CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cheryl was one of the most beautiful women Kate had ever seen.She had long hair, a natural light brown to which she added shimmering blond highlights in a balayage that lit up her already vibrant skin.Her eyes were brown, but instead of a garden variety drab, they were a soft, golden honey with flecks of amber that sparkled when the light hit them.She had the body of a supermodel and usually dressed the part with loud, fashion-forward clothing that somehow didn’t look loud or forward on her.
Today, her hair flopped like it had been sprinkled with water and left to air-dry.Her eyes were almost wild with anger, and she wore a plain shirt and leggings that didn't look unattractive so much as they looked like an afterthought, especially considering who was wearing them.It was clear she wasn't taking the breakup well.
Gee, what gave it away?The hair, the clothes, or the fact that she burst into a field office in a different state to confront Marcus at work?
Cheryl glared at Marcus, but her first words were for Kate."Oh, look.You and your whore are playing detective again.How sweet."
Kate was too stunned to react, but Marcus frowned and snapped, “Don’t call her that!”
Cheryl lifted her hands in mock apology.“Oh, gee.I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to offend your precious little angel.”
Marcus stepped forward."Cheryl, let's not."
She slapped him.Hard.Rivera moved toward her, his instincts telling him to secure the threat.Fortunately, his senses came to him before he followed through.Kate was still too stunned to do anything but stare numbly as the best thing that might have ever happened to her fell apart before it could actually happen.When the door opened, Rivera gave the two agents entering a warning look and shook his head softly.They closed the door, looking grateful to be given permission to leave.
Marcus, for his part, didn’t seem hurt by the blow so much as stunned.Nowhewas speechless, leaving Cheryl free to unload.
“Why, Marcus?”She lifted her hands and let them drop to her side.“Why even bother?I mean…” She lifted her right fingertips to her head and pushed them off like she was grappling with an unfathomable level of stupidity.“What was I even?Why did you go through all of this effort?I mean, youmarriedme?”
Now Marcus found his voice.“Yeah, I did.I married you.And at every freaking turn, you found a way to show me how I wasn’t good enough for you.I wasn’t doing my job as your husband.I wasn’t spending enough time with you.I wasn’t—”
Cheryl interrupted.“Yeah, well, I know who you were spending your time with.”She smiled frostily at Kate and addressed her directly for the first time.“Hi, sweetie.Having fun fucking my husband?”
Kate still couldn’t make her lips form words.That was probably for the best.She didn’t think she could say anything to make this better.
Marcus tried.“We’re not fucking, Cheryl.”
“Oh, bullshit.I havepictures, Marcus.”
Marcus blinked.“You have pictures of us having sex?That’s not possible.”
“Yeah, well,” Cheryl said, fumbling with her phone, “thank God for small blessings.I don’t think I could stand to see how you look when you’re inside her.”
“God, Cheryl, can we just…” Marcus glanced at Kate, then Rivera.Rivera was studying the floor, and Kate was doing her best impression of a mannequin, so he turned back to Cheryl.“Let’s go outside and talk.”
Cheryl looked up from her phone and waved her palm in a chopping motion across her chest.“Oh,weare not talking.Weare done talking.Iam going to talk, and for the first fucking time,youare going to listen.”
Marcus flared up again.“Me?You’rethe one who never listens!All I do is tell you…”
She held the phone up to him, a triumphant and anguished look on her face.His voice trailed off as he looked at the pictures.The color drained from it once more.
Cheryl addressed Kate again.“You can look too, sweetie.Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Kate was not at all convinced by that promise, but she shuffled forward anyway.
Cheryl did indeed have pictures.She held the phone in her right hand and used her left to swipe toward Kate's and Marcus's right every few seconds.Kate saw pictures of her and Marcus together.Most of them were innocent: the two of them laughing, the two of them eating dinner or having coffee.Kate recognized several of the venues as places they'd eaten while working cases.
Other pictures were innocent but could look very different in context: The two of them entering a hotel together.The two of them touching, nothing salacious, but if you didn’t know they were partners and friends, it could look flirtatious.Hell, even knowing the circumstances, it still struck Kate how familiar she was at times, laying her hand on his arm, hugging him, brushing his hair.
The two most damning pictures were from their recent cases.First was an image of them through a hotel window in Chicago.Marcus was in a t-shirt and a pair of boxers, sitting on the edge of a bed.Kate was wrapped in a towel having just stepped out of the shower.The two of them were talking about the case while Kate grabbed the clothes she'd forgotten so she could dress in the bathroom, but it sure as hell looked like she'd just showered after a lovemaking session, and Marcus was enjoying the afterglow.
The second pictures was them making out in Marcus’s car after her birthday party last month.Marcus’s hand was planted firmly on Kate’s left breast, and a tiny slip of her tongue was visible entering his mouth.
I don’t remember him grabbing my breastwas, God only knew why, the thought that first came to Kate’s head.She had to bite her lower lip to keep from saying it aloud.
The second thought and the rest that followed were far more disturbing.
