Page 50 of Married to Murder
“It will exonerate me. I didn’t kill him.”
He sighed. “You seem like a nice guy, Seth. I’d love to think you didn’t have anything to do with his death.”
I tensed my mouth. “My fear is you just need somebody to blame and I’m handy.”
Scowling, he leaned toward me. “That’s not how I work, kid.”
I wanted to believe him, but my gut swirled with stress. “Did you tell Tanner I had a record?” My heart pounded as I waited for his answer.
He shook his head slowly. “No. But I hinted he might want to press you about what your dad was arguing with you about.”
I clenched my jaw. “Awesome.”
His eyes softened slightly. “I’m not sure why you’re so afraid to be honest with him. Your husband seems pretty supportive.”
Squinting at him, I asked, “How would you feel if you found out your wife had been a whore and a thief? Would that make you love her more, or less?”
He winced. “Love isn’t supposed to be conditional.”
“Yeah. I know that’s the theory,” I muttered.
He stood, scraping back the chair. “Anyway, don’t leave town. I’m definitely going to need to talk with you some more.”
“I’m free to go?” My voice wobbled. I’d had myself half-convinced he was going to arrest me at the end of the interview.
“Yes. For now.” He started to leave, but he paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Off the record, my personal opinion is you shouldn’t abuse Tanner’s feelings for you by holding stuff back from him. He deserves to know the truth.”
I held his gaze, feeling defensive. “Sometimes being too honest works against you.”
He frowned. “It’s sad that you think that, kid.” He left the room, leaving the door ajar.
I got up and made my way out front. Tanner was sitting in front of the building, his face turned up to the sun. He must have heard me coming because he opened his eyes. He smiled when he saw me, but I could see a slight wariness in his eyes.
“I don’t know about you, but I could use a damn drink.” He stood.
“God, yes.” I sighed. I followed him to his car.
We got in and he started the car. “How was it?” He didn’t look at me as he focused on the road.
“Not as bad as it could have been. I’m not under arrest.”
He inhaled sharply. “Don’t even say that.”
I leaned my head back against the headrest. “I just want things to go back to the way they were.”
He frowned. “Meaning what?”
“I like simple, remember? Nothing about the past few days has been simple.”
“Well, like I said, that’s just how life is sometimes.”
I didn’t say anything because my first response would have hurt his feelings. But the truth was that everything had been easier before I’d met Tanner. I’d been doing great at pushing away all my demons, and now they were here again, threatening to ruin everything. The problem was, now that I cared about Tanner, I couldn’t just walk away.
He pulled along the street near my shop and parked. “I think we should walk to Marcello’s and drink there. I don’t want to drive immediately after drinking, and I need more than one.”
“I thought you were going back to your mom’s tonight.”
“I am. But that’s later.” His dark eyes warmed. “I want to spend some time with you.”
