William Bernhardt - Murder One

“And then some. He likes to check on me. I get a lot of people wanting to talk to me, even this long after the murder. Spectators, the idle curious. Investigators. Actually, what I get most of all is other women who’ve been betrayed and think of me as some kind of soul sister. They want to tell me their stories. ‘I was abused, too,’ they say. ‘My man done me wrong.’ Which of course are the last things on earth I want to hear. So Father Danney keeps an eye out for me. He’s a very kind, gentle man.”

Andrea gestured toward the nearest table. “But that’s not what you want to talk about. What is it I can tell you? “

Christina glanced down at the notes she’d made on her legal pad. “Did you know Keri Dalcanton? I mean, before the … incident.” She mentally chastised herself for her awkwardness. Ben had warned her that talking to a woman about her dead murdered husband, not to mention the affair he’d had before his death, was not going to be easy. But the full truth of that statement didn’t hit home until she was confronted with Andrea’s large brown, doelike eyes. “Had you met?”

“Let me think,” Andrea said, with a remarkably even temper. “Had I met a sleazy teenage big-boobed topless dancer from the bad part of town? I think that would be a no.”

“But you did … find out about her. Right?”

“Oh, yes. Some concerned friend decided that I needed to know. Why, I can’t imagine. People just can’t resist the urge to butt into other people’s business, can they? And they love to be the one who drops the big bombshell. It’s like we’re all still out on the playground. ‘I know something you don’t know,’ ” she said in a singsong voice.

“So who was it?”

“Marge Matthews. Another cop’s wife. I guess everyone on the force knew about the affair for some time. I was the only one in the dark.”

“What did you do when you found out?”

“First? I cried. Then I cried some more. Cried a whole Friday away. I was a basket case. We’d been married for almost fifteen years, you know? I mean, I’ve heard people use the word betrayed, but I never really knew what it meant, never felt it, until that day.” Her hand, sculpted nails with bright red polish, rose to her forehead. “I’d probably still be crying, except that around eleven that night, he came home. That snapped me out of it.”

“Did you confront him?”

“That would be one way of putting it, yes. I attacked him. I’m not exaggerating, either. Knocked him flat on his ass. Started pounding on his chest. He didn’t know what hit him.” She shook her head. “It was as if all that sadness, all that despair, suddenly converted into anger. Rage. I even bit him.”

“Did he resist?”

“Not by much. ’Course, he was drunk. He’d been out with the boys. Might’ve been with … her … for all I know.” Her eyelashes, dark with mascara, fluttered. “Poor snockered schmuck. He didn’t know what was going on. At least not till he sobered up.”

“Did he confess?”

“Eventually. Marge had been kind enough to give me many specific details. He couldn’t possibly squirm out of it. He was busted.”

“So what happened then?”

“I asked him to give her up. Stop cheating on me.”

“And?”

“He refused. At that time. I’m sure it was a tough decision for him.”

“How so?”

Andrea paused. It was evident that this was a difficult part of the story to tell, not because it was embarrassing but because she couldn’t find the words to express it properly.

Andrea looked at Christina levelly. “You’re a woman.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you married? “

Christina shook her head. “But I have been.”

“Then you’ll understand. Joe and I were very young when we married. Very, very young. Babies, really. I’d like to say we had a deep and profound spiritual linkage or something like that but, the truth is, I think it was mostly hormones.”

Christina allowed herself a small smile. “I’ve been there.”

“Yeah. Not that I didn’t love him with all my heart and soul. But in the early days, he was a force to be reckoned with. Between the sheets. And I’m not exaggerating.”

“Did that change?”

“Alas, yes. You know how it is. The nasty part of growing old together is that you also grow up. Our … interests changed. His changed a lot. And so did mine, for that matter. We were still cordial and affectionate, but … sexually …” Her hands spread in a helpless manner. “We became distant. So it really shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise that he was screwing around.” She paused. “Shouldn’t have been. But it was.”

Christina nodded. Andrea appeared to be relaxing, settling into the story. She was relieved, and a bit flattered, that the woman felt comfortable enough to discuss these intimate and unpleasant matters with her. “So what did you do when he refused to break it off with Keri Dalcanton?”

Again the level look. “You’re a woman. What would you do?”

“I’d have a few words with Keri Dalcanton.”

Andrea brought her finger around to touch the tip of her nose. “Ding-ding-ding.”

“That must’ve been hairy.”

“It was. Caught her in that crummy apartment where she lived, where she and Joe used to go. She was watching some exercise program on the tube, working out. Wearing one of those sport bras with a matching headband. There she was, silvery hair, big boobs, the works. The child my husband chose to be unfaithful with. I just about died.”

“Did you talk?”

“I thought she’d be reasonable. I thought once she knew there was another woman in the picture, one who wasn’t going away, she’d back off.”

“No such luck?”

“No. Instead I had to hear a lot of crap about what a pistol my man was, about how he and she were heartmates, whatever the hell that is. I think they must’ve carved their initials in a tree or something. I mean, she was talking like a teenager. Hell, she was a teenager. Except the man she was talking about was my husband.”

“That must’ve stung.”

“It got worse. ‘You can’t satisfy Joe.’ That’s what she said to me. ‘You can’t give him what he wants. He wants me.’ ” Her jaw stiffened. “It was—it was just more than I could take.”

Christina reached across the table and squeezed Andrea’s hand. “You hit her, didn’t you?”

“How’d you know?”

“ ’Cause I would’ve.”

Andrea almost smiled. “It was more than just a slap on the chops, I’m afraid. I really went after her, just as I had gone after Joe. We had a regular catfight. We were rolling around on the floor, bumping into her exercise equipment. Tramp got her smelly sport bra all over me.”

“How did it end?”

“The cavalry arrived, in the form of her brother, Kirk. He shares the apartment with her, or used to, anyway. He broke it up. Though not before I got a few good strokes in, I’m happy to say.”

“So you left?”

“Not immediately. I had to put up with a tongue-lashing from Kirk first. Have you met him?”

“Not really,” Christina answered. “I’ve seen him in the courtroom.”

“We’re talking about a man with major issues.”

“Like what?”

“You name it. Sexual ambiguity. Inability to hold a job. Religious guilt. And he’s absolutely irrational on the subject of his sister. He lives and breathes for that girl. There’s nothing he won’t do to protect her.”

“So what did he say to you?”

“I don’t remember the exact words, but the gist of it was, Get out and stay out. He thought I posed some kind of threat to Keri. And he wasn’t far wrong, either.”

“You had cause.”

“Yeah, I thought so, but he didn’t see it that way. So I scrammed. If this mess was going to get solved, I realized, it would be without the help of the teenage tramp and her psycho sibling.”