“To cool down.Then back inside.”
“To a panel?”I asked.“Or a one-on-one?”
Margaux was slower to respond this time, and when she did, the words were measured.“Are you suggesting I had something to do with Vivienne’s death?”
“It’s routine procedure,” Bobby said, “to establish everyone’s whereabouts.And youdidargue with Mrs.Carver shortly before her death.”
But Margaux didn’t even glance at him.Her gaze stayed on me.“I was holding one-on-ones.”
“With whom?Is there anyone who can confirm that?”
“I don’t think I’m going to answer that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have to.”
“It would help—”
“I’ve helped you as much as I care to, Mr.Dane.Now, if you want to talk about a contract for representation, we can do that.If you want to talk about this book project, we can do that.But I don’t know anything else about Vivienne’s death, and I’m not going to sit back and participate in your detective game.”
“If you don’t tell us,” Bobby said, “you’ll end up telling the sheriff.”
“I’ll do that, then,” Margaux said and offered that same tight-lipped smile.“I have a feeling there’s less chance of being sued.”
“Vivienne told me she had a plan to get her life back on track,” I said.“She told me she was going to do what she always did: solve a murder.”
Margaux’s smile widened, and for the first time, it looked like genuine amusement—dark, yes, but genuine.
“What?”I asked.
“I find it funny that you, of all people, would take Vivienne at her word.How many of those murders do you believe she actually solved?And how many were like Matrika Nightingale—easy targets, and victims of Vivienne’s need for money and attention?You should know better than anyone that the only thing the prosecution has to do is tell a better story than the defense, and Vivienne was always a great storyteller.”
“You think she was going to manufacture something.You think she was lying.”
“Do you know how you could tell when Vivienne was lying?”Margaux said, and I could hear the punch line before she finished.“When she was moving her lips.”
“That’s a big accusation,” Bobby said.“There were problems with the investigation and prosecution of Matrika Nightingale, but there are smart, competent, and determined law-enforcement professionals around the world.I have a hard time believing Vivienne was so smart that she fooled all of them, over and over again.”
Margaux laughed.
“What?”I said.
“I don’t think she fooled them,” Margaux said.“I think they fooled themselves.”
“Do you have any proof?”Bobby asked.
(Which was, if I’m being honest, a very Bobby question.)
To my surprise, Margaux leaned forward again.“Aside from the pending lawsuits?Aside from the fortune I’ve already spent on lawyers?”
“Did you fact-check her books?”Bobby asked.“Who’s responsible for making sure there aren’t any errors?”
“No one.There are plenty of people whose job it is to make sure the publisher can’t get sued.But that’s not the same as fact-checking.I don’t fact-check.The editor doesn’t fact-check.Nobody fact-checks.We’re not looking for a book that’s factually accurate.We’re looking for a book that sells.”
Bobby was too polite to say that this might be why Margaux found herself in her current predicament, but I could read it on his face.
“But I do have proof,” Margaux said.It took me a moment to make the connection back to Bobby’s question.“Steven Block, Vivienne’s editor at Florentium.”
