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“It’s almost like she feels nothing. She carries on as if nothing happened. I don’t understand.” Jessica shrugged, her eyes bright with emotion. “I’ve known Ellen for a very long time. She’s the strongest person I know, but this is not normal.”
“Perhaps it’s her way of dealing with the emotions.” Finley stood staunchly on the “it’s not normal” side, but that was just her. Her own experience was far from normal. It was the only way she had survived.
“Did she tell you he was cheating on her?”
And just like that, Finley’s mean-girls radar went on alert. Was this one partner selling out another? All were fiercely competitive. It happened. “Is this something you know for a fact? Did Ellen share this with you?”
The news wasn’t surprising, but it was just another aspect of the story Winthrop should have shared up front.
Jessica nodded. “It’s true. Ellen told me.”
Whoa. One of the five was spilling on the boss?
“Do the other partners know?” No one had mentioned even a hint of trouble in the marriage. Finley had a feeling this decision to share was about trouble within the partners or maybe just between Lauder and Winthrop.
Jessica shook her head. “The only reason I know is because he ...” She hesitated, struggled with how to proceed. “He hit on me on several occasions. I told him I wasn’t interested. I even threatened to tell Ellen, and he didn’t stop. Finally, when I’d had enough, I went to Ellen.”
“How did she react?”
Jessica squared her shoulders and braced herself as if what she had to say next was even more difficult than what she’d already imparted. “She wasn’t surprised. She’d learned he had a history of cheating.”
“Had he hit on someone else at the office?” Why the hell hadn’t anyone said anything? If Ventura learned about this, Winthrop’s troubles would only worsen.
Of the five, was it just Jessica, or did others have reasons to be angry with Grady? To want rid of him—the only man in an empire built exclusively by and for women. The idea these women had held out on Finley ticked her off. This was not the time.
“No. I was the only one at our office. Ellen said he had cheated with a woman who worked at her doctor’s office.”
“Which doctor?” This got more interesting all the time.
“Her therapist,” Jessica said. “Dr.Mengesha. The receptionist. Apparently, it was a long-running affair.”
Now there was an answer Finley hadn’t expected. She thought of the woman she’d seen at Mengesha’s office on numerous occasions. Finley had never wondered if she was in a relationship. Now she searched for any memory of spotting a wedding ring or framed photos of the receptionist with a partner or with children.
“Do you know her name?” Was the receptionist the reason Winthrop had chosen Mengesha? No, that didn’t make sense, since Winthrop became his patient before she met Grady. Stated that she had stopped by the time she’d met him.
“Marsh,” Lauder said. “Lena Marsh.”
Definitely the receptionist at Mengesha’s office with her spiky blonde hair and vibrant green eyes. Interesting.
“Was their relationship ongoing at the time of his death?” Finley asked. Ventura was no fool. He would figure this out. Finley would have to talk to Jack about how he wanted to proceed with this news. The usual strategy was to get ahead of any potential catastrophe in the making. Winthrop wasn’t going to like the confrontation to come.
“Ellen was under the impression the relationship with Marsh was over more than a month ago.” Lauder clasped her hands in her lap. “His inappropriate attention toward me was more recent.”
“Why tell me now?” Finley asked bluntly. “Why not talk about what happened when I first interviewed you? I mean, I have to tell you this doesn’t look good foryou.”
Lauder blinked, tried to conceal her surprise, but failed miserably. Moisture rose on her thick lashes. “I don’t understand. Why would I be in trouble? It was him. I didn’t do anything.”
Shit. Now Lauder was going to cry.
“This is the sort of thing a detective or DA would see as motive,” Finley explained. “I’m not suggesting this means you did or didn’t do anything. I’m making you aware of how it appears.”
“I explained everything to Ellen. I did what she told me to do.”
Finley studied the woman. Wondered if she comprehended how that response sounded. Where the hell was this going? “What did she tell you to do?”
Lauder’s eyes flared wider, as if she’d only just realized what she’d said. “She told me to avoid him ... at first. Then she wanted me to go along with him to see how far he would take his ... pursuit.”
“How did that go?” Finley wished she could be stunned. That the idea of what Winthrop had suggested was some unbelievable concept, but it wasn’t. Sometimes you just wanted to know if the husband you trusted would really make the worst decision with no care for the consequences to anyone.
