Page 84 of Little Dark Deeds
“What do you mean by ‘keeping tabs’?”
“I’d prefer not to answer.”
I moved my hands to my hips.“And I’d prefer you did.”
He let out a low, chilling laugh.“It’s in my best interest to know what rabbit holes you and the police, are going down.I see the dangling carrot has led to me at last.Six days.I’ll admit, I thought I’d see you sooner.If you’ve concluded I was in some way involved in Tiffany’s murder, I regret to inform you the carrot has fallen from your stick.You’re raising it at the wrong man.”
I was beginning to tire of his carrot-and-stick analogy.
“Why did you confront Tiffany in the way you did?”I asked.
He slid a hand inside his pocket, removed some lip balm, and applied it to his lips.“After Tiffany won in court, my relationship with Vivienne, the woman I was dating, fell apart.”
It surprised me.
“Why?With the case in the rear view, the divorce could finalize, and you and Vivienne could move forward.”
“You’d think so, but she ended the relationship.”
“And you ...what?Blamed Tiffany?It makes no sense.Rylie didn’t ask for much in the divorce—a few million.A drop in the bucket compared to your family’s overall worth.”
He shook his head.“You think I was upset over the money?”
“Weren’t you?”
“I would have given her the money she wanted and more, if she’d asked for it.”
“Then what was the problem?”
“It was the way she tried to slander my reputation in court, going on and on about the husband I once was, the man she thought she’d be with forever.She topped it off by discussing my ‘numerous’ affairs.”
“Did you have numerous affairs?”
“I slipped up on occasion.Who doesn’t?”
“I don’t.”
“Then you wouldn’t understand.It’s not like I woke up one day and decided to have an affair when everything in my marriage was fine.Affairs, they have a way of creeping up on you.One day you’re making a polite comment to a woman.The next, you’re flirting.Before you know it, you wake up one morning, and they’re in your bed, or you’re in theirs.Infidelity’s been around since the dawn of time, and it always will be.”
I wasn’t sure how to take his candor.
It disgusted and astonished me at the same time, for all the wrong reasons.
“Rylie was stating the obvious and speaking her truth.Why did it bother you so much?”I asked.“Were you worried about your reputation?You don’t seem like the kind of person who cares what anyone else thinks.”
He bit down on his bottom lip.“I do when it comes to Vivienne.She was in court the day the affairs were mentioned.I didn’t even know she planned to be there.She was sitting at the back, taking it all in.Afterward, when I had a chance to talk to her, she was furious.I hadn’t told her about the affairs.I tried to explain.I told her Rylie was lying.”
“But she wasn’t lying.You admitted as much to me just now.”
“To you, I admitted it, because it’s true.When it comes to the women I’m in relationships with, you say what you need to say to protect yourself and the relationship.Right?”
Wrong.
“I have no reason to lie to you, and I haven’t,” he continued.“None of it matters now, though.I thought Vivienne was the one woman who could keep me loyal.But I’ve met someone else, someone even better.”
“Why would you take your anger out on Tiffany over your wife’s words in court?”
“Because they weren’therwords.Rylie’s an introvert, a woman who doesn’t like to stir up drama.I expected her to fight for what she wanted—the money, the dog—and leave everything else out of it.We’d discussed it prior.She wasn’t going to mention the affairs.Then Tiffany got to her, and she grew a backbone.”
