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“Vivienne told him to break it off.”
And there it was.
“Why?”
“Why did she do anything?” Long trapped deep inside, Cloutier’s demons finally split the sinews and came tumbling out. “Because she was weak and afraid and needy and manipulative.”
“What was she afraid of?”
“Of not being the center of Homer’s life. She’d managed to come between Homer and Kathy, and now she came between us. I should’ve seen it coming, but I thought it was specific to her mother. A teenage thing. She was all grown up now. Married. It never occurred to me she’d tell him it was her or me.”
“Is that what she said?”
“Yes.”
“And what did Homer do?”
“You know what he did. He broke it off.”
“He chose his grown married daughter over a woman he loved?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Obviously he didn’t love me enough. Didn’t love me as much.”
“As much as Vivienne?”
“As much as I loved him.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing. He just said we couldn’t see each other anymore.”
“And you accepted that?”
“What could I do?”
Lacoste looked at her. They both knew what she could’ve done. Might’ve done.
“How long ago was that?”
“Almost a year ago. We haven’t seen each other since then. Until he emailed and told me Vivienne was missing.”
“Where were you on Saturday?”
“It was my day off. I was at home doing laundry. Chores.”
“Alone?”
Lysette nodded. Always alone.
“Did you go down to see Vivienne? To confront her?”
“Of course not. It was over and done with almost a year ago. Why would I do it now? What’re you saying?”
“I’m saying things grow. Fester. Time doesn’t always heal. Sometimes it makes things worse. Is that what happened to you, Lysette?”
