“No apologies needed. I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to get here. But don’t worry, we’ve been very busy on this case. I had a judge sign off on the warrants as soon as the courts opened, so we’ve been able to get quite a lot done in the last ten hours.”
I spoke before William did, hoping that he wouldn’t question the purpose of warrants. “That’s great to hear. Please, sit down. Have you eaten? I can have a plate fixed for you—anything you want.” From behind her, I spotted two officers hovering in the foyer, and I paused.
Following my gaze, she gave a regretful smile. “Unfortunately, this isn’t a pleasure call. Mr. and Mrs. Winthorpe, this is Detective Cullen and Officer Anders.”
I shook both of their hands, as did William.
“They need to speak to you, Mr. Winthorpe. Privately. If you’d like your legal counsel to join us, that is certainly within your right.”
“You can question me here, in front of Randall. And I’d like Cat to stay. We have no secrets.” He hesitated. “Not anymore.”
What a laughable statement. He may not have any secrets from me, but I had a mountain of them from him.
“Very well.” The chief pulled out one of our linen-wrapped chairs and sat, gesturing to the other uniforms to follow suit. “We need to ask about your relationship, or lack thereof, with Neena Ryder.”
“We had a friendship, one that felt inappropriate at times. She made it clear that she was interested in a physical relationship. I declined her advances, for the most part.”
“For the most part?” Detective Cullen spoke up. “What does that mean?”
“Don’t answer that,” Randall drawled. “The extent of William and Neena’s relationship has no bearing on this conversation.”
“Did Neena ever speak to you about a future between the two of you?”
“No.”
“Do you think she believed that there was a chance of a real relationship between the two of you, if Cat or Matt were out of the picture?”
He frowned. “I don’t know what Neena believed, but I never led her to think that there was any possibility of a relationship. I love my wife, and I made sure Neena understood that.”
Oh yes. I’m sure he was justgushingabout me in that private boardroom. I’m sure Neena never even considered the possibility of stealing him away from me.
“We did uncover some unsettling items in the Ryders’ bedroom. Photos of William, some of both of you.” The second officer produced a file and pulled out photos, sealed in protective bags. William and I leaned forward, examining the pictures.
They were all familiar snapshots of our lives, and I glanced up at our visitors. “These are all from my Instagram profile. I’ve posted all these. She must have printed them out.”
William inhaled as he took in the large number of images.
“You said there were some photos of the two of us?” I prompted.
“Yes.” He pulled a second set of images from the accordion file. This set, when placed on the table, caused a visual flinch from William.
Hack jobs of my favorite photos. One of William looking tenderly down at me, my face replaced with a cutout of Neena’s face, beaming out. Another—one from our wedding, my dress topped with a too-large image of Neena, her grin angled toward William’s handsome face. And worst of all—the photo of him and me and my baby niece. She’d replaced my entire body with hers, the three of them making a demented Frankenstein family.
“There are also these.” The chief moved three more photos out of the stack, each one a demonic hack job of a group photo where Matt’s and my heads were cut off.
“This is psychotic,” William said quietly. “We need security on Cat. I’ll pay for protection for Matt as well—at least until Neena is locked up permanently.” He looked up at me. “You were right about her. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you.”
I studied his taut features, the guilt and emotion clogging his eyes. Did he mean it? Was he sorry? I thought he was, but would I ever be able to trust him again?
I cleared my throat. “What exactly happened inside the house? Someone tried to attack Matt? Did they break in?”
“The intruder either had a key, or a door was left unlocked. He seemed to be a professional. There are no fingerprints, no shoe prints, no hair. He came in around two forty-five in the morning, put a gun in Mr. Ryder’s mouth while he was sleeping. Mr. Ryder woke up, then the intruder pulled the trigger.”
William let out a low curse.
“The gun misfired, Matt tried to grab at the gun, and the man fled. We weren’t able to track him down.”
“But you think he was hired? This isn’t someone who’s going to come back and try to kill Matt again?”