Tossing them on the table, Lanie grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to her. “He’s a stalker? He stalked me. Why?”
“Let’s go. There’s no need to bring Lanie into this. My attorney will meet us,” Gavin fumed at the detectives.
Detective Lewis bent forward placing his elbows on his knees and gazed at her empathetically. “It’s not about you. Judith Long shot and killed her husband, Peter, in the early hours of this morning. She’s claiming self-defense. He’s been physically abusing her and mentally abusing her since they married.”
That still didn’t explain how it involved Lanie. And if Peter Long’s death became a media frenzy. And detectives were at her home with pictures of her and Gavin. And the pictures?
“Lewis, you take Mr. Mitchell outside. I’ll speak with Ms. Richards for a moment before we leave for the formal interview.” Detective McCall, despite her awful haircut, commanded the room. She retrieved the file and shoved it in her case. When Detective Lewis made no move to follow her instructions, McCall pinned him in a death stare and severely reissued her directives. He stood and walked over to Gavin.
Redirecting her gaze to Gavin, the female detective mellowed before speaking. She determinedly yet temperately engaged him. “You can tell her. Quickly. I can’t offer you more than that. We have a lot of questions for you to answer and you’ve made it clear you want to do it at the precinct.”
He wouldn’t look at her. Gavin averted his gaze. He appeared broken, as if something stole the wind out of his sails. And she hated all of it.
“Judith and I had an affair. It ended once I met you. No, it was over before I met you. Peter found out and tormented her with the reality that I left her for you. It looks as if he went as far as to hire someone to follow us and take pictures,” Gavin explained.
Okay. It was bad. Yes. Bad. But if he truly did end the affair before her— she didn’t know what significance that played. He had an affair with a married woman. And because of the affair, it seemed as if the woman killed her husband. But they, him and her, weren’t doomed, were they?
Lanie felt as if things would never be the same between her and Gavin again. There was more to this than just an affair. She sensed Gavin’s inner turmoil and she knew that everything would change. It terrified her.
“Thank you for your time, Ms. Richards. Here’s my card if you think of or remember anything you believe is pertinent, call me. I don’t suspect we will have any need to call you in for a formal interview.” Detective McCall stood and gestured for Detective Lewis and Gavin to walk out ahead of her.
Lanie sat on the couch wondering what the fuck happened. Gavin had an attorney. He needed an attorney. Obviously, there was a lot more going on than Gavin having an affair with Judith. Reaching for the remote control, she turned the television on channel 8. She went and got her laptop. The news did have a short segment on Peter Long’s death, but it provided less than she knew. It did show pictures of Peter and Judith. It reported him as forty-nine years old and Judith as forty-five. It mentioned nothing about self-defense or abuse. They reported it as an accidental shooting. Everything she found on the internet described the incident the same.
She sat there for over an hour watching the news and rereading articles on the web. It didn’t make any sense. Had Gavin still been seeing Judith? When though? They spent all their time together. Were Judith and Gavin in love?
The doorbell rang and Lanie jumped up and hurried to see if it might be Gavin. No. Beverly.
Lanie cracked the door open enough to inform, “It’s not a good time, Beverly.”
“I’m sure it isn’t, but we need to talk,” Beverly blurted.
Lanie couldn’t deal with any of Beverly’s cruel comments or blame over the deterioration of their friendship. Not then. “I accept that I never called you back the weekend after we hung out here at the pool, and I told you I met Gavin. But now is not a good time for me.”
“It hasn’t been. You’ve cut me out of your life. I probably deserve it—"
Lanie interrupted, “No, you did that. As soon as you heard I met someone you turned into a bitch. And then at the reception, you stayed away from me as if I had the plague or something.”
“Because I did this. I’m responsible for it. It wasn’t supposed to go this way.” Beverly pivoted and paced in front of the door. Lanie noticed her hands trembling.
“What are you talking about? Is it about Gavin? You weren’t around when I met him. Is this even about Gavin? Or something else I’m unaware of?”
“It is about him. And I don’t know how to tell you. I haven’t known how to tell you.” Beverly stopped moving and peered at Lanie with huge, apprehensive eyes.
After the police showing up and now Beverly speaking cryptically, Lanie had no patience for beating around the bush. “Do you know him? Was it a setup? Okay. Not a big deal. Thank you.”
At least she still believed in being grateful about it. The affair with Judith Long and his supposed indirect involvement in the death of her husband didn’t set well with her though.
“Please let me in. I know the police were here this morning. I hoped they wouldn’t, but I worried they would. I was parked across the street. I’ve been sitting in my car gathering the courage to come to the door.”
Why in the hell did Beverly think the police would be there? Now everyone would know the police had been to her house. If Beverly told them that is.
Thrusting the door open, Lanie let her in. Bev rushed to the kitchen positioning the island between them. “I learned about Gavin from Judith over a year ago. I don’t know if you remember that she and my sister were roommates in college. We don’t keep in touch all that much, but I contacted her and asked for information on how to hire him,” Beverly rambled. “I hired him only to engage with you at the mall that first day. Give you a little boost. Nothing more. No coffee. No further contact.”
“You hired him? Like match.com or something,” Lanie asked. But she didn’t think you hired dates from those sites. “What do you mean hired him?”
“He works for an elite agency. I ordered him to bump into you and make you feel good about yourself.”
Nothing in those statements gave her anything other than massive heart palpitations. An agency. Ordered him. And Beverly instigated it all. “I can’t think straight,” Lanie hollered. “So many things are wrong with this. Did you think I’m so pathetic that someone needed to be paid tobe interested in me?”