I went with the edited version. “Xavier liked to back people into situations they couldn’t get out of. He enjoyed making people twist. He liked when they owed him something. When he could exert his dominance, and he never relinquished it.”
Stella hesitated for a few seconds before responding. “Sounds like you’re talking from experience.”
“I’m not even listing his worst qualities. Those are just the things he did because he was bored.”
Stella blew out a hard breath. “I can’t imagine what you’ve dealt with.”
“I’ll spare you.” Mostly because I didn’t have the energy to beg the universe to keep Jeremy safe and maneuver through a memory maze of Xavier’s controlling behaviors. Jeremy was my priority and always would be.
“What does any of this have to do with Marni?” Stella asked.
When she continued to look lost, I filled her in. “Why do you think Xavier left Victoria’s ring to Marni?”
“Because she and Victoria were best friends.”
Not even close. “Because Xavier knew Marni wanted to be the next Mrs. Patrick Tanner.”
“You’re saying... Marni and Patrick?”
“Yes. And Victoria knew.”
When I stepped into that house years ago, I heard the yelling. Marni and Victoria fighting about something Victoria had seen or found. I overheard the bickering and listened as the words grew more vicious. Stood frozen, afraid to step out of the television room and deeper into the house. Trying to blend into the wall around the corner in the hallway. Seep into the floor and wash away without being seen.
You cheap whore. How could you do this to me? You know his cheating destroyed me but you still... No, this is on you. You deserve everything that’s about to happen to you.
Victoria’s words. Harsh. Maybe deserved. Who knew?
I went outside and paced around. Called Xavier. But I went inside again because Patrick had texted me for help for a reason. I couldn’t run away. I then spent fifteen years wondering if in those ten unaccounted-for minutes while I wasn’t listening Marni struck first. Now I feared she had either lashed out or defended herself and didn’t stop with just Victoria. I didn’t hear or see him, but maybe she took out Patrick, too.
His might be the first body found on the property.
I sensed it wouldn’t be the last.
Chapter Forty
Marni
Breathe in for four. Hold for seven. Exhale for eight.
The exercises didn’t work. No amount of deep breathing or visualizing being in a different place eased the caved-in sensation in my chest. My breathing sounded hollow and stuttered.
The attorney told me he would do the talking. I should only answer if he gave me the okay. The order tumbled around in my head as I sat in a small room that didn’t look like any interrogation set I’d seen on television. This resembled a conference room without windows.
The people across from me included the detective I’d talked to previously, a woman from the FBI, and some other man seated back, away from all of us. They gave their names and titles. Due to the jumble in my brain, I forgot the information as soon as they’d offered it.
All the coaching from the attorney and his associate, and all of Cam’s orders about staying quiet, vanished when I saw thesmall plastic evidence bag on the table. It sat between me and them. Not a coincidence. It was there to shake me. To make me question and panic.
The only thing that kept me from blathering on was the fear of throwing up if I tried to push a single word out. My stomach clenched. It ached like when I was a little girl and ate all my Halloween candy in secret in my bedroom. A rancid, curdled feeling.
I didn’t need to open the evidence bag and dump out the contents. I knew what I was looking at. My bracelet. The one Patrick gave me. Engraved. Personal. Intimate.
While the detective droned on, the FBI agent looked at me. Her gaze skipped from my face to the bag. To that damn bracelet that once meant everything.
Marni,Ourtime is coming - P
The engraving once filled me with hope. It had been a promise about a future to come. Now it would damn me.
“Ms. Richards, were you having an affair with Patrick Tanner at the time of his disappearance?”
