Reggie surveys the three of us. “Well, now that that’s settled, how about we get started?”
Chapter thirty-six
ON MY OWN
IwishIcouldsay that the most awkward part of my strategy meeting with Jalen was signing the retainer agreement with my cartoonishly large thumb wrap sticking out, but that would be a lie.
Every second since has crawled like a creeping bug under my skin, making the last two hours feel more like ten. It’s not so much the nature of the meeting; I think this situation would be uncomfortable for just about anyone. It’s the fact that, unlike Cameron, where I almost always know what he is thinking just by looking at him, Jalen’s face is completely unreadable.
Every time I share a detail about the night, the only way I can gauge how important or interesting he finds it is by how long I have to wait in silence while his pen scratches on his legal pad. It’s not a perfect science, though, because just when I thought I had him all figured out, he asked if Detective Harvey read me my Miranda rights at any point during my statement. My answerwas only one word: No. But since I answered him a couple of minutes ago, he has filled almost an entire page with notes.
When he finally finishes, he circles something and then looks back up to me. “Before I start asking about the other women individually, do you have an inkling of who could have done this? Anything stand out as odd or suspicious in retrospect?”
“Not really,” I admit, because I have been asking myself the same question since it was revealed that there was a suspicion of foul play. “None of the women seem capable.”
“Then let’s go one at a time, starting with the first person you met.” He flips to a clean page, but when he looks up and sees my expression, he cocks his head to the side. “Do you need a break first?”
Yes. But I want to get this over with. “No. Let’s keep going.”
“All right. Who did you meet first?”
“Technically, I met Delaney first.”
“I think I have enough information about your interactions with her, so who did you meet next?
“Judith.”
He writes her name at the top of the paper and underlines it. “Tell me everything that she said and did. Spare no detail.”
I rehash our odd introduction, including how she tried to team up with me as the only other “working woman” there, and retell the story about her burning the cookies. As I continue to share the details, a sick feeling settles in my stomach at how it all sounds. Objectively, she has a clear motive, and Jalen must think so too because his hand is moving furiously across the paper to keep up.
“Do you think that Delaney’s performance warranted the treatment that Judith was giving her?” Jalen asks.
I shake my head. “We all thought Judith’s dislike of Delaney was unfounded. I just chalked it up to her being newly retired and maybe not fully decompressed yet.”
“Do you know what line of work she was in?”
“Retail.” He nods as if that confirms something for him. “She was rude, for sure,” I continue, because there is no denying that. “But I honestly don’t think she is capable ofkillingsomeone.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, first of all, she’s tiny,” I point out. “I don’t know if you’ve seen her since she was in the guest house, but I would be surprised if she were even five feet tall. And, like I told you, she was excited to retire so that she could spend time with her grandkids. I find it hard to believe that she would jeopardize that.”
He writes a couple words in response to my declaration and then moves on. “Who did you meet next?”
“Leah and Val, at the same time.”
“Let’s start with Leah.”
I rehash the introductions, including when Judith was convinced that Leah was a trophy wife who was going to quit teaching the second she had kids to be a stay-at-home mom, as if that was somehow offensive to her. In retrospect, I wish I had defended Leah in that moment, knowing what I know now about her struggles with growing her family. I can’t help but wonder if Judith lashed out at Leah in that moment more out of resentment than judgment, since she heavily implied that she had to “earn her own way.”
After that, I tell Jalen about how Leah helped me find my room, but I sidestep the detail about how she confided in me that she was pregnant. Then I rehash how she helped me de-escalate the fight in the kitchen after Judith burned the cookies, and how we talked upstairs about my involvement with Cameron. My cheeks flush a bit at those details about his brother, but Jalen remains unreadable.
“It sounds like Leah got along with Delaney pretty well.”
“Yes, as far as I could tell, but I don’t have all of the details about the fight at the wine tasting because I left to go hide in the bathroom as soon as they started getting into it.”
He flips back a few pages in his notes. “I don’t remember you telling me that you hid in a bathroom.”
