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Becky says, ‘He admitted to being in the car with her, but he denied having an affair with her.’
Olivia stares at Becky. She has to know what the hell is going on. ‘How do you know? Why was he in the car with Amanda? I don’t understand.’
Becky says carefully, ‘He told the detectives that he thought she was having an affair with Larry, and he was telling her to stay away from him, but I’m sorry, that’s just not true.’
‘Your Larry?’
Becky nods.
Olivia is astonished. ‘Why are you so sure Larry wasn’t having an affair with her? And you’re suggesting that Paul was?’ Olivia protests.
Becky leans closer toward her over the kitchen table. ‘I don’t know if Paul was having an affair with Amanda, but I saw them together, and I had to tell the detectives.’
Olivia says, ‘Why would Paul say that about Larry, if it wasn’t true?’
Becky sits back in her chair and folds her arms across her chest. ‘You remember what Amanda was like. Remember her at that party? Oozing sex appeal, basking in all the male attention. Apparently it was worse at the office. And Paul caught her behaving inappropriately with my husband once. But he says it meant nothing.’
‘Behaving inappropriately how, exactly?’
‘I don’t know the details,’ Becky says, averting her eyes.
‘I can’t believe that Paul was seeing Amanda,’ Olivia says.
‘Well, I don’t believe Larry was either.’ She reaches for her coffee cup. ‘Maybe it’s all just a misunderstanding. Perhaps Paul misinterpreted the situation and overreacted.’
‘So – what, now the detectives are investigating Paul and Larry?’ Olivia asks in disbelief. Becky nods uneasily. ‘And what do they think?’
‘I don’t know. They never say what they think. But they spoke to Paul yesterday, and came to our house last night after Larry got home, and accused Larry of having an affair with Amanda. He denied it.’ Becky turns her face away and looks bleak. ‘We had the most awful argument after.’
Part of Olivia wants to comfort Becky, but another part of her hates Becky for bringing all this into her house and dumping it in her lap. She thinks about the argument she and Paul will have that evening. She doesn’t believe that Paul was sleeping with Amanda. But he’s obviously not telling her everything either. If he thought Larry was having an affair with Amanda, why didn’t he tell her? Why didn’t he tell her the police had come to his office yesterday?
‘I thought you should know what was going on,’ Becky says, ‘in case Paul didn’t tell you.’
Olivia recoils, as if from a slap. Does Becky expect her to thank her?
Now Becky is staring down at the kitchen table. ‘There’s something else. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but it’s probably not going to stay secret for long. And I need to talk to somebody and I don’t want you to think I’ve been lying to you.’
Becky seems so distraught now, that Olivia feels a sudden twinge of sympathy for her. But what she feels most is a sense of foreboding. What more can there possibly be? ‘What?’
‘It’s about Robert Pierce.’
Olivia sits back. She could tell, even at book club, that Becky had a bit of a thing for him. He’s very attractive, and lives right next door to her. Larry is away a lot. Her children go to school out of town. ‘What about him?’
‘I slept with him, when Larry was away,’ Becky confesses, looking up at her. ‘Twice.’
Olivia just stares, shocked into silence.
‘I must have been out of my mind,’ Becky admits. ‘But there was this chemistry between us. I don’t know what came over me. I – I just couldn’t resist him.’
‘My God, Becky. He probably killed his wife.’
‘He didn’t. I’m sure he didn’t.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ Olivia says, aghast. ‘If people were aware of what Amanda was like – if Paul thought she was sleeping with Larry, even if it wasn’t true – then her husband must have had some idea what she was like. He might have been jealous. Angry.’ She adds firmly, ‘He’s probably the one who killed her.’
Becky says, shaking her head, ‘I don’t think he did it. I don’t think he could kill her. I think it was someone else.’
‘Who, then?’
‘I don’t know. Some stranger – someone we don’t know. Paul and Larry had nothing to do with it.’
‘Of course they didn’t,’ Olivia says. ‘I still think it was her husband.’
Robert Pierce looks coldly across the interview table at the two detectives who have become such a nuisance to him. When Detective Webb called him at home a short while ago, asking him if he’d be willing to come down to the station to answer a few more questions, he considered his position carefully before he answered. He suspected that if he refused, they would simply arrive at his door and place him under arrest. So here he is.
He knows they suspect him of murder, even if they won’t say so. He must convince them otherwise.
‘Am I under arrest?’ he asks.
‘No,’ Detective Webb says, ‘you know you’re not.’
‘Then why does it feel that way?’
‘You can leave at any time,’ Webb says.
Robert doesn’t move.
Webb leans back in his chair and asks, ‘Did you know your wife was having an affair?’
Robert eyes him warily. ‘No. I told you that.’
‘Were you aware that your wife had a reputation for flirting, for – cheating?’
Robert feels his face darken but remains calm. ‘No, I certainly wasn’t aware of it. But she was a very attractive, very confident woman. People will talk.’
‘Yes, they do talk.’ Detective Webb leans forward and says, ‘We spoke to a number of people who worked where Amanda was a temp. Some of the places she temped regularly. One of those was Fanshaw Pharmaceuticals.’
‘Yes, she liked working there.’
‘People there said she had a reputation,’ the detective says.
Robert stares back at him, refusing to rise to the bait.
‘A reputation for having sex in elevators, for instance,’ Moen says.
He glares at her silently.
‘In fact,’ Webb says, ‘we think we know who was having an affair with your wife.’
Robert remains silent for a few seconds and then shrugs and says, ‘It’s possible. I told you. I don’t know what to think since I found out she lied to me about going away with Caroline. Maybe she was having an affair.’ He leans forward now himself. ‘But if she was, I didn’t know about it.’
‘You absolutely sure about that?’ Webb says.
‘Yes. I trusted Amanda,’ Pierce says, leaning back again in his chair.
‘And yet you cheated on her with your neighbour,’ Moen breaks in.
He fixes a hard look on her. He finds her annoying, picking away at him. ‘That was a moment of stupidity. Becky came on to me. I shouldn’t have done it. Just because I did something wrong, it doesn’t mean my wife did.’
‘Doesn’t it?’ Moen asks, arching an eyebrow.
