"Is that all they’d been doing?”
She frowned. "I don't really know.”
I gave her a flat look. "You’re good friends with Abigail, and you don't know?”
Grace sighed. "Okay. Yeah, she slept with him. That's why she decided to break it off with Noah. Abigail just wasn’t like that. She’s not a cheater. But things had been going downhill with Noah for a while. I think she was just looking for an excuse.”
"Did Noah know about the infidelity?”
Grace hesitated. "I don't think she admitted that to him, but she told him she met somebody else.”
"I'm guessing Noah got pretty pissed off about that.”
"I wasn't present, but from what Abigail told me, yeah. I think he called her a few names—slut, whore, that kind of thing."
"Did Noah have any violent tendencies?”
2
"Idon't think he ever hit her or anything," Grace said. "Noah’s a really nice guy. Maybe a little too nice,” she said, cringing. “I think Abigail got a little bored.”
"It's the nice ones you've got to worry about," Jack said.
Her face wrinkled. "You think he could have killed her?”
"You tell me," I said.
Grace thought about it for a moment. "I don't know. I can’t imagine Noah would do something like this, but he was a little off at times.”
"What do you mean?”
"He’s just a little strange. Kinda nerdy. He could get really quiet.”
From the way the killer had draped a cloth over Abigail's face, I figured he knew the victim or had been following her around for a while. Perhaps he had developed some type ofpara-social relationship with Abigail. It was hard to say at this point.
"I need contact information for Noah and Brandon,” I said.
Grace cringed. “I can give you Noah's number, but I don't have Brandon's contact info. I think she sent me his social media page once. I'll see if I can find it for you.”
"I’d appreciate that.” I dug into my pocket and handed her a card. "Can you think of anybody else who might have wanted to harm her?”
Grace frowned and shook her head. "Not really. I mean, Abigail got along with everybody. She was gorgeous. She was always getting hit on. Abigail was with Noah for so long, I think she just kinda wanted to see what else was out there. That girl had a lot of options.”
"How long have you known each other?”
Grace shrugged. "I guess we met sometime last year, when she started working at Heartbreakers. We just kinda hit it off and have been best friends ever since."
Heartbreakers was the kind of place you could get an overpriced pitcher, eat spicy wings, and watch the game all while taking in the delightful scenery—buxom beauties in skimpy attire.
"Is she from around here?”
Grace shook her head. "No. She's from Iowa, I think. I moved here from Texas. I didn't know anybody, and neither did she. We hit it off right away.”
"How long had she been seeing Noah?”
“She’d been dating him for a couple of years. They were together up in Iowa. Then she moved out here, and he followed.”
"But they weren’t living together?”
