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Margot didn’t reply to that. Instead, she asked, “How’d Tim make his money?”
“Wholesale imports, mostly garments, was his job, but he really made his money the old-fashioned way. He inherited it from his dad who did the same from his dad. That’s not to say he didn’t do all right, but Rick does alright solving crimes and no one would ever mistake him for rich.”
Margot didn’t reply to that either. Instead, she waited patiently for Phoebe to tell her more.
“Our marriage wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad. Even when it was bad, it was never that bad. I had no reason to kill him.”
“He was having an affair.”
“He had more than one. So did I. Neither of us liked the other one stepping out, but we were adults about it. We never left each other.”
“It’s usually only one who does the leaving.”
“Are you buying that whole ‘he was going to leave me, so I killed him’ nonsense?”
“I haven’t bought anything yet.”
“You know I’d get half if he divorced me. I could do fine with that. I’ve got expensive tastes, but I’m not greedy. Plus, I’m still more or less in my prime. He’s not the only man out there who has a few bucks in his pocket.”
“Did you know Rita Helms was one of his affairs?”
Phoebe blew out some more smoke before she said, “I wouldn’t kill her. I liked her.”
“You knew her?”
“Of course, her husband and Tim are business partners—or they were.”
“The way you say that makes it sounds like the partnership didn’t end well.”
“That depends on who you ask. We did fine, but from what I understand Derek was disappointed in the way things worked out.”
“What happened?”
“You’d have to ask Derek. I tried to stay out of my husband's business as much as possible. I just know he was unhappy.”
“Tim seeing his wife probably didn’t help.”
“As far as I know, Derek didn’t discover his wife was stepping out on him until they found her body floating in my hot tub.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“No, but I don’t see Derek doing anything like that. He’s not the type.”
“Anyone else unhappy with your husband?”
Phoebe shrugged. “As I said, I tried to stay out of his business as much as possible. I’m sure he had a few; Tim liked to throw his weight around.”
Again the room became silent as Margot waited for Phoebe to expand on what she said. When she didn’t, Margot asked, “What else can you tell me about what happened the night of the murder?”.
“I don’t know what else I can tell you. I wasn’t there,” Phoebe replied.
“Where were you?”
“I was out.”
“Alone?”
“With someone who would prefer to be discreet.”
