I turned my attention from what was behind him to his face.Between you and me, it was no hardship.I was interested in what was going on inside the house, but Mendoza is just so pretty it’s no problem to look at him.“Two things.I need the dog’s food and leash.Unless you want me to go out and buy food and a leash for her.But I figure there is probably already some of that here, and it makes more sense that I just pick it up.”
Mendoza sighed.“That’s what you’re doing here?”
“That, and I wanted to tell you something.”I peered over his other shoulder.
He shifted again.“What’s that?”
I subsided.“Zachary just came back to the office.I sent him to the university this morning, to see if he could find the girl from next door.”
Mendoza nodded.
“She wasn’t there.Or if she was, he didn’t see her.”
“OK,” Mendoza said.“So maybe she’s not a student.”
“Maybe not.But Zachary said Steven wasn’t there either.”
“Maybe he took the morning off.”
Maybe he had.“I’m not saying there’s anything suspicious about it.He could be home with his wife.”Or next door with this girl.Although if he was, his car wasn’t parked in the driveway today.“It just occurred to me that one unusual incident might be connected to another.”
“First,” Mendoza said, “we don’t know that Steven’s absence is unusual.Maybe he always comes in late on Wednesdays.”
Maybe.
“And secondly, even if it is unusual for Steven to miss work, we don’t know that it has anything to do with Mrs.Grimshaw’s murder.Which happened last night between ten and midnight, by the way.Do you know where Steven was then?”
I shook my head.I had no idea.“I assumed home with his wife.”
“Have you spoken to Diana?”
I said I hadn’t.
“Call her,” Mendoza said.
“Why do I have to call her?It’s your murder case.”
“We don’t know that Steven’s involved in my murder case,” Mendoza told me.“It’s your cheating husband case.And you’re working for Diana.She won’t think anything of it if you call to see whether Steven’s home.If I call, she’ll wonder why.”
He had a point.I pulled out my phone and dialed.
It was the middle of the workday, and Diana was a busy divorce attorney.I thought it was possible that she was talking to a client, or having lunch with a colleague.Part of me wished she wouldn’t answer the phone, so I wouldn’t have to tell her what Steven had been doing yesterday.You’ll notice I hadn’t written up a report or filled in my client yet.There was a reason for that.Diana wasn’t just a client.She was a friend.And I didn’t want to give her bad news.
She was available to talk, though.The phone rang once, then twice, and then her voice came on.“Gina.”
“Diana,” I said.And didn’t know what else to say.I could hear the tension in her voice, and I didn’t know what to do about it.
“He’s cheating, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly.“I followed him from the university yesterday afternoon.He drove to a house in Crieve Hall.Do you know where that is?”
“Neighborhood south of Nashville,” Diana said.“Lots of ranch houses.”
“Do you know anyone who lives there?”
“I can’t think of anyone.What was he doing there?”
“He went inside a house,” I said.“Spent more than an hour there.Then he left and drove back to the university.”
