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“Mmm. Some better than others. I know my husband, of course. I’ve known Tessa forever because she’s been Rex's on-again, off-again girlfriend since their first year of college. The only person I don't know at all is Joy. Grady’s a bit of a player. The last time I saw him, his flavor of the month was a beautiful Filipina neuroscientist. I don't know Joy's story.”
“So Tessa and Rex had an on-again, off-again relationship. They were off again, correct?” Leo asked.
“Right. That’s why she demanded her own room. Apparently, my egotistical brother just assumed she'd sleep with him this weekend even though they're not together and haven't been for a while. He didn’t bother mentioning it to her until the van was turning into the driveway.”
“Was she mad?”
“More like furious. Think blinding rage. But I don’t know that she was angry enough to get physical if that’s what you’re asking.”
Leo gave Sasha a sidelong glance before saying, “Tessa’s a small woman. Even if she’d wanted to, does she have the strength to have bludgeoned your brother to death?”
Small wasn’t an understatement, Sasha thought. Tessa was tiny—not much larger than Sasha. But people regularly underestimated what she was capable of. She leaned forward, eager to hear Annette’s answer.
“Like I said, I don’t know that she wasthatangry. She knows Rex better than anyone. As mad as she was, she couldn’t have been surprised. But I wouldn't rule her out on size alone. They met when she was his crew team’s coxswain. She worked out with the team and rowed on a lightweight women’s team. She still rows. So small as she is, she’s got upper-body strength. She has to. Pulling those oars and all.”
“Definitely,” Sash agreed, shooting Leo a look.Don’t assume.
Misinterpreting, Annette hurried to clarify, “I’m not trying to point a finger at Tessa. Honestly, I don’t want to think any of them killed my brother.” She took a shaky breath.
“I know it’s terrible to imagine,” Sasha tried to soothe her. “But someone did, and anything you can tell us could be helpful.”
A tear slid down the woman’s cheek as she studied the wallpaper and searched her memory. “I honestly don’t know. I hadn't talked to Rex in a while. We spent Thanksgiving in California with Brian’s family. When we decided to come back East for Christmas, I thought it would be a good chance to catch up with Rex and everyone else, so we stayed for the reunion. Of course, we didn't catch much up before … Rex was killed.”
“Where do you and Brian live now?” Sasha asked.
“Seattle. We don’t make it back here that often.”
“Do you talk to any of the others?”
“I’m in a group chat with Tessa, Bethany, and Leeza. But even then, with the time difference, we’re on opposite schedules, so I’m not very active in the chat. I’m sorry I'm not more help.”
“Don’t apologize. If you think of anything else, please let us know.”
“Of course, I can’t thank you enough for giving up your weekend—your anniversary—to help us with our, um, problem.”
Sasha managed not to express the thought that being snowed in on the estate with a murderer was also their problem. Instead, she smiled warmly and promised, “We’ll do everything we can.”
Leo stood. “I’ll walk you back to the parlor.”
Annette frowned. “I thought we weren’t supposed to split up. You can't leave your wife here alone.”
He winked at Sasha as he led Annette to the door. “If there’s one person I feel confident leaving alone with a murderer on the loose, it’s my wife. Truly, I’d feel sorry for the murderer if they came for her.”
CHAPTER10
Leo led Brian into the breakfast nook, and Sasha looked up to greet them, closing her notebook in the process. Leo gestured toward the seat that Brian’s wife had just vacated, and he took it with a cautious glance at Sasha.
“So, Brian, we won’t have many questions for you,” Leo began. “We just wanted to get a few more details about your relationship with your brother-in-law and your impressions of the group as a whole.”
Brian nodded. “I’ll help however I can, but you should know Rex and I weren’t close.”
Sasha cocked her head. “Annette told us you live in Seattle and don’t get back East often.”
“Right. So, we don’t spend much time with her family. My folks and my brother, his wife, and their kids are all in California, so we see them more.”
“That makes sense. Despite the physical distance, would you say that you and Rex had a friendly relationship?”
Brian drew his eyebrows together and pinched the bridge of his nose, considering his answer. Sasha and Leo exchanged a look. It was clear the answer was no.
