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“Beth.”
“Oh.” Her face softened. “She was such a sweetheart. Always worried about everyone else.”
So Beth hadn’t changed. And, damn, he wished they’d planned to get together this evening. He hadn’t wanted to come on too strong, but the need was strident enough for him to decide to call her once he was alone. If nothing else, he’d hear her voice.
“I find it difficult to believe Mrs. Marshall wouldn’t have told you who she was seeing,” he said, keeping his tone mild. She’d be more likely to open up if this didn’t turn confrontational.
“Well, she didn’t. Wouldn’t. I had the feeling…” She hesitated. “I supposed that the man was someone I knew. I wondered if she thought I’d disapprove.”
“Perhaps because he was married?”
“If I was friends with his wife, maybe.” She made a little humming sound as she thought. “I was annoyed, I admit. I’d recently been through a divorce and was seeing a new man, and I told her everything. I think Chris was in love with him, whoever he was. She had that glow. Maybe she was hugging her happiness tight or was secretly afraid that people knowing would threaten her dream future.”
“Could he have made her promise not to tell anyone?”
“Yes.” Ms. Abernathy seemed struck by his suggestion. “God. That’s what it was like.”
“Any hints?”
Again, she appeared to cast her mind back but finally shook her head. “He was handsome, successful, wealthy, or at least that was my impression. As far as she was concerned, he walked on water.” She frowned. “If it’s true he bought her some big diamonds, maybe he really was successful and wealthy.”
“Several men in her circle of friends seem to meet that description,” Tony said. “Tim Oberholtzer, Michael Longley, Alan Schuh.”
Ms. Abernathy wrinkled her nose. “I suppose any of them would qualify compared to a man who taught at the community college.”
Was she even aware how derisive she sounded? If John Marshall had taught at Wakefield, a nationally known college, would he then have qualified as a worthy husband?
What would it feel like to have your wife constantly urging you to strive for something bigger, better, even though you were happy in the job you had? In his case, maybe being a detective in a town as modest as Frenchman Lake wouldn’t be good enough. Why wouldn’t he want to work for Seattle PD, since that would give his wife more bragging material? Or shouldn’t he at least rise in the hierarchy, take the sergeant’s exam as soon as possible, become a lieutenant, even a captain? So what if he liked investigations and wasn’t eager to be stuck behind a desk doing administrative work?
No wonder if John had taken to tuning out his wife.
Tony continued with his questions, but didn’t learn anything more of value. She’d only been acquainted with the three men and their wives through Christine. Two of three had later gotten divorces, but she hadn’t heard any gossip. She gave him a few more names to check out, a useful reminder that he shouldn’t narrow his investigation too quickly. In this town, Christine could easily have met someone like a vineyard owner at a tasting party. And then there were those clients, many of whom neither her husband or children would have had any reason to meet.
He thanked Ms. Abernathy for coming, gave her his card in case she thought of anything new, and they parted on the sidewalk.
* * *
STILL SITTING IN her car in front of Dad’s house, Beth said into the phone, “You’re the one who hung up on me.”
“I was upset!”
When wasn’t Emily? Easy answer: when she got her way.
Eager to segue away from the topic of Emily’s volatile state of mind, Beth said, “I’m glad you called because I forgot to ask you not to tell anyone else about the drawing. It’s not the kind of thing we want the rest of the world to know about.”
“Well, you’re too late,” her little sister said spitefully. “Mom deserves to be humiliated.”
“Mom is past humiliation. Matt and Dad aren’t.”
“Matt’s just so full of himself, who cares? And Dad… Dad won’t even notice if people are talking about him.”
