Page 39 of So Smitten

In Faith’s opinion, Laura would be a very handsome woman if she smiled more and was no doubt breathtaking, not to mention the petite figure that so many men preferred.

Then again, it was easier to work with willing women than to force unwilling women, and the Syndicate was seemingly very concerned with minimizing trouble. Faith wouldn't be surprised to read about Roman Kerry having an accident in prison, whether he talked or not. The other organizers had gotten away, meaning leadership would hear that it was entirely Roman's fault.

“When did you and your husband divorce?” Michael asked.

She smiled slightly. “You really need to know all that?”

“You can assume we need the answers to every question we ask,” Faith replied.

“All right,” Laura said, lifting her hands placatingly. “I was just asking. Well, like I said earlier, I’ve been living off of alimony for seven years, so that’s when I left him. I caught him with one of my coworkers. It was the eighth time he’d cheated on me in eight years, and that’s only the women I know about.”

She took another drag on the cigarette. “The crazy thing is that I didn’t mind that he ran around with other women. Not all that much, anyway. I get that men need a lot more sex than most women do, and I’ll admit I was never a ‘freak in the sheets.’ If he had kept it quiet and away from our house, I would have been perfectly content to look the other way a few days a month.” She took another drag. “But I draw the line at being treated with no respect. I told him we were through, and he… do you need details on the divorce?”

“If you think they’re relevant.”

“Well, I don’t think any of this is relevant,” Laura said, “but I’ll just leave it at this: he was very confident that I wouldn’t win the judgment that I, of course, ended up winning. He fought the judgment until the court ordered him to pay up or sell his house and give me half.”

"Did you have any contact with him after the divorce?"

She shook her head. “He tried to come over about six months after we split. He was drunk and wanted to have sex. I told him to get lost and find one of his whores. After that, he just sent the checks, and I just cashed them.”

She looked at Faith’s expression and smiled slightly. “You think I’m a special sort of evil, don’t you, for talking about a dead man like this.”

“My standards of evil are very different from yours, I’m sure,” Faith replied.

Laura chuckled. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Well, I don’t know what else I can tell you. I figured he would get himself killed sooner or later, so I guess I just dealt with those emotions a while ago.”

“Why did you feel he would get himself killed?”

Laura paused with her cigarette halfway to her lips. She frowned slightly, then finished the drag. She tapped the ashes directly onto the table and said, “Well, he was involved in… something. I don’t know exactly what, but I know that I didn’t want to be involved in it.”

“But it didn’t have anything to do with your divorce?”

“You’d think it would, wouldn’t you?” Laura said with bitter sarcasm.

She lifted her cigarette again and found it was spent. She returned to the kitchen and got another cigarette. She lit it and took a drag, then said, “No. I just looked the other way. I was really good at doing that. I think that’s why it pissed me off so much that he had eight women in our house. I mean, for Christ’s sake, spend fifty bucks on a motel room and wear a condom.”

“Are you familiar with the name Harvey Harris?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t know that name. Is he a suspect?”

“No, he’s another victim.”

Laura’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean there’s more than one murder?”

“Three so far,” Faith confirmed. “Vincent Mariano, Harvey Harris, and your ex-husband.”

She watched Laura carefully as she mentioned the names. Laura showed no sign of recognition.

“Jesus,” Laura said, “am I in danger?”

“That depends,” Faith said, “are you familiar with Roman Kerry?”

Laura flinched and paled considerably. “Roman Kerry?”

Michael leaned forward and said, “This is when you might need a lawyer.”

“No, no,” Laura said, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t have anything to do with Roman Kerry.”

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