‘With so little contact, you can’t make a reasonable judgment as to whether he was suicidal, I suppose,’ Claudia ventured. Faith had already mentioned suicide twice, as though it were a given.
Faith frowned. ‘I think someone in porn has serious self-esteem issues. Don’t you?’
‘Perhaps. He didn’t send you child support?’
Nails clicked. ‘Why is that relevant, pray tell?’
‘I’m trying to determine if his son was part of the reason to come home.’
‘Making me and his mama squirm was the reason. We occupied seats of honor on his shit list, Detective. When Pete announced his intention to leave me and our infant son and go to California for this folly of being in movies, I knew he’d fail. He had lofty goals but no real talent and the self-discipline of a drug addict. When I found out he’d ended up doing… adult films, I wanted to be sure he could never hurt Sam. Or Lucinda.’ She rubbed her tired eyes. ‘I’ll give him a smidge of credit that he did send support for Sam every now and then, but he sent it to his mother. She would then turn the money over to me. I in turn would donate it to charity. Starving children in Ethiopia, monsoon relief in Bangladesh. Always a good cause far removed from us.’
‘Why give away the money if it was intended for your son?’
‘That money was earned on Pete’s back. Or other body parts,’ she said dismissively. ‘I didn’t want Pete’s smut translating into food in my son’s stomach.’
‘When was the last time you spoke to Pete?’
Faith shifted in her seat. ‘Yesterday morning. He phoned the house, wanting to talk to Sam.’
‘How did he seem?’
‘Depressed. Unhappy. If you had ended up like him – utterly failed, utterly cheapened – wouldn’t you be depressed? He’d seen the lives that Sam and I have built. Sam and I have a good life. I think Pete regretted the choices he’d made. If our lives are the candy store, he definitely had his face pressed against the glass.’
‘Do you know if he’d sought professional help?’
‘Pete on a shrink’s couch? Never. He thought couches were good for one thing and one thing only.’
‘You didn’t like the way he made his money or lived his life, but you didn’t object to him seeing your son?’
Faith tented her fingers beneath her chin. Her hands were like ivory. ‘No, I didn’t like it. But Sam’s like the rest of the Hubbles, he has a mind of his own. He wanted to see his father when his father came back, so I permitted limited visits. Better that than Sam sneaking around to see Pete.’
‘How would you characterize their relationship?’
‘Relationship my ass.’ Real anger tinged her voice. ‘Sam spent most of his childhood wondering what was so wrong with him that his father shunned him – as though the child were the damaged goods, not the man. But when he got to know his father, Sam finally realized Pete counts as little more than a sperm donor.’
‘You mentioned Pete was depressed when he called you. Can you be more specific?’
Faith fingered a wrinkle in her tailored slacks. ‘He asked if he could speak to Sam. I told him Sam had already left for school. He begged me to let Sam know he’d called and I agreed. We said good-bye and hung up. That was the last time I spoke to him.’
‘Do you know if Sam returned his father’s call?’
‘I gave him the message, but Sam didn’t seem particularly interested in phoning his father back.’
‘Let me get this straight, ma’am. He didn’t mention to you, after y’all found out Pete was dead, whether or not he’d talked to his father that day?’
Faith shifted in her seat again. ‘Sam probably talked to him, yes. I don’t remember. It was a very long, upsetting evening.’
‘How badly will it hurt his mother’s campaign if voters learn Pete was a porn star?’ Claudia asked.
Her throat worked. ‘I have no idea.’
‘Surely when he showed up, you had to calculate what the possible damage might be.’
‘Lucinda has been an outstanding senator for the past sixteen years. She’s easily won reelection and her approval ratings are high. There’s no reason to think she wouldn’t have the voters’ support.’
‘You sound like a press release given breath,’ Claudia said, and Faith stiffened. ‘No one in her office was eager to advertise about Pete, were you?’
‘I have no intention of being harangued by you.’
Claudia suspected the damage, from Faith and Lucinda’s viewpoint, would be considered catastrophic. Nuclear. Career-ending.
‘Do you know if he kept a gun?’ Claudia asked.
‘I have no idea.’
‘Do you know if he was having financial problems of any sort?’
‘No.’
‘Do you know if he was involved with drugs, anything illicit?’
Faith’s mouth tightened, as though a stench had drifted into the cramped room. ‘If I’d suspected for a moment he was a drug user, I wouldn’t let Sam within a mile of him.’
‘Do you know if he was still involved in porn?’
‘He told me he wanted to leave that business.’ Faith rubbed her lip. Perhaps it was more politic, Claudia considered, for Faith to paint Pete as on the road to reforming. A bad guy who’d come home to Senator Mommy and seen the error of his ways before his unfortunate demise. ‘If there is anything suspicious about Pete’s death – if it’s not suicide – then I suggest you take a long, hard look at that Velvet woman. She’s entirely unstable.’
‘How so?’
‘How mentally stable could she be, sleeping with hundreds of men? It would warp a soul. Warp a heart.’
‘Do you know she’s done that? I thought she directed, not acted.’
‘As if that matters.’ Faith dismissed the difference with a flutter of fingers. ‘You’re a woman who works in a male-dominated profession, right, Detective?’
‘Yes.’
‘So do I. And a woman like Velvet is a traitor to all women. We fight and bust our butts to be considered equals, and she traps women as carnal playthings. Made-up dolls that exist only to pleasure men.’ Faith leaned closer. ‘She was obsessed with Pete. She didn’t want him to come back to Texas, but she followed him. Pete might have been making the best effort to shed that world, and here she is, blocking his every move.’ She leaned back. ‘I think Pete probably killed himself. But if your tests argue otherwise, I think she killed him.’
‘Funny. She says the same thing about you. At least that’s what she told Judge Mosley.’
Faith’s smile tensed, then relaxed. ‘Thanks for letting me know, Detective. I’ll sue the bitch for slander.’
Claudia had waited to see if Faith would broach the subject of custody. ‘Speaking of legal proceedings… I understand Pete was considering fighting for custody of Sam.’
Faith blinked, then laughed. ‘Surely you jest. He wouldn’t have a prayer in family court.’
‘He never mentioned a desire for custody of Sam?’
‘No. Never. Not once. Who says so?’
‘Velvet.’
‘Consider the rather polluted source.’
Claudia shifted focus. ‘Do you know anyone named Deloache?’
‘No.’
‘Did Pete ever talk about his brother Corey to you?’
A surprised blink. ‘Corey? God, no. He’s a forbidden subject.’
‘With Pete? Or with the senator?’
‘With Pete. It was too painful for him. They were real close.’
‘He didn’t tell you he was making a film about Corey?’
‘No. He didn’t – but Judge Mosley told me last night. Pete never mentioned a movie to any of us. You can imagine how awful it would be for the senator, ripping open terrible old wounds.’ She raised her palms up in mock surrender. ‘Another perfect example of how unthinking Pete could be.’
‘Pete had a laptop computer that’s missing. Do you know where this laptop or a copy of his notes or script might be?’
‘Good God, no,’ Faith said. Claudia saw the faintest tremble of the woman’s bottom lip. ‘I assume… on the boat.’
