Theodora Miller shrugged. “I admit I didn’t care much about Lawrence. He was a bona fide asshole.” She looked down at her hands for a moment. “Jeremy kind of is as well. An asshole, I mean.” She sighed. “But he’s also the reason I won’t ever have to worry about finances, which means I’m inclined to cut him some slack.”
“Did you know your husband was thinking about leaving you and making his relationship with Jeremy public?” George clearly hoped the question would rattle her a bit, but they had no such luck. The woman was as cold as a dog’s snout.
“Yes, of course I did. I have to say it would have been beneficial for them both. These kinds of relationships are all the rage today, and their careers are so settled, there wasn’t much risk to it.”
“And it didn’t bother you in the least?” Disbelief was heavy in George’s voice.
“I think you’re making a wrong assumption here, Detectives.” Theodora Miller smiled softly, as if she were a mother knowing so much better than her children.
“Do enlighten us, please.” George motioned for her to talk while Andi stared at the contract, deeply fascinated.
“My relationship with Lawrence was pure business from beginning to end. We married, yes, a small ceremony with the excuse of him already being too mature to go for something big, even though I guess most people in his circle knew already about his inclinations. It’s a real shark pool out there, you know. Anyway, we didn’t even have a honeymoon. I went on a lovely spa holiday with two of my friends while he was on a cruise in the Caribbean with Jeremy. We only had intercourse once, to seal the marriage, which was more for my benefit than his since it would have been my bottom line that was threatened if people started doubting the legality of what we had. We’ve lived in the same house, but we led so vastly different lives, we barely saw each other except for the official functions where I acted as his beard. When he started thinking about divorcing me, we discussed it at length, and we even had a preliminary contract written down. I wanted to show it to you as well, but it seems Lawrence kept it at his office in the city because I couldn’t find it here.”
“The contract looks legit.” Andi put the plastic binder down. His gaze turned sharp. “One more question, Mrs. Miller, and we’re out of your hair for the time being.”
Theodora nodded gracefully.
“How did it feel, signing that contract?” Andi tapped his fingers against the thing.
Theodora smiled, the first genuine expression on her face Andi had seen since he first met her. “It was liberating. I felt free and happy.”
Andi nodded thoughtfully. It made sense, in a twisted way. He then got up, and George followed him out of the house.
“Let’s see if Tamara Portius was as understanding of her husband’s tastes as Theodora.” Andi very much doubted it.
TAMARA PORTIUSgreeted them with the same arrogant indifference she had shown them the first time, introducing her lawyer, one Jake Dyson, obviously David Portius’s partner since they looked close in age. The man was the epitome of a rich, arrogant lawyer who was doing them all a favor with his mere presence. He also didn’t seem to be too happy about being here, and Andi couldn’t blame him, because according to the nervous signals Tamara Portius was broadcasting, she had a lot to hide. It was a stark difference to the first time they had met her, when they had told her about her husband’s death. Back then she had been calm, hardly bothered. Now she was a bundle of nerves, and the entire house was in uproar—
Creaking and moving and scraping and thumping and stomping, stomping, stomping around, everywhere, loud, no rest, ever, wood splintering, so old, a perfect hiding place, broken, paper moved, anxiety whirling in the air, saturating everything, anger, stinking hot acidic anger, stomping, pacing, feet on the ground, vibrating all the time….
“Mrs. Portius, we have a few questions, if you don’t mind?” George had picked up on her skittishness as well. Ever the gentleman, he infused his voice with just enough care to give the woman a deceptive sense of security, all under the watchful eyes of Mr. Dyson. Tamara lifted a hand to her face, presumably to push a strand of hair out of it, seemed to reconsider, let her hand fall down at her side, then gestured wildly for them to follow her. There were no house personnel in sight, and Andi couldn’t sense anybody but the four of them in the house. Interesting.
