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Phoebe shrugged, “I doubt they did.”
“Did you lie to me about anything else?”
Phoebe took a minute to think about it before saying, “No, I don’t think so.”
“Think? It’d better be know. Not just know but know for certain. If it’s not, I’m done.”
Again, Phoebe seemed to catch her words before they came out of her mouth. This time, however, instead of coolly blowing some smoke, her bottom lip started to quiver. It wasn’t long after that the tears started to flow. At first, it was just a few tears running down her face, but soon enough, she was sobbing with her head in her hands.
Somewhere between the sobs, she managed to blurt out, “I’m sorry.”
Margot didn’t want to feel sorry for her, but she couldn’t help it. At this moment, the previously cool and aloof trophy wife looked weak, vulnerable, and defeated.
“Look, you just need to be honest with me, okay? I’m on your side,” Margot reassured her.
“It doesn’t feel like anyone is on my side.”
“I get that, but I am.”
Phoebe gained a little of composure back, managed to take a long drag off her cigarette, and became a little calmer.
“You know, I just thought because I really didn’t do it, I’d be fine.”
“And you still will be. I’ll find something.”
“They put me in here on a Friday, so I’d be stuck. They did it on purpose to break me.”
Margot nodded. She was right. Normally, this treatment was reserved for those the police were sure were guilty and just needed a push to get a confession.
“I thought if I acted tough, you know, went into full bitch mode, I’d show them I couldn’t be broken, but here I am bawling like a little schoolgirl.”
“You’re in a tough spot. There’s no shame in being upset when things are upsetting.”
“I guess you’re right. I also guess I need to tell you something. I haven’t been honest with you.”
While Margot waited for her to continue, she started to think Phoebe was about to confess.
“My marriage was in dire straits. The lawyers had already filled out all the paperwork. All that was left was for me to sign.”
“So you didn’t have as much of an unspoken agreement as you thought?”
Phoebe managed to laugh. “No, that part was fine. It was everything else. We could have sex, but we couldn’t have a conversation. We couldn’t agree where to eat or what to watch on television. We made a good-looking couple but other than that? We had nothing.”
Phoebe’s lip started to quiver again. Margot sensed another crying jag coming on.
“What about what you told me yesterday? The part about getting half and being able to find another man, no problem?”
“Half of what? He played the game well enough to always look rich, but on paper, the place it counts in the courts, he had less than nothing. What he did have was most likely acquired illegally so I wouldn’t be getting half of that either. As for the finding another man, brave talk on my part. I think the person I was trying to convince was me.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Margot said, even though after the shit she’d taken from Phoebe, she wasn’t sure how much she meant it.
“I’m mistress material. Harry Lee will dump me as soon as he realizes there’s even a remote possibility I might want to be more than his side piece.”
“Okay, but you still shouldn’t lie to me. As bad as your divorce might have been, it would have been a vacation compared to the penitentiary.”
“I know. Believe me, two days in here has been too long. It gets worse.”
“How so?”
