She smiled at Scott. 'I finished second in the Miss Hooters Pageant last year.'
Nick rolled his eyes. 'So you've told everyone on tour.'
'Which got me a spread in Playboy.'
'And you sure as hell spread 'em.'
Tess looked Scott up and down. He had stopped off at the house and changed into jeans, sneakers, and a knit shirt. She leaned into him, close enough for him to smell the tequila on her breath.
'And who are you, cowboy?'
'Scott Fenney.'
Her eyes lingered on him for the long moment that it took for his name to register in her cloudy mind. She frowned and leaned away.
'You're Rebecca's…'
'Ex,' Nick said.
'Lawyer,' Scott said. 'I need to ask you about Trey.'
'I gotta go.'
'I can subpoena you.'
'I can lie.'
'In a court of law that's called perjury.'
'And that means what to me?'
She took a step.
'I can also subpoena Brett.'
She stopped. 'You're a bastard.'
'I'm a lawyer.'
'That's what I said.' She inhaled the margarita then exhaled. 'What do you want to know?'
'Were you having an affair with Trey?'
'My sex life is private.'
Nick laughed. 'Since when?'
She flashed him a dirty look.
'Tess,' Scott said, 'I can talk to Brett if you'd prefer.'
'He'll divorce me if he finds out… Well, maybe.'
'So you and Trey were having an affair?'
She shrugged a yes.
'How long?'
She held her hands apart.
'No. How long did your affair last?'
'Oh.' She giggled. 'Two months. Until the Riviera.'
'You traveled to the Riviera together?'
'I wish. The Riviera tournament in L.A. Back in February.'
'The affair ended four months prior to his death?'
She counted on her fingers. 'February, March, April, May… Yes.'
'But you did have an affair with Trey?'
'We had a little fling. Started at the Hope, ended at Riviera.' She smiled. 'Our California swing.'
She drank her margarita and asked the bartender for another.
'Why?' Scott said.
She shrugged. 'Why not? We were just having a little fun. Which I don't have with Brett. Before we got married, we partied every night. Now all he wants to do is sit in the hotel room and watch CNN. Nancy Grace.'
Tess's expression changed, as if she had a revelation.
'Matter of fact, Nancy had a segment about Trey's case last night, they called Rebecca the Guilty Groupie.' She frowned at Scott. 'Are you a famous lawyer?'
'Maybe in this part of the world.'
'Are you a rich lawyer in any part of the world?'
'No.'
A knowing nod. 'That's why she left you for Trey.'
Scott started to think like a man, so he forced himself to think like a lawyer.
'So Brett doesn't know about you and Trey?'
'No. And I'd like to keep it that way.'
'Did Rebecca know?'
'Nobody knew. We were discreet.'
Nick laughed again. ' 'Tess McBride' and 'discreet' in the same sentence? I don't think so.'
She made a face and stuck her tongue out at Nick. Scott felt like a recess monitor at the elementary school. Tess drank her margarita and stared at Scott.
'You're her ex-but why are you her lawyer?'
'It's called loyalty,' Nick said.
'It's called lunacy,' Tess said.
Nick chuckled. ' Lunacy? That's a big word for you, Tess.'
She nodded. 'One of Nancy's guests said it last night. They were all laughing about him and one said, 'We know the old saying that 'a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client,' but what's a lawyer who has an ex-wife for a client?' Another guest said, 'Nuts.' They all laughed, and the first one said it's lunacy for a lawyer to defend his ex, said she had no idea why you'd do that. I like Nancy, even if she is kind of scary.'
'She's the mother of my child,' Scott said.
Tess's eyes got wide. ' Nancy Grace is the mother of your child? '
Nick laughed. 'Tess's bra size is also her IQ.'
'Rebecca,' Scott said. 'Rebecca is the mother of my child. That's why I'm defending her.'
'Oh, yeah… Boo.' Tess smiled. 'Rebecca showed me her picture. Cute kid.' The smile left her face. 'My mom and dad got divorced when I was ten. It was never the same.' She drank her margarita and said, 'I miss him.'
'Your dad?'
'Trey.'
'Did you love him?'
'My dad?'
'Trey.'
'No. I miss the sex. Best sport sex I ever had.'
'Sport sex?'
'You know, athletic sex… wild sex… crazy sex.' Tess McBride's eyes glazed over, and she licked her red lips. 'Better-than-a-workout, full-body-sweat, hot-steaming-panting-and-grunting-like-wild-animals sex.'
Scott and Nick blinked hard in unison.
'Wow,' Nick said. 'I didn't even need Viagra.'
Tess leaned toward Scott. 'Don't you have sport sex?'
'Not anymore.'
She gave him a coy smile. 'I could help you with that.'
'Did you practice safe sex?'
Rebecca would need to know.
'I'm not stupid.'
'Just loose,' Nick said.
She shot him another dirty look.
'Where was Brett last Thursday night?' Scott said.
'Where else? In a hotel room watching Nancy Grace.'
'He played Friday morning,' Nick said. 'In Orlando.'
'At eight,' Tess said. 'They don't fire up the margarita machine until noon, so I slept in.'
It seemed improbable that Brett could have killed Trey between midnight and 3:00 A.M. in Galveston and gotten back to Florida for an 8:00 A.M. tee time. But a defense lawyer never discounted someone with a motive to
