“I will,” Virgil said. “I really have to check everything. How long did the class run?”
Knox looked away. “Three hours. Mostly in the afternoon.”
“The afternoon? Why were you so late? Can’t be more than an hour from here.”
“It’s more than an hour even without the snow. More like two hours, and, with the snow, longer than that. I lived there for a couple of years, I hooked up with some friends and we hung out at their restaurant.”
“Gonna need those names.”
Knox was sullen. “You can have them. Check away.”
Rhodes had watched the interplay and now opened a desk drawer and took out a Kleenex tissue, huffed his nose into it, and threw the tissue into a wastebasket. “The thing is, Virgil, Rob really doesn’t know Gina,” he said. He looked at Knox. “I mean, have you even talked?”
Rob said, “Yeah, we talked that one time at the farmers’ market. When we got those pies.”
“That was five minutes,” Rhodes said. “God, why did they killGina? It must have been jealousy... Or maybe some crazy farmer who wasn’t paying his debts.”
Virgil: “When you say jealousy...”
“Gina was a fabulous-looking woman. She was smart and successful...”
“And you were married to her.”
“Yes. We loved each other, but at some point I became... confused... about exactly who... inhabits this body.” He slipped his hands down his chest. “My body. We didn’t clash over it, we didn’t argue about it, I think she sensed the problem even before I did. Oh, God... Anyway, we were going to get divorced so we both could explore alternative realities, but we remained the closest of friends.”
“I have to ask you this, but it’s a little embarrassing,” Virgil said. “Did you and she ever engage in... rough sex?”
Rhodes had started to slump but now straightened. “Was she... did somebody... before she died...?”
“Sometime before she died. A week or so.”
“Well, it wasn’t me,” he said, his voice indignant. “We haven’t had sex for a long time. When we still slept in the same bed, I sometimes... helped her along.”
Virgil pushed him a bit, and Rhodes was willing to explain—actually, seemed happy to explain—until Virgil finally cut him off. He really didn’t want to hear it, and Rhodes said that their last active sexual engagement, which did not include intercourse, had been two years earlier.
Virgil skipped away from the sex to ask, “Do you know who will inherit?”
Rhodes put his elbows on the desk, knitted his fingers together, and looked at Virgil over his hands. “I suppose... wenever did estate planning when we were married, we were too young... but I suppose her sister. I don’t know anything about Gina’s will. I know Rick James was her lawyer. He’d know.”
“Don’t lie to me, Justin,” Virgil said. “It makes me feel bad, and makes you look guilty.”
Justin flushed and said, “Ah, God, I knew somebody would get on me about that. I guess I have something coming. I’ve thought maybe I should decline. Should I decline?”
“I was told by somebody who knows you that you wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Virgil said. “They weren’t so sure about your friend Rob. Do you think Rob could find a use for that money?”
Knox said, “Fuck that. Fuck that.”
A spark appeared in Rhodes’s eyes. Anger? He leaned across the desk and said, “No! Rob is an angel. An angel! He would never!”
Knox settled back in his chair.
—
Virgil took out the list of people who’d been with Hemming the night she disappeared, showed it to Rhodes. “Yes, they were all there. All respectable businessmen and -women... Do you think she was killed by a man?”
“That’s my operating theory. Her body had to be moved a substantial distance, no matter where she went into the river. The killer had to be somebody with some strength, unless there were more than one of them.”
“Huh. Well, Ryan Harney is very fit; I see him at the gym. Dave Birkmann is too fat; he’d probably have a heart attack. He might be sorta strong, though... I don’t know. George Brown is strong; he could have carried her across the river. Barry Long isfit, I think, but I can’t even imagine why he’d hurt Gina.” He looked up, his eyes unfocused for a few seconds, then said, “Everybody likes Barry. He was the class president for three years, and he’s been in the State Legislature forever. But I’m not sure he’s... sexual. He’s not gay, for sure, but I’m not sure he’s heterosexual, either. Huh.”
