“Ain’t that cute?” said Jackson’s partner. “You two ought to share a cell.”
Lily Waters sat in her mother’s formal living room, a pristine space that was hardly ever used. Like most Southern women of her generation, Evelyn Anderson viewed her living room as a showplace, a silent testament to her taste and decorum. Evelyn herself perched on the edge of a wing chair with her hands folded in her lap, her silver hair perfectly coiffed, her face lined with worry.
“Lily Ann,” she said in a genteel voice. “What in heaven’s name is going on at your house? A friend of mine called and told me she’d seen police cars there.”
Lily got up and went to the door to make sure Annelise was still watching television in the den.
“Mom, I need to ask you something.”
“All right.”
“You know our wills state that you would get custody of Annelise if anything happened to John and me.”
Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “I know that. But what-”
“I don’t think anything is going to happen to us. But if something did…do you think you would have any problem fulfilling that obligation?”
Evelyn’s hand rose slowly to her mouth as the gravity of her daughter’s question hit home. “Honey, I’ve never seen you like this. Has John done something illegal with his company? Has the EPA investigation gone against him? Oh God, are you losing your house? Is that why the police were there?”
“It’s nothing like that.”
“Lily, please. Maybe I can help.”
“You can’t help, except by answering my question.”
Her mother sighed and shook her head. “Honey, if something happened to you and John, I’d make it my life’s work to raise that little girl just the way I think you would have.”
Lily’s hands began to shake.
“Baby, please-” Evelyn was rising from the chair, but Lily held up a hand.
“Is there anything you haven’t told me about your health? I know you keep things to yourself, like Dad did. You’re not ill or anything, are you?”
Evelyn shook her head. “I had a physical just last month. Dr. Cage says I’ll outlive him and all his nurses.”
In spite of her desperation, Lily laughed.
“Honey, has John treated you badly?”
“No. Don’t ever think that, Mom. Whatever happens. John is a good man. And I haven’t always been the best wife to him in some ways.”
“Don’t say that.”
Lily sat on the sofa, propped her elbows on her knees, and began to rub her throbbing temples. “Losing those babies took something out of me. It was something I couldn’t control, and it was very hard on John.”
Evelyn gave a prim nod. “I know that, dear. I see more than you think. But you’re still with us, and that’s all I care about. That and Annelise.”
Lily knew that if she stayed in this room much longer, she would never summon the nerve to do what she had to do. She stood and folded her arms across her chest.
“I’m going, Mom.”
“Lily! You
“I can’t. Not yet. Just please keep Annelise here. I’ll call you with any news.”
Evelyn shook her head in frustration, but she stood and followed her daughter to the front door. “Aren’t you going to say good-bye to Annelise?”
Lily fought back tears. “I can’t. I don’t want her to see me this way.”
Evelyn reached out and squeezed her daughter’s arm. “You go do whatever you have to. I know you’ll do the right thing. And remember…your father’s looking down on you. He’ll help you if he can.”
Lily sobbed openly then. Before it could get worse, she slipped through the door and ran out to her car.
Tom Jackson walked back into the interrogation room and sat down opposite Waters.
“Our crime lab tech has just completed a preliminary examination of several hairs taken from your hairbrush at home. He matched those to hairs found inside suite three twenty-four at the Eola Hotel the morning after the murder.”
Waters said nothing.
“We’ve also learned that Eve Sumner had a safe deposit box we knew nothing about. That box is being opened now.” Jackson laid his big hands on the metal table, reminding Waters of Cole. “Now, I don’t know what we might find in that box. But I have a feeling it’s the kind of stuff Eve didn’t want anyone knowing anything about. The way she didn’t want anyone knowing about you.”
Waters looked at the table and wondered where Lily and Annelise were. And Cole? What was Mallory driving him to do now?
“Are you listening, John?” Jackson asked. “This is murder we’re talking about. If you don’t give me something, you’re going to find yourself in a cell with Danny Buckles, and the reputation you’ve spent twenty years building will be ruined in a day.”
“Stop right there,” Penn interjected. “Detective, all you have done this morning is tell us that you have evidence of an extramarital affair. You’ve shown us nothing. But let’s say that evidence exists. Do you arrest people for having affairs?”
“When one of the parties is murdered,” Jackson said, “we often do.”
“Damn straight we do,” Barlow growled from behind his partner. “I say lock him up right now. He’ll get tired of jail real quick. The rich ones always do.”
The look in Tom Jackson’s eye told Waters the detective remembered his old schoolmate better than that. “Okay,” Jackson said. “If it was just an affair, why lie about it? Tell us the truth and help us get to the bottom of this.”
Detective Barlow slapped his leg as though this admission sewed up the case.
Penn stiffened but said nothing, recognizing that Waters was following a strategy Penn himself had laid out days ago. Only Waters intended to go a little further.
“How many times did you see her?” Jackson asked.
“The whole two weeks before the murder. Every day but the day she died. Or the night, actually.”
“What do you mean? You were with her the day she died?”
“Yes.” Waters looked Jackson in the eye. “But I never went up to the suite that night. And I didn’t kill her.”
Barlow barked a derisive laugh.
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
“Because I knew it would break up my marriage. I don’t want to lose my wife, Tom. I knew I hadn’t killed Eve, and I figured you’d catch whoever did it long before the DNA came back.”
“Bullshit,” said Barlow. “You did her, man. The only question is why.”
Jackson looked thoughtful. “Who do
Waters sensed Penn’s anxiety without even looking at him.
“I honestly have no idea. I know she saw other men besides me. She didn’t try to hide that. But I don’t know who they were.”
Barlow guffawed at this.
Penn leaned toward Jackson and said, “Eve Sumner was known to sleep with a lot of men. She previously had relations with Mr. Waters’s partner, for example. And I’m sure you’ve turned up many other paramours over the past few years.”
“That’s true,” Jackson admitted. “The lady got around. But not so much in the past year, it turns out. For the first few years she was back here, you couldn’t hardly keep score of all her guys. But for the last year, she didn’t do much in that line. Stayed at home a lot, mostly kept to herself.”
Waters knew why, but Tom Jackson would never believe it.
“Tell me about seeing her the day of the murder,” Jackson said.
