Page 32 of Done Dirty

“He was distracted. Wade was never distracted.” She picked at the hem of her dress absently. “He kept checking his phone. And then—” she paused, like she was still deciding whether to say it, “—nothing happened between us. We’ve had sex every Thursday for months. I knew something was wrong.”

“Did you ask him about it?”

“Of course I did.” She looked at Jack directly. “He said he’d gotten some personal news he had to deal with. He apologized. That was it.” She tilted her head. “Wade never apologized for anything, either. So whatever it was, it was significant.”

“Did he say anything more about the personal news?”

“No.” She looked at Jack directly. “And I knew enough not to push.” She uncurled her legs and set her feet on the floor and leaned forward slightly, which did things to the neckline of the sundress that were probably intentional. “Wade kept his compartments very separate. You had your place, you stayed in it. It was understood.”

“What was your place?” Jack asked.

She held his gaze. “I was his Thursday adventure. I like for sex to be a little—” she paused, and the pause was deliberate, “—different. I think he liked the change of pace from his other partners.”

“How many private sessions were like yours?” Jack asked.

“Do you mean how many of Wade’s clients was he sleeping with?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

“I know I wasn’t the only one,” she said. “Sex was like a drug to Wade. A need. He was taking some kind of steroids or testosterone or something. I’d be surprised if he only had sex once a day.”

“You saw him take steroids?” I asked.

“No, never saw him. But he mentioned he was on a strict supplement regimen, and that he takes testosterone because of some study about how it reduces in men at thirty-five. As far as steroids—” she tilted her head toward Jack, “—if you saw his body you’d know he didn’t get those muscles from Pilates.”

“Did he ever mention anyone who had a problem with him? Someone other than your husband?”

She considered this. “He had a strict rule about not dating the instructors who worked for him. He said he’d learned that lesson the hard way.” She picked at her hot pink nail. “One time he broke up with a woman and she threw a dumbbell at him because she was so angry. Then she quit and he was down an instructor and had to cover her classes.”

I raised my brows at that bit of information. Maybe hitting someone with a dumbbell wasn’t uncommon for our killer after all.

“Did he tell you her name?” Jack asked.

“No, sorry. He never shared.”

“Did he seem worried about her?”

“Wade seemed amused by her.” She looked up. “Wade was amused by most things. He was very difficult to rattle.”

“Did he ever ask you for money?”

“Besides the fortune I was paying him for classes and private sessions?” She smiled a catlike smile. “No.”

“So you never felt like you were paying him for sex?”

“Honey, he should have been paying me,” she said. “I’m ten years older than he is. I gave him an education.”

“Did you know any of his other private clients personally?”

“About a month ago I stopped by his condo. I’d left a shopping bag there and needed it back.” She met my gaze, and I wondered how much of this story was part of her act. “A woman was just leaving when I got there. Flushed, couldn’t look me in the eye. Her clothes were mussed. I could tell she was embarrassed to run into anyone.

“Wade just told her he’d see her at group class and let me inside like it was nothing unusual. For him it wasn’t unusual. He went to the fridge and got one of his smoothies he drinks after a workout while I grabbed my bag from the workout room. There was a condom wrapper on the floor.”

“Did you know the woman?”

“I saw her around the studio a couple of times. Her name was Lynnie. Pretty woman, but the ones he chose for his private sessions are. Drove a black Corvette. I saw her pull in once as I was leaving.”

She smiled and winked at Jack. “I told him I noticed her wedding ring and to be careful. Not all men like to share their wives. But he just laughed, and let’s just say it was another half hour before I left his condo.”