“The police,” Sebe scoffed. “Thanks to this unstable neighbor of ours, they get called every year. She’s a very old, very angry sort—racist, too, I’m fairly certain. If Maude and I were both white, I suspect she’d never even consider calling the police. Anyway, last year the police carted off two dads because they’d gotten into some kind of foolish argument, about American football of all things. If the police hadn’t been called, it would have been nothing. Itwasnothing.”
“I know what it sounds like, the ‘upstairs,’” Maude said, more seriously. “But it isn’t that big a deal. Only a handful of people participate, and it’s all very discreet.”
Sebe’s cell phone rang then. “I apologize. This is the hospital,” he said. “I need to speak with them.”
“Of course,” I said, as Sebe swiftly exited the room.
“The police have already interviewed you?” I asked Maude once he was gone.
“Not yet. They’re supposed to come tomorrow morning.”
“They haven’t been here at all?”
“Is that a problem?” she asked, nervous again.
“Thisisthe last place Amanda was seen,” I said. Was the prosecution’s case already locked up that tight that they didn’t evenneedto talk to anyone else? “I’d think they’d want the names of the party guests and that kind of thing.”
“Maybe they got those from Sarah. I know they talked to her.” Shewas quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry about Zach being assaulted in jail. It would be awful if something really happened to him. Especially, I mean—poor Case.”
And so I decided to raise the stakes. “Yes, Rikers can turn a false accusation into a death sentence.”
“Death sentence?” Maude blanched. “But what would happen to Case then?”
I felt a guilty burn at the base of my gut. Maybe I was overstating the situation a bit, but it wasn’t a complete fabrication. Zach had been attacked.
“I’m not saying that will happen,” I went on. “I’m just saying that it could. That’s why I’m focused on getting Zach out on bail. I feel confident he’ll be acquitted once there is an actual trial.”
“What can we do to help?” Maude asked.
“Did you speak to either Zach or Amanda at your party?”
Maude nodded. “To Amanda only briefly.”
“How did she seem that night?”
“She was sweet and lovely as always. She tried to make me feel better about my daughter—she’s been having some, ah, issues. Amanda was always a very good friend, so supportive.” Maude stared down in silence into her whiskey glass. “Listen, Iknowthat Zach didn’t kill Amanda.” She hesitated. “Because, um, I was with him when she died.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
She closed her eyes, and I watched her jaw tighten. “Zach and I were together at the time Amanda died.”
That didn’t mean what it sounded like, did it?
“But not … You mean,togethertogether?” I asked.
When Maude finally looked up, her eyes were cold, almost angry. As though she was being forced to make this disclosure, rather than volunteering it. “Yes.”
“Oh.” My cheeks felt warm again.
Why the hell hadn’t Zach told me? Was he worried about how it would look? Assuming the time windows matched, being with Maude would give him an alibi, which washuge. On the other hand, being an unfaithful husband didn’t exactly go down in the innocent column. A skilled prosecutor would have a field day with it. Here was a man who wanted to sleep with other women, like this gorgeous woman Maude here, exhibit A.That’swhy he killed his wife. A jury might believe that, even though Amanda was so beautiful herself. But an alibi was still an alibi.
I swallowed hard. “What time did Zach leave, then?”
“It was late, two a.m., maybe?” Maude said stiffly. “Anyway, you can say we were together. I mean, to the police.”
Of course—aside from the infidelity implications for Zach—I wouldn’t know whether that alibi was truly helpful until I knew Amanda’s official time of death and what time Zach had placed his 911 call. And I wouldn’t know either until the DA’s office turned over a copy of the medical examiner’s report and the 911 records. All of that was a ways off. Zach hadn’t even been indicted for Amanda’s murder.
“It’s probably one of those helpful, not helpful things.” I didn’t like how flexible Maude was making the truth sound. “Though you should be completely honest when you talk to the police, of course.”
