“Nope. And to each his own, but all night in the cabin he kept complaining that he needed to sleep next to the fan; he was dying of the heat. Typical Pete—stealing all the oxygen from any situation.”
“Got any pictures of the trip?”
“No, and Detective Miano asked that as soon as we docked up in Menemsha. Last thing I want is to have my cell phone out when I’m on vacation.”
“I get that,” Reid said.
“You know, I couldn’t blame Beth for not picking up when he called,” Nick said. “Pretty much everyone knew about the gallery assistant. Nicola. You’ve heard about her?”
“Yes. Was it serious?”
“Pete never talked to me about it.”
At the sound of tires crunching on gravel, Reid glanced toward the parking area. A blue Volvo wagon pulled in next to his sedan, and a blonde woman wearing a pink sundress stepped out. She was carrying an old-fashioned picnic basket covered with a checked cloth.
“Hello, hello,” she called. She wore flip-flops encrusted with blue jewellike crystals, and when she stepped aboard, she handed Nick the basket and kissed him.
“Detective Reid, this is my wife, Scotty,” Nick said.
“I am so happy to meet you,” Scotty said, shaking his hand, then holding it with both of hers. Her big eyes instantly dampened with tears. “You have to solve this, tell us who killed our Beth.”
“Yes, Mrs. Waterston.”
“Call me Scotty,” she said.
He nodded. “We were just talking about Nicola,” he said.
“Lovely Nicola,” she said, grimacing.
“Do you know her?”
“We all do. She was the sweet little gallery assistant. Beth hired her! Well, and Kate too. We thought she was just darling, and so smart, and so helpful. Till she helped herself to Pete.”
“Was Pete intending to leave Beth for her?”
“At one point, yes,” Scotty said. “Beth was devastated. But after she got pregnant, it seemed that Pete really wanted to fix the marriage, make things better.”
“And Beth, did she want to fix it too?”
Scotty paused. A blush spread up from her neck, and her eyes filled again. “She wanted to, but it was hard. She’d been so hurt by what he did. How could she trust him after that? Trust between a couple is everything.” Her eyes darted to her husband, and Reid wondered if there had been adultery in the Waterston marriage too.
“How did Pete take her reluctance?”
“He didn’t like it, of course. Pete is the kind of person who thinks he can control everyone. He has this Svengali-like personality. Very controlling, bends you to his will. At first, for years, Beth went along with it. She just wanted to make him happy. But after he got together with Nicola and their son was born—she saw the light. She got much more assertive, and that did not thrill Pete, to put it mildly.”
“How do you mean?”
“Oh, he got very sarcastic. All passive-aggressive, saying she was turning into her grandmother. Mathilda was extremely independent, did not believe in needing a man for anything.”
“Was Pete ever violent toward Beth?” Reid asked.
Scotty narrowed her lips and looked away. She started to speak, then shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know. I have my suspicions, but Beth never said for sure.”
“What were your suspicions?”
She shook her head hard, thinned her lips, and looked away. “If only I had stayed with her.”
“When?” Reid asked.