They sat down in what he assumed was the living room in these posh villas, a monstrosity of a room with perfect white leather couches, white carpets, white tables, white everything, bland and boring, steel and leather, not interesting for any purpose, a fairly useless room except for the wooden ceiling, there were some cracks there, good hiding spots, the spiders loved them, if only the blobs wouldn’t dust off their nets so often—
Andi felt a hand on his shoulder and only narrowly avoided flinching back from the touch. It was George, who looked at him with worry in his eyes. He had been spacing out again when he should have been paying attention to his surroundings. Andi gave a tiny nod, conveying with one movement that he was sorry and okay. The little twitch of George’s left eyelid told him he accepted the nod for now, but there would be a talk later. They both focused on Tamara Portius and her lawyer again.
“Mrs. Portius, I’m really sorry to be so blunt with you, but did you know about your husband’s—extramarital activities?” George tried to be delicate, which wasn’t needed, as it turned out. Tamara huffed and lifted her jewelry-laden hand to her face again, this time putting that strand of hair behind her ear, deliberately ignoring the warning throat clearing of the lawyer.
“You mean if I knew about his whores? Oh yes, I did.”
“And you weren’t happy about it, I presume?” George still spoke with a certain aplomb, which made her answer seem even cruder. Mr. Dyson tried to stop her before she could start talking, but to Andi’s and George’s joy, the woman was faster, completely ignoring her lawyer. Andi started to understand why the man seemed so constipated.
“Not happy? I was fucking humiliated!” The outburst was sudden and more violent than Andi would have expected, and it ended almost the same moment it happened. Tamara Portius took a deep breath, schooled her features, and put on a fake smile that had to hurt her jaw. Next to her, Jake Dyson made a sour face, rolling his eyes.
“Please excuse my language. I don’t know what came over me. Must be the stress of David being murdered and trying to get his affairs in order.” She folded her hands in her lap, the very picture of a dignified rich lady. Andi didn’t miss the sharp glance she shot her lawyer when she mentioned her spouse’s affairs. “My husband had certain interests he couldn’t fulfill in our marriage. His solution was to seek help outside our home, and as long as he returned to me, I was willing to look the other way when it came to his infidelity.”
That sounded like something the lawyer could have written up. Considering his pleased look, Tamara was finally acting according to script. How unfortunate for them. George didn’t let it deter him, though.
“Did you know that Lawrence Miller and Harry Alexander McHill had affairs as well?” Andi was curious how she would answer that. The little tidbit about settling affairs, he stored in his brain for Shireen to have a closer look. Could be interesting. For a moment, Tamara’s entire body seemed to freeze. Jake Dyson lifted his right hand from where it had been resting on the upholstery to his knee. It was his only visible reaction to the question. Then Tamara caught herself and sat even straighter on the pristine leather couch, her dark skirt and blouse a stark contrast to the clinical white. She glanced at her lawyer, this time openly, who seemed to be trying to convey something with his facial expression and failing. He cleared his throat and spoke for the first time since they had been introduced.
“I’m not sure what the possible extramarital activities of other people have to do with Mrs. Portius’s marriage.”
George nodded, as if he totally agreed with Mr. Dyson. “Under normal circumstances nothing, but the three men were killed together, and that does make us curious.”
“I wasn’t aware my client was under suspicion of murder.” Jake Dyson furrowed his brows and shot Tamara Portius a dark glare.
“She isn’t.” George was smooth and quick, mostly because it wasn’t a lie. At this point, they knew—not officially, but without doubt nevertheless—that she hadn’t been the one to kill the three men. If she was guilty of conspiracy to murder wasn’t clear yet, but that was something neither Mrs. Portius nor her lawyer needed to know at the moment. “We’re merely trying to build a frame of references for our investigation.”
George’s honest smile must have reassured Mr. Dyson, or perhaps he simply wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Andi didn’t know, but the lawyer gave a slight nod to Tamara, who looked down her nose at them.
