The calm, subdued man who walked to his bedroom to get proof of his absence during the murders was very different from the belligerent man who had nearly fought Marcus a few minutes ago.He returned from the bedroom with slumped shoulders and a face that looked a decade older than the forty-six listed in his file at Dr.Hammond’s office.
Marcus took pictures of the boarding passes and tags and said, “Do you mind if I call the airlines to verify this?”
“Go ahead,” James said.Marcus stepped away to do that, and he looked at Kate.“I’m not a murderer.I was angry, and I got into it with Dr.Hammond a little bit, but I wouldn’t have killed her.That wouldn’t have changed anything for me.It was already too late.”
He laughed and sank into a couch, staring past Kate with eyes filled with disgust at himself.“I’ll never forget the way she looked.I’d just had sex with a coworker of mine, another vice president from a different division.She’d been flirting with me for a while, and when Janice and I agreed to give this a shot, I figured she’d be the easiest one to… you know.So, I hooked up with her and came home all excited to tell Janice.I…” He laughed again and rubbed a hand over his face.“I actually thought she’d be happy.Can you believe that?I actually thought she’d be happy to hear that I was doing what we agreed.I thought it would be something else we could share with each other.”He shook his head.“I’ll never forget seeing the light die in her eyes.”
He met Kate’s eyes.“Don’t ever cheat on anyone.It’s not worth it.Even if you think you don’t love them anymore.Even if you think they don’t love you.It never works out the way you think it will.”
From across the room, Kate saw Marcus glance at Thornton, then at Kate.She saw guilt fill his eyes and felt her heart twist.
She had nothing to say.She just looked through James’s window-wall as a cruise ship ponderously left its mooring and pointed its way south toward some exotic Caribbean destination.Marcus came to her a moment later, the dejected look in his eyes telling her the alibi was valid before his words could.James wasn’t their killer.Just another victim of a philosophy that treated marriage vows as optional.
Kate’s stomach slid a little when she realized she could sympathize with the killer’s point.Adultery was not a victimless crime.As often as not, it hurt the perpetrator as much as it hurt the spouse scorned.
She could sympathize with the killer’s point but not their actions.Patricia Hammond might have been a poor therapist, but she didn’t deserve the garish way she died.No one did.
And her killer was still out there, looking for the next person fated to lose their offending parts and their life so the killer could save their soul.
