Page 6 of What the Wife Knew

The detective frowned. “I’m confused about why you’re here.”

Now the unannounced appearance made sense. The detective had treated Elias to a good-ole-boy head’s-up, not realizing Elias would be present as my attorney. Understandable. Elias being here confused me, too, but I crossed my legs and settled in for the show.

“I’m acting as Mrs. Dougherty’s attorney,” Elias continued.

Acting. The word seemed problematic. Probably just lawyer-speak, but who knew.

This time the detective’s eyes narrowed. “Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”

Looked like I wasn’t the only one with that question.

“No,” Elias said.

If I trusted Elias, I might enjoy the abruptness of his answer. But I didn’t so... “Is there a problem, Detective?”

“Your interests and your late husband’s might not, uh... completely, uh...” The detective winced instead of finishing his sentence.

“Align?” Elias asked, filling in the blank. “That’s not a problem. Mr. and Mrs. Dougherty were completely in sync. They shared a loving marriage and a life view as well as their assets. I represent both the estate and Mrs. Dougherty.”

Fascinating how he could just say wild shit and pull it off.

“That might not always be the case.” The detective shot Elias one of those man-to-man looks. “Certain issues could arise.”

Okay, enough of the coded doublespeak. “Just say whatever you’re trying to dance around, hoping Elias will decipher it. Why are you here?”

“Mrs. Dougherty has been through a lot of unexpected turmoil over the last few weeks.” Elias took a step closer to the couch. “It might be better if you outlined your concerns, Nick.”

Nick?

The detective nodded. “There’s a question about Richmond’s manner of death. It would be helpful if Mrs. Dougherty came with me to answer some questions.”

A perp walk. Not happening.

“I’m not—” I stopped because Elias held up his hand. At some point he’d need a lecture about that gesture being annoying and to never do it again, but the middle of this conversation didn’t seem like the right time.

“I see.” Elias nodded.

“Right.” The detective took a slight step back, as if clearing the way for me to walk out of the house with him. “If you would just—”

“No,” Elias said again.

The detective frowned. “Excuse me?”

“She’s in mourning, Nick.”

The detective shot a quick glance in my direction. “Clearly.”

“I’m concerned you’re digging for something without having any basis to do so. Investigating is your job, of course, but she isn’t going to undergo hours of useless questioning in the hope that you can discover a crumb of information that’s not there.” Elias pocketed the pen he’d been holding. “You can run requests through me. If it becomes necessary to speak with her, then, of course, we will comply. But until that time, no.”

I heard the unspokenfuck youin Elias’s response. He treated police questioning like an invitation to a Fourth of July family barbecue with that one wacky uncle who could talk for hours about the government putting listening devices in food.

Who knew declining was an option?

The detective sighed. “There’s no need to make this combative.”

Elias nodded. “I agree.”

Testosterone battles weren’t my thing. Nothing about a fight filled with metaphorical chest pumping and dick measuring impressed me, but Elias holding his ground without trouble turned out to be the unexpected highlight of my day.

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