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“I did, but not like I was with her. She was my girl. If I had to take sides, which I never did, I would always choose her. He knew that and used to joke that I was her other spouse—the one she actually liked.”
“That’s a telling statement,” Freddie said.
“It was. I thought it was the pressure of two high-stress jobs and four kids to manage, but I’d begun to suspect the discontent ran deeper than that. And then she found out about the lawsuit. Do you know about that?”
“We do,” Freddie said.
“I’ve never been more shocked in my life. She was speechless, devastated, appalled, revolted. That four women were saying the same thing… She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. None of us could.”
“You, her and who else?”
“Her other friends. There’s a group of six of us that go back to college, and she told us so we wouldn’t hear it from someone else. We were stunned. Marcel had always seemed like the ultimate professional and family man, and it just didn’t jibe with who we knew him to be.”
“In reviewing their text messages over the last couple of months, there was an obvious chill in the air,” Freddie said. “Is that how you’d describe it?”
“Definitely. They were barely speaking. After she heard about the lawsuit, she spoke to him only about the kids. And then he decided to cut back at work right when they had mounting legal fees, and she was furious. A week ago, she’d suggested he might consider finding somewhere else to live.”
Sam’s heart sank. Could that’ve been what sent him over the edge?
“Could a request like that have driven him to murder?” Freddie asked, reading her mind.
“I don’t know,” Cara said. “I’ve been thinking about nothing else but that, and I still can’t bring myself around to him shooting the kids. Her? Maybe, but not them. Never them.”
They now had multiple people close to Marcel saying there was no way he could’ve harmed his kids.
“And even with Lili, he knew everything that was happening was his fault—not hers. So I don’t see him turning a gun on her either.”
“Was there anyone else in their lives who might’ve been angry enough to do something like this?” Freddie asked.
“Only the women suing him. And maybe the parents who were so deeply resentful of Eloise’s success in gymnastics. That was truly disgusting.”
“Anyone in particular?”
“The Cortezes were the worst of the lot.”
“We’ve spoken to them.”
“They made life miserable for Eloise and her parents with their blatant racism and comments about Eloise not deserving to win the meets. It was very upsetting to everyone who loved her. She would ask, ‘Why are they so mean?’ And none of us could give her an answer other than sometimes people suck.”
“Can you think of anything else that might be relevant? We often tell people that even the smallest thing can blow a case wide open, and it’s true. We see it all the time.”
“I’ve done nothing but think about that since the second I got the dreadful news, and I can’t come up with anything that would’ve led to an entire family being slaughtered this way. I keep coming back around to the enormous pressure Marcel was under over this lawsuit that was going to ruin his practice and his life… Who knows? Maybe he did snap.”
“We appreciate your help.” Freddie handed her his card. “If you think of anything else, even the smallest thing, call me. My number is on there.”
Cara took the card from him. “I will.” She glanced at Sam. “Lili would’ve been so excited to meet you. She was a big fan of you and your husband. She thought it was amazing that you were keeping your job while you’re first lady.”
“That’s nice to hear. Thank you.”
“I hope you can figure out who did this, even if it was Marcel. It would help to know.”
“We run a grief group for victims of violent crime,” Sam said. “We usually meet the second Tuesday of every month at MPD headquarters, but we moved it to Wednesday this month, so it’s tonight. You’re more than welcome to join the group if or when you feel ready.”
Cara walked them to the door. “Thank you for the invite. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Take care of yourself,” Freddie said.
“I will.”
