“On the contrary, I’m extremely serious about this. It’s my ass that’s going to get thrown in prison for a crime I didn’t commit.”
“Let’s start again,” Tanner said, rubbing the back of his neck where a sharp pain had taken up residence. “Let’s talk about your alibi. Do you really not remember anything? Not a thing?”
“Nothing at all. It was the sleeping pills. I’ve woken up in the kitchen and eaten food and didn’t even realize it. I drove to the gas station once, too.”
“That’s frightening. You should hide your keys. You could kill someone with your car and not even know it.”
“It doesn’t happen every night. And even if I hid my keys, it wouldn’t help. I know where they are. I’d need someone else to hide the keys.”
“This memory thing is going to hurt you more than help you, Abby. People will think that you shot your husband in a pill-induced stupor.”
“I know that I would never do that. I loved Marty very much. I know how this looks but we were actually quite happy most of the time.”
“What exactly happened when you left the dinner? Marty left before you and took the car. How did you get back to the inn?”
“Chris gave me a ride once I realized that Marty wasn’t coming back.”
“Was he at the inn when you returned?”
“No,” Abby replied with a shake of her head. “At least he wasn’t in our room, I didn’t go around looking for him. I figured he was out for a drive to cool off and would come back eventually.”
“So the car was gone?”
“I didn’t notice whether it was or wasn’t. I was tired and I just wanted to go to sleep. When Marty and I argue, he just needs a little time to himself. Then he comes home and it’s all fine. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“What happened then?”
“I changed into my nightclothes and took off my makeup. I took my sleeping pill so I wouldn’t wake up when he came back and went to bed. The next thing I knew people were banging on the door because they’d found his body on the back patio. The police arrived and Sam dragged me off to question me. I know he thinks I’m guilty.”
“Sam is one of the fairest men I’ve ever known. He’s not going to jump to conclusions.”
“Well, I loved Marty. I would never have hurt him. Yes, we fought last night. I don’t deny it. But I didn’t kill him. I would never do that.” She reached out and grabbed Tanner’s arm. “You have to help me. You have to find out who really did this awful thing.”
Tanner was well aware that he didn’t have to do anything. But…she was the mother of two of his children and she was clearly scared. He knew her well enough to know that she was absolutely frightened. She wasn’t playing it up to be more dramatic.
“I’ll talk to Jason and Logan about this,” he finally said. “They have a private investigation arm of their consulting firm. Perhaps they can put some resources on this.”
“That’s—“
He held up his hand to stop her from going any further.
“But…and I want you to listen closely to me here, Abby. If I help you, if the other guys help, you have to be one hundred percent honest with us. About everything. No keeping secrets. We can’t help you if we don’t know the truth.”
“I have to say, Tanner, that I’m a bit wounded that you think I wouldn’t tell you the truth. Of course, I will do that. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
If he hadn’t been married to her, he would have completely blown past that last statement. She used to tell him the truth, but it had been a “trickle-truth” where the information had come out a bit at a time as he’d asked more and more questions.
“No, that’s not how it’s going to work. You’re not going to tell me just the things that we ask about. You’re going to tell us everything, Abby. Every possible thing that you think we might need to know and then add a bunch of other stuff on top of that. I don’t want to have to pull the information out of you with a pair of pliers. Got it?”
Rolling her eyes, Abby sighed loudly. “Fine. I’ve got it. Everything. Even the stuff that no one cares about. You want to know what I had for dinner last night?”
“I already know. You were at a fundraiser dinner. We all had chicken. Now, tell me about Marty’s friends and business associates. I need to know everything about him.”
Abby reached into her purse and pulled out a lighter and cigarette.
“You’re not going to smoke that, are you?”
She lit the end of the cigarette before tucking the lighter back into her purse.