“But you weren’t available, so Ms. Sharp did what she had to. She wanted to sell her house,” Trent pointed out.
Marcy shrugged back into her chair and crossed her arms.
“Why are you so uncomfortable?” Amanda asked.
“Because I know what you’re getting at here.”
Amanda gestured toward Marcy. “Which is?”
She stared in Amanda’s eyes. “You know what? Never mind. I know what I’ve done and haven’t done. And I’m not going to candy-coat things just because she’s dead. Christine took a lot of pleasure in nabbing that listing.”
With what they’d learned about Christine, she didn’t sound vindictive, but her relationship with Marcy may have brought it out in her. Amanda could imagine that Marcy would make quite a rival in selling homes. “And how did that make you feel?”
“Angry. But also determined. She might have gotten the listing, but I was going to sell the house. But I guess now I know why she never returned my calls. I’m assuming you heard them.”
Both Amanda and Trent nodded.
“I admit leaving them didn’t show me in the best light, but look at it from my side. She snatched the listing from me and then was ignoring my request to show the house.”
“Notignoring. She was dead,” Amanda corrected.
“Which I realize now. I didn’t know that when I left the voicemails. All I knew was she was AWOL yesterday… But I swear I didn’t kill her.”
“Yet you just admitted to knowing she was missing yesterday. Why not reach out to us and mention these voicemails? Get ahead of things? Were you hoping we wouldn’t want to speak with you?” If Marcy had killed Christine, she had to know the police would get around to her. Had she failed to realize how keeping silent would make her look like she was trying to hide away?
“I thought about telling you, but why would I? I just figured she’d show up. Again, it’s not like I knew she was murdered.”
“Where were you Friday night between ten and eleven o’clock?” Trent asked.
Marcy slipped him a frosty stare. “You suspect I killed her?”
“We’re just talking right now, Ms. Maxwell,” Amanda cut in. “But we need to know your whereabouts.”
“I was at my friend’s place for an evening pool party. I got into the cocktails and ended up having too many. You can call her. She’ll tell you I passed out and spent the night.”
The woman was about Amanda’s age, and she’d long grown out of getting drunk and crashing at a friend’s house. But to each their own. “Her name and number?”
“Caleigh.” Marcy took out her phone and rattled off the number. “Try her now. I swear, she’ll confirm what I just told you.”
Trent punched the digits into his phone. A few seconds later, he was announcing himself as a detective with the Prince William County PD and asking about Friday night. He ended the call with a “thank you” and pocketed his phone again. He nodded at Amanda.
“See?” Marcy flailed a hand toward Trent. “I told you the truth. Christine and I might have had a strained relationship, but I never would have killed her. It’s not even something that’sever entered my mind. In fact, if anything, the competition between us made me a better agent, more ambitious. I respected her for that much.”
Amanda stood. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Maxwell, and we’re sorry for your loss.”
With that, she left the room with Trent, and they returned to the car.
“All right, back to zero suspects,” he said, starting the engine.
She appreciated he was now running on the assumption that the ballistics on Spencer’s gun would clear him. “That we are. I say we go back to Central and dig through Christine’s full call history. We track down all the numbers and read all her emails. It will take a lot of work, but…”
“It could be worth it.”
TWENTY
Amanda and Trent picked up cheeseburgers from Petey’s Patties and brought them back to Central. Amanda savored every bite and was still thinking a couple hours later how the comfort food had hit the spot.
She and Trent combed through the data from Christine’s phone history, which was sent over from her service provider. So far nothing had flagged. A closer look at Spencer’s phone revealed several photographs taken of him and Christine. One as recently as two weeks ago. Christine was smiling next to him, the expression touching her eyes. Unless she was an award-winning actor, her happiness was genuine. There were likely to be many more such pictures on Christine’s device, but it was with the CSIs in Manassas. And Gerald and Stephanie Lane made a solid point. Even if disagreements between couples became heated, both parties usually lived to talk about them.
