She nodded. “You know the valley vine. Beatrice told us a few minutes before you arrived.”
“How well did you know him?” Jess asked.
Her gaze slid to the view through the French doors. “I knew him well, once. Or thought I did. But it’s been a couple of years since we spent any time together.”
“You dated?” Carter said. She nodded. “For how long?”
“Two years.”
“And how long ago did you two break things off?” Jess asked.
“Three years ago.”
“Why?”
She tensed at the question. She had nothing to hide, but she didn’t like talking about it.
“You don’t have to answer.” Collin’s quiet voice drew her attention. Jess and Carter shifted. Probably in annoyance. “You’re under no obligation to talk to them and can choose what or how much to say,” he added. The confidence in his voice piqued her curiosity. He hadn’t mentioned anything about working with law enforcement as part of thesevencompanies his MC owned and ran, but she didn’t doubt his certainty.
“I have nothing to hide,” she replied, her eyes still locked on his.
He gave a tiny shake of his head. “It’s not about having anything to hide. This is a courtesy conversation. You aren’t obligated to say anything. Talk only if you’re comfortable talking.”
She gave a shaky nod. “It’s embarrassing more than anything,” she said, then wrinkled her nose. “Which really shouldn’t stop me, since I’m not known for my restraint.”
Collin didn’t smile but humor glinted in his eyes.
“We broke up because we had different definitions of what it means to be monogamous,” she answered, darting a look at Collin. Had he just growled?
“There’s only one definition of monogamous,” he said.
She snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I thought so, too.”
“He cheated on you?” Jess asked.
She nodded. “Three times. That I know of. I ended things the day I found out about one of them. The others I learned aboutafterwe broke up.”
“Fucker,” Collin muttered. Carter’s gaze flickered to him.
“While you were together, were you aware of any health issues he might have had?” Carter asked.
She tipped her head. “You know, I never asked how he died. I assumed he had a heart attack or something. He’s young for that, but my brother-in-law’s father dropped dead at forty-two from a heart attack, so I know it happens.”
An anticipatory silence filled the room. Collin shifted beside her. Jess tapped the table with her forefinger. Carter drummed a pen on his notebook. She stilled, puzzle pieces she hadn’t even considered sliding into place. She gasped and sat back. “It wasn’t a natural death, was it?”
Collin slid his hand beneath the curtain of her hair and started gently rubbing the tension from her neck. Between the heat of his palm and the touch of his fingers against her skin, the urge to close her eyes and rest her head against his shoulder beckoned.
“It’s an ongoing investigation,” Carter replied. Resisting the temptation of Collin’s comfort, she narrowed her eyes. “But there are unusual circumstances,” he conceded.
Unusual circumstances—such a quaint phrase for what she assumed meant murder. Her stomach lurched at the possibility. Justin hadn’t been good to her, but he didn’t deserve to bemurdered.
“No heart or blood pressure issues or things like that,” she answered.
“What about other things?” Carter asked.
She hesitated, for Gina’s sake. “I know you can’t promise to keep things confidential, but if it turns out to be irrelevant…?”
“We’ll do our best,” Jess said.
