“No, I didn’t,” he admitted, “but I heard a lot about them, and I know it’s common practice.”
“Did you hear about them from Tallie?”
“No, from Brigitte. I don’t think Tallie cared or even thought about them. It’s not her thing.”
“Do you think the gifts went to her assistant’s house?”
“I have no idea.” He looked uncomfortable to be asked.
“Did you ever go to her house?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did you meet her anywhere else outside of work?” Hunt glared at him when Jim asked the question, and he didn’t want to lie to the FBI. He didn’t know what they’d heard.
“It’s not important, but yes, I did meet her outside of work occasionally.”
“Did Ms. Jones know?”
“No, not at the time. She does now.”
“Did you tell her?”
“No.”
“Did Brigitte?”
“I’m not sure. I think a private detective did. Maybe Brigitte told her too by now. I don’t know.” Hunt looked excruciatingly uncomfortable as he answered, and then he gave up more than he had originally intended. “I had an affair with her, which was extremely stupid of me. It went on for almost three years. She blackmailed me into it. And it’s part of why Ms. Jones and I separated recently.”
“Do you still see Brigitte now?” Jim asked him quietly.
“Hell, no. She’s a troublemaker of the worst kind. I was seeing someone else, and I believe Brigitte told her, as revenge because I finally ended our affair. So she told Tallie about the other woman. I guess you could say that I was a fool twice. I’m not proud of it, and Ms. Jones is very upset about it. It all came to light very recently. I’m living with the other woman now. We’re having a baby.” He figured they’d find out anyway, so he wanted to put it all on the table.
“Congratulations,” Jim said about the baby, and Hunt literally squirmed in his seat.
“Well… yes… thank you. It’s all a little complicated and difficult.”
“Did you ever take money from Tallie-Ms. Jones while you lived with her?”
“No. I don’t need to. We kept everything separate, and I paid some of the expenses to make up for living at her house.” Jim nodded. “It all worked very well for a long time.” He sounded almost sad as he said it.
“Except that you had affairs with two other women and fathered a baby, while living with her. That does sound complicated,” Jim said with a rueful smile, and Hunt looked away. It sounded terrible when someone else said it, even to him. Jim wondered if he was a decent guy who had behaved like an asshole, or if he was just an asshole. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference. It made him think of Victor Carson, who was ruining himself over a young girl and making a fool of himself. Hunt wasn’t much better, although he had more style. But Victor was probably faithful to his gold digger. And Hunt had cheated for four years on a decent woman who loved him. It made you wonder sometimes what people had in their heads, or if it was all in their pants.
“Anything else you’d like to tell me about Brigitte?”
“No, except that maybe I think she’s conniving. And she’s no friend to Tallie if she was sleeping with me. She tricked me into it, and I think she planned it, while Tallie was away, right in the beginning when we were dating. She wanted what Tallie had, that wannabe thing again. She threatened to tell Tallie if I didn’t keep seeing her. It was a miserable situation.”
“Did Brigitte ever ask you for money?” Hunt shook his head. “Or blackmail you for money?”
“Just with exposure. But she obviously doesn’t have Tallie’s best interests at heart, although she pretends to. She wants to
“I think we’ve covered it for now, Mr. Lloyd,” Jim said as he stood up. “We’ll let you know if we have any other questions, as things develop.”
“Do you know who took the money?” Hunt asked with interest.
“We’re getting there.” Jim smiled at him. “Thank you for your time.” The three men shook hands, and Hunt looked troubled as they left his office. He hoped the prime suspect wasn’t him.
Jim and Jack didn’t speak as they left Hunt’s office, and not until they were in the car.
“He seems like a pretty honest guy,” Jack commented. “He acted like a jerk to her, but other than that he seems like a decent guy.” Jim didn’t agree with him, but he didn’t get into it. A man who had cheated on the woman he lived with, for four years, was not a decent guy in his book, nor an honest one. Although Jim believed that he had told the truth to them. And to Jim, honesty was not something you took on and off, like a hat.
“He’s not our suspect,” Jim said firmly.
“I agree with you, but what makes you say that?” He always liked comparing notes with Jim. He was a smart guy.
“He was honest with us. He’s not afraid to look bad. He’s not covering up. I knew the answers to some of those questions, and he told the truth. And he doesn’t need the money.”
“I agree on all points. And I think he’s still in love with her.”
“Probably,” Jim said coolly. He didn’t think much of him, but he didn’t believe he’d been stealing money from Tallie. He was certain of that. That left Brigitte, but he wasn’t ready to see her yet. He wanted to line up all his ducks before he did.
Chapter 12
ONCE TALLIE FINISHED the location shoot in Palm Springs, making full use of the desert, she was busier than ever when they moved back to L.A. The house was lonely and quiet without Hunt, but she was getting used to it, and to coming home to an empty house. The sense of shock she had had in the beginning was still there, but she was slowly adjusting to life without him. She had no social life at the moment, she was too busy with work to even think about it. And Hunt was still having his lawyers call Greg Thomas and beg her to work on the next film with him. She wouldn’t consider it, hadn’t talked to Hunt in many weeks and didn’t want to. His betrayal weighed on her like a concrete suit. And she still hadn’t told Max about it, and didn’t intend to until they met in person in New York. Conveniently, Max had been invited to Florida by friends over spring break and Tallie had agreed to let her go. Max knew her mother was busy trying to finish the film, and Tallie was relieved not to have to tell her about Hunt moving out. Max always asked about him when she called, and Tallie said he was fine. She wasn’t ready to deal with Max’s reaction yet, so Florida seemed like a good idea, and she was planning to go to New York to see her shortly after.
They’d been shooting in L.A. for two weeks after they got back from Palm Springs, and she’d heard nothing from Jim Kingston. He had said he would call her when he had something to report, and she had her hands full at work now anyway. She was trying to stay on schedule, before they took a hiatus and gave the cast a week’s break, while they got ready to move the shooting to a new location in L.A., under the freeway. They were still waiting for street permits, which also gave them time to build some additional sets they needed. Tallie was keeping her eye on all of it, along with her leading lady’s belly. She had announced to them halfway through the film that she was pregnant, and now they had to use a body double for her in a lot of the shots. It was one more thing to worry about. But her work was always a welcome distraction from misery of any kind. And Tallie managed to call her father almost every night when she came home from work, except if they shot too late. Sam had mentioned several times how disappointed he was not to have heard from Hunt himself. After a warm relationship between them for four years, it seemed disrespectful of Hunt not to call him. Tallie had a simple explanation for it: Hunt was a coward with her father, just as he had been with her. And her father didn’t disagree. Hunt wasn’t the man he had thought him.
She had spoken to Victor Carson several times about her monthly disappearing cash, and interestingly, it had
