I have a lot of other options right now.”
“John mentioned the two of you had a sexual relationship,” Jack said, changing course.
“Did he?” Thea asked, the corner of her mouth quirking in a smile. “I’m surprised he even remembers. That’s one of the times he was drunk. We were both still undergrads. It was just one of those stupid things that college kids do because the circumstances were convenient. But I can tell you it wasn’t good and it wasn’t memorable. In fact, it was so bad I helped myself to the cash in his wallet on the way out of his apartment. It paid for a taxi to get home and also my meal plan that semester, so can’t say I’m too sorry about it.”
“John insinuated that he broke things off because you wanted something serious,” Jack said.
She laughed outright at that. “I’m not surprised he’d say something like that at all. He’s a narcissistic jackass.”
“He also mentioned he’s made the rounds with Toby and Cami, but Cami was his more frequent partner.”
“John has been unusually chatty,” Thea said, brows raised. “Yeah, he and Toby had a thing for a while during law school. But John’s not really relationship material and he’s a little dramatic. Toby was just trying to get through school and stay focused. The thing with Cami started sometime last year. Toby and I both warned her not to waste her time. John’s got a ten-year plan for career, marriage, and family, and someone like Cami doesn’t fit the description.” She rolled her eyes again.
“In what way?” Jack asked.
“How can I put it delicately,” she said, her sarcasm obvious. “John hooking up with women like Cami and Toby and me…that’s what he’d call slumming it. We don’t fit the pedigree of the future ruler of the world.”
“What do you know about Cami’s other sexual partners?” Jack asked.
“What do you mean?” Thea asked.
“I mean who else besides John was she sleeping with? There was evidence in her room that she had company the night she was murdered. And John said he was out at a dinner. So that means someone else was occupying her bed.”
Thea shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Cami didn’t have time for that kind of stuff. John was her hookup when she needed sex.”
“What about Will or Kevin? They ever hook up with Cami?”
“No,” she said, looking at her watch again. “I’m going to have to go. I’ve got to be at work in half an hour and I still have to call a ride. I don’t suppose you know when Kevin’s car will be released.”
“It depends on how cooperative everyone is while we’re investigating,” Jack said. “The longer it takes us to find answers, the longer it’ll take to get you all back home and back to normal. Thanks for your time.”
Thea smiled tightly and grabbed her purse.
“Thoughts,” Jack said, once she was gone.
“She was lying,” I said automatically.
“That goes without saying.”
“It caught her off guard when you asked who else Cami was sleeping with,” I said. “She knows something. Knows there’s another guy.”
“Maybe she’s protecting someone,” Jack said. “Reading between the lines, what did you think of her?”
“She’s got some bitterness and jealousy,” I said. “Resents the fact that guys like John are handed things on a silver platter and she’s had to work her way up from nothing and sling drinks at the same time. But doesn’t mind taking advantage of the money when it presents itself.”
“Bingo,” Jack said. “I think that’s the nail on the head. She didn’t give a thought to taking all John’s money from his wallet—a good amount if it paid her meal plan for a whole semester. Just like it doesn’t faze her to use Kevin for his car, a new apartment in a better neighborhood, and a clerkship with Judge Perry. She doesn’t really care about Kevin. You could tell by the way they interacted last night. But he’s a means to an end, and his dad is a congressman. She’s not stupid.”
“So you think she’s protecting her investment by lying about who else Cami was sleeping with? Why would she do that?”
“Maybe Kevin is who she’s protecting,” Jack said. “He can’t sit on that barstool and watch her work all the time.”
I raised my brows at that. “So you’re presenting the theory that Kevin has been having an affair with Cami. And Thea knows about it, but she doesn’t want to give up what Kevin has to offer. Though now that I say it out loud it would also explain why she puts up with his drinking.”
“Thea and Kevin were the last people who saw Cami alive, supposedly,” Jack said. “Maybe Kevin tells Thea he’s going out to grab some dinner or something and leaves her working. Comes home and hooks up with Cami. Goes back to the bar and sits the rest of the night with Thea until she closes up and they go home.”
“Still doesn’t leave motive or opportunity for Kevin to be our killer,” I said.
