"Look, you think I didn't know that ass-clown was banging every hot housewife at the club?” he finally admitted.
"Tell us more."
Dr. Stockton's mouth tightened. "I don't know if he was banging Elizabeth or not. I don't really care. If it made her happy and kept her out of my hair, fine. I learned a long time ago that my wife was going to do whatever she wanted to do. This is painful to admit, but my wife stopped sleeping with me ages ago. I accepted that, and it gave me the opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do.”
"So why stay married?"
"Because decoupling our lives would be an enormous pain in the ass. Not to mention costly, and I don't want to break up our family. My kids are four and six, and I don't want them growing up in another home, getting parented by whatever man my wife decides to sleep with at the moment.” He paused. "Is it the ideal scenario? No. Do I wish I had a better relationship with my wife? Yes. Would I risk my life, my career, my freedom to kill the man who is currently satisfying her? Hell no!”
It seemed like a reasonable enough answer.
"If you need to verify my whereabouts last night, I was with Elana Marx. I can give you her contact information, and you can verify that.”
"Thank you. That would be helpful.”
Dr. Stockton grabbed his phone and texted me Elana's information.
“Can you think of any husbands at the club who might not be as understanding about their wives’ needs?”
“Not that I know of. But I tend to avoid gossip.” With a pearly smile, he said, "It's been great seeing you both, but I have patients to attend to." He stood from the desk, and we shook hands. Stockton looked at Jack and said, "Take care of that tooth and that shoulder.”
Jack gave him a mock salute.
Stockton escorted us out of his office, and we walked down the hall, stepped into the waiting room, then pushed outside.
"What do you make of his story?” JD asked.
“I’ll tell you what I think after I talk to Elana,” I said.
10
We caught up with Blair Duval at her mansion in Stingray Bay. JD and I stood on the front porch, interviewing her.
An attractive woman in her late 30s, Blair was a little high-strung. Her wavy chocolate hair was pulled into a stylish updo. Diamond-studded gold hoop earrings dangled from her lobes. She had a narrow face, elegant bone structure, and big brown eyes. She wore an expensive designer dress and had perfectly manicured nails. "It's so terrible what happened to him. Liam was such a talented young man." Then she added, "On the court."
I had spoken with Isabella on the way over. She told me that no cell phones had appeared on the court other than Liam’s during the time of the murder.
She also told me some interesting tidbits. Blair’s phone had appeared in the cabanas at the Seven Seas on numerous occasions at the same time as Liam's phone. His phone also made several appearances at the Stingray Bay mansion atodd hours. There were also numerous calls and texts between the two. Something a little more than scheduling lessons. Isabella’s intel had confirmed a lot of what Elizabeth Stockton had mentioned. Poppy Winslow and Gwen Wescott were also persons of interest, both with numerous interactions with the tennis pro.
"Can you tell me the extent of your relationship with Liam Prescott?" I asked.
The question flustered her. "He was a fabulous tennis instructor. And I considered him a friend.”
"Aclosefriend?”
She tucked her chin and grew indignant. "I'm not sure what you mean by that.”
"I think you know exactly what I mean by that.”
Her eyes narrowed and burned into me like lasers. "I don't think I like your tone."
"I'm not here to disrupt anyone's marriage. I'm just trying to find out who killed Liam Prescott.”
"Well, I certainly can't help you with that. Though I do hope you bring the perpetrator to justice. It's frightening that something like this happened right here in Coconut Key, at the country club.”
"Yes, it is quite shocking, isn't it?" I said, playing along. "Tell me about the times you visited Liam at the Seven Seas.”
Blair's eyes widened, and her skin went pale. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I've never visited Liam at the Seven Seas.It's possible that, perhaps, I may have seen him there at a function,” she said, trying not to sound guilty.
