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“There wasn’t a fingerprint of hers on the gun. Ballistics said it still smelled of gun cleaner. He probably cleaned it as soon as he used it.”
“Or she cleaned it and left it out for him to handle,” Andy said.
Dan looked over at Andy with a frown. “Jesus, you figured that out fast,” he said, a sinking feeling about Shelly’s involvement sweeping over him.
Andy’s wife Sandra walked in with a tray of coffee. “Don’t get used to service like this,” she said, frowning. “I just unpacked the tray and figured I might as well use it.”
“I thought I was at Pam’s for a moment,” Dan said, taking a mug of coffee off the tray.
“She’d approve,” Sandra said, placing the tray on the table. “No powdered-sugar-covered pastry, however. Um, so, how’d she take it?”
“Take what?” Dan asked, squirming.
“The breakup, Dan. Don’t play dumb.”
“It wasn’t pleasant,” he finally said.
“No, I don’t imagine it was. How many times is she going to take you back?”
“Can we change the topic?” Andy asked, smirking.
“That’s a good look for you,” Dan said, relieved, nodding at her pregnant form.
“She does look great, doesn’t she?” Andy asked.
“Thank you, but I think I look like a Styrofoam ball with toothpicks for legs.”
Dan and Andy looked at each other, and Dan tried not to laugh.
“You don’t have much longer, do you?” Dan said.
“No, thank God. Anyway, changing the subject, when did Shelly move in with you?”
“Before she’d even broken up with Alan,” Dan said. “My usual poor judgment. But we get along great so far. She doesn’t mind that I’m a dud, and I don’t care that she’s a little brainy.”
“Brainy? Wow, you have changed. You traded boobs for brains.”
“Thanks,” Dan replied, grimacing, while Andy laughed.
“Don’t mind me,” she said, sitting down with a mug of coffee. “I’m unable to control my mouth. I say it as I see it. But you don’t know her very well, do you?”
“No, I don’t know her at all.”
“So, it’s possible she did kill Lily,” Sandra said, winking at Dan. “I’d be prepared for that if I were you.”
Shelly got Dan’s text outlining the arrest and leaned against the nurses’ desk. Wishing he wouldn’t get involved, she knew Dan was kind of a pushover, a guy who did what he wanted and let others do what they wanted, as well. Alan had betrayed Dan, and Dan was going to help him get out of trouble.
“We’ve got a patient coming in, Shelly,” her manager called out.
“Okay, I’m ready.” She stared at her phone, thinking of the right reply to Dan.
I don’t believe it.
Warmth like a blanket of honey spread over her body, and she moaned, imagining what Alan was going through at that moment, how confused he must be. She wasn’t sure he was intelligent enough to figure out he’d been duped or that she was the one who had done the tricking.
The memory of following Alan after her initial discovery that he was having sex with Lily Porter enraged her. He had obviously been banging Lily more than he was Shelly. After that, he’d rarely left the house without her trailing close behind. The lure of Lily must have been so intense that he never suspected Shelly was on his tail. She’d longed to hire someone to follow him, a private investigator maybe. However, Alan was too well known as a cop, which could lead to someone cluing him in, plus she’d wanted some privacy about their failed relationship.
It had taken every ounce of her self-control while watching Alan have sex with Lily Porter not to run to the car and pummel them with her bare hands. It was during those several encounters, as the rage built, that her resolve to take action had begun to poison her.
