“But—”
“Find it!”
“Uh, hold on.”
Sean heard him mumble something, and then other noises came over his phone that suggested Tuck was walking somewhere, and then a door closed. He finally came back on.
“Okay, what’s this all about?”
“I was in Jacksonville.”
“Why?” Tuck snapped.
“I needed a tan.”
“Sean—”
“I know it all, Tuck. In fact, I know way more than you do.”
“I told you that—”
“I spent all afternoon with Cassandra the Exhibitionist. That is, after Greg Dawson finished paying her off.”
Tuck shouted, “Greg Dawson!”
“Knock down the decibels, Tuck, I’m losing my hearing fast enough as it is. So here’s the scoop. Dawson found out about you and Cassandra and now the lady is working for him in screwing you out of your big government contract. I’m sure they’ve got pictures and everything of you two together in the sack to entertain DHS with.”
“That asshole. And that bitch!”
“Yeah. By the way, this is a real good lesson in why fidelity is the way to go.”
“You didn’t tell Jane—”
Sean broke in. “That’s not my job. In my book you’re a total shitbag for pulling this crap on your wife and the mother of your kids, but who cares what I think.”
“She came on to me, Sean. I swear. She seduced me.”
“Grow up, Tuck. Manipulators like Cassandra always come on to saps like you; that’s what they do. And it’s your job as a happily married man to tell her where to go. Hell, even I did when she flashed some ass at me, and I’m single! I could’ve jumped her bones without a guilty thought; luckily my good taste saved me. But I’m not a marriage counselor and that’s not why I called.”
“So why did you phone?” Tuck asked nervously.
“Cassandra said the two of you had a falling-out over the issue of Pam maybe having an affair. Is that true?”
“Well…”
“Either start telling me the truth or you can find Willa on your own.”
“Yes. It’s true.”
“That would have been really nice to know before, Tuck,” Sean said.
“I… I was confused about stuff, not to mention having my head knocked in.”
“Cassandra said you overheard some conversations and you actually saw Pam with a guy.”
“That’s right. I couldn’t believe she might be cheating on me.”
“Yeah, can you believe the nerve of the woman? Okay, here’s the next big question. I know your plane got in early. You said you never stopped, so where did you spend the extra hour or so you had between leaving the airport and arriving home?”