I looked over at my husband to see if he was serious. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Normally I would never dream of asking you to do that, Savannah, and you know it, but I want your reactions to his answers.”
“Does he even know I’m your wife?”
Zach hesitated a long time before he answered. “I’m not planning on telling him, and you shouldn’t, either.”
“Let me get this straight. You want me to lie to him?”
“Of course not,” he said as I pulled up into an empty parking spot on Edenton Street. “Just don’t volunteer any information.”
“I suppose I can do that,” I said.
Before I opened my door, I reached into the backseat and grabbed a clipboard I stowed there when I wanted to work on a puzzle.
“What’s that for?” Zach asked.
“Camouflage. People think you’re official if you keep your mouth shut and carry a clipboard around.”
“Where did you learn that?”
“I read it in a mystery novel, if you must know, but it sounds like it could be true, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose it’s worth a shot,” Zach said.
We got out of the car and walked over to a large marble memorial that sported a bronze woman on top. “Where is he?”
“He said he’d be by the small cannons,” Zach said.
“They’re over this way,” I said as I took a left.
“How do you know that?”
“I came here right after Derrick fired me, remember?”
“I thought you said you went to the museum.”
I pointed across the street. “That’s where I ended up.”
We found a pair of small cannons where I remembered them, and there was a heavyset older man in a three-piece suit waiting there, glancing at his watch.
My husband approached him, and I took a few steps back. Zach identified himself, and the man said in a gravelly voice, “I’m Lassiter.”
He looked at me, obviously expecting me to provide my name, but I just stood there, nodded, and then glanced down at my clipboard, as if there was something there more fascinating than a puzzle that was only partially completed.
“Before we get started, I need to know a few things,” Zach said.
“Fire away. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“When was the last time you saw Derrick Duncan alive?” Zach asked.
“In Richmond, the day before he was killed,” Lassiter said. “And I can prove it.”
I couldn’t help myself. I’d promised Zach to keep quiet, but the gear between my mouth and my brain clearly weren’t working. “How could you possibly prove that?”
“There were witnesses,” the man said. “Who are you, anyway?”
“An associate who sometimes forgets herself,” my husband replied. “She does make a good point, though.”
“I’ve got witnesses,” Lassiter said, starting to get aggravated with both of us.
“You have witnesses who saw you together the day before he was murdered, but that doesn’t prove that you didn’t see him again later,” Zach said, and I smiled slightly. He’d gotten my point, even if Lassiter hadn’t.
“He was murdered here, right? I’ve never been to Raleigh before, so it would have been tough for me to kill him.”
“That’s true,” Zach said. “But again, it’s hard to prove that you’ve never been somewhere before, too.”
“What is this? I thought you were going to help me.”
“I can’t do anything until I find out more about you and your situation.”
“I’m not the one anyone should be looking at. There are a boatload of people with more motive and opportunity than I ever had.”
“Would you care to explain?”
“Sure I would. Like I told that detective Murphy, Cary Duncan had five hundred thousand reasons to want the man dead. Derrick told me that she took out a life insurance policy on him six months ago. He said he was worth more to her dead than alive. That’s an odd thing to brag about, wouldn’t you say?”
“Did they have problems?”
“Let me ask you something. Are you married?”
To his credit, he didn’t look at me as he answered. “Sometimes it feels like I have been all my life.”
“Then you know.”
“Know what?” Zach asked a second before I could.
“There’s not a couple I’ve ever known who didn’t want to kill each other at least a dozen times over the course of a marriage, and that includes the ones who get along.”
I was about to answer that when Zach shot me a warning look. “She had to have had more of a reason than that.”
Lassiter raised one eyebrow as he said, “How about a little piece of fluff on the side?”
“Derrick was cheating on his wife?”
“Some gal named Mindi,” Lassiter said with a smile. “That’s not all, though. I happen to know that Cary wasn’t sitting at home being faithful when Duncan was out kicking it up.”
“She was having affairs, too?”
“Oh, yes. Sometimes I wondered why they even bothered to stay married. The worst part of it was, from what I heard around town, she was stepping out with somebody Derrick knew.”
“It wouldn’t be you, would it, Mr. Lassiter?” I asked.
Lassiter looked at me with the same expression that Zach had on his face. It said simply, Have you completely lost your mind?
“Lady, I don’t know who you are, but you’re out of line.”
“Perhaps it would be better if you waited in the car,” Zach said.
“I’ll shut up,” I promised, though all three of us knew there was no chance that was going to ever happen.
“You don’t have to. I’m leaving,” Lassiter said as he started to walk away.
“We’re not finished here,” Zach said.
“That’s where you’re wrong. Listen, if you want to be somebody’s advocate, you might want to try believing them when they’re telling you the truth.”
After he was gone, I prepared myself for a barrage from Zach, but he just shook his head and walked back to the car. I felt worse than I would have if he’d chewed me out.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I caught up with him. “I didn’t mean to push him. I should have kept my mouth shut like I’d promised.”
I couldn’t see Zach’s face, but when he glanced over at me, I could see that he was grinning.
“What are you smiling about?”
He ordered, “Keep walking. You might not realize it, but Lassiter is still watching us. I want him to think that I’m upset with you. It might get us another angle inside, if we play it right.”
“You’re not mad?”
“I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t started goading him when you did,” Zach admitted. “Savannah, did you honestly think I believed for one second that you could listen to me interview someone without interjecting? Give me a little credit, will you?”
“I’m not sure that’s a compliment,” I said.
“It wasn’t meant to be. I figured you’d make a crack or two, and I wanted to see his reaction to you. I had a feeling that he was indeed having an affair with Cary Duncan, but you disproved that.”
“How so?” I asked as we got back to the car.
“Lassiter’s not all that fond of strong women, if his reaction to you is any indication. Can you imagine him
