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“Have you slept with Anna since that night?” Fletch asks. His tone is merely curious, but his eyes are sharp as an eagle’s as he watches our prey. “Have youaccidentallycheated on her since?”
Perry swallows, so his Adam’s apple bobs and his eyes glisten with shame.
“Vance?”
“Yes.” Sniffling, he brings his gaze back up. “Yes, Anna and I slept together a handful of times since then.”
Fuckin A.
I already knew that, because phone records don’t lie. So I circle in closer and trap this prick in his own bullshit.
“You slept together again in March, when Anna was in the city after her European tour. You must be the worst liar on the planet, because Misty figured it out, and she headed back to Tulsa for a week.”
His eyes turn pink, watering and misting over.
But I’m not done. “You slept together again in April. And look at that,” I point toward the call logs, not only between him and his wife, but him and Anna. “Misty packed up again and headed out to her sister.”
“I don’t get it,” Fletch rumbles. “One fuck-up, a personmayforgive. But two? Three? That’s not an accident, man.”
“Anna was just so…” Perry brings his hands up and scrubs them over his face. “She was special, ya know? The forbidden treasure everyone wanted a slice of.”
“Despite your marriage?” I demand. “You chose Anna, time and time again, over your wife?”
“I was trying to stop,” he groans. “I swear I was trying. She went away on tour for months at a time, and during those months, my marriage was amazing.”
“But when that forbidden fruit was nearby again,” Fletch bites out, “too sweet to pass up?”
“Misty and I are working through our problems.” Vance drops his hands and studies us with tears in his eyes. “I know I sound stupid. I know you think I’m a piece of shit for being so weak. So selfish. But Misty and I are in therapy. We’re working on things.”
“And now that Anna is dead…” Fletch pushes, “All temptation is removed.”
“Yes,” he responds. But then his eyes shoot wide. “No! No. I didnothurt Anna.”
“You were the man her therapist spoke of. Anna’s therapist,” I add. “She was aware Anna was dating someone from the team, and she knew you were likely married and emotionally unavailable. She labeled you as powerful. Married. Older.”
“She got the older bit wrong,” Fletch adds. “But the rest fits well enough.”
“We weren’t dating. We were just—”
“Sneaking around?” I offer. “Cheating on the vows you made to someone else? Did you consider yourself in love, Perry? Is that why it was worth it?”
“I considered myself addicted,” he moans. “I didn’t know how to turn it off.”
“And in payment for the high she gave you, you stuffed pills down her throat and ended her life,” I declare. “An off-brand version of an eye for an eye, right?”
“No!” He pushes up from his chair so the legs scrape along the floor. “I didn’t kill her!”
“You have no alibi for the week leading up to her death, Perry.” I lounge back in my chair, faux-relaxed, and watch his shoulders. If he lunges, they’ll be my first clue to his intent. “Playing video games with your buddies for a few hours a night isn’t an alibi.”
“We were talking to each other the whole time. Me and my online friends. I didn’t disappear for longer than it took to take a piss.”
“You might’ve started the game, connected to the net, and just walked away,” Fletch inserts. “Your friends don’t exist, bro. You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying! I was playing Call of Duty in all of my downtime, I swear.”
“Allof it?” I argue. “Seriously?”
His gaze flickers with fear. His anxiety palpable as he looks between my eyes.
