Page 7 of What the Wife Knew

Still didn’t trust him as far as I could drop-kick him.

“Look, we both know you’re getting a lot of pressure from above to find a problem. To put my client on the defensive,” Elias said.“Someoneis whispering in your ear about Addison.”

That whispering someone being Kathryn. She should be careful because I could do some whispering about her.

Elias continued as if he knew I wanted to say the comment out loud. “Richmond fell down the stairs. A tragic situation but end of story.”

“The fall that led to his death was his third supposed accident in a span of two months. Those accidents all coming once he moved into the same house with your client.” The detective shot me a questioning look. “Have anything to say about that?”

Nope.

“She’s grieving. Richmond’s accidents, so soon after their marriage, were a concern for her, as well.” Elias shot me a look that saidstay quietbefore focusing on the detective again. “I can show you out.”

Elias gestured toward the hallway behind the detective, givingthe man no choice but to leave, but not before the detective offered a final parting shot. “The medical examiner changed the preliminary cause of death from ‘accident’ to ‘undetermined.’ Once she has the toxicology results we’ll know more and we willhave a conversation, Mrs. Dougherty.”

Lucky me. “I’ll look forward to that.”

Elias escorted the detective out and returned in record time to meet me back in the kitchen. “Maybe ratchet down the sarcasm when dealing with Detective Sessions or anyone from his office. Local law enforcement wade through a lot of social nonsense and don’t have a great deal of experience with murder cases, so let’s not actively antagonize them.”

“You’re asking a lot.” Then there was this part. “And you’re hired, at least until I figure out what game you’re playing. If it’s follow-the-biggest-paycheck, then fine. I can appreciate wanting to get paid. But if you’re messing with me to benefit Kathryn or—”

“I’d get disbarred.”

“Right. Because all attorneys are so honorable.”

He picked up his empty coffee cup and placed it in the sink. “The police, with Kathryn’s pushing, are going to be all over this.”

“She’s the angry former spouse. They should question her.” Seemed logical to me.

“My point is that I expect the police will get a search warrant for the house and for Richmond’s office.”

Not the best news but the way Elias kept standing there suggested something worse was coming. “What are you not saying?”

“I’m not saying anything because I can’t.” Elias took out his cell and glanced at the screen for the first time since he’d arrived. “If, hypothetically, you had a bat and I took it and hid it foryou, I’d get in serious trouble. Similarly, I can’t tell you to hide a bat that may or may not be in the house because that, too, would be problematic.”

So many hypotheticals. “I didn’t kill Richmond.”

“I didn’t ask.”

It sounded like someone hoped to set me up for Richmond’s death. That meant my new focus was figuring out who wiped out the scumbag and why they thought coming for me was a good idea. But I did have one nagging question. “You don’t care? I thought Richmond was your friend.”

“He wasn’t but I didn’t kill him.”

“I didn’t ask.” But now I wondered.

Elias just became a lot more interesting.

Chapter Five

Her

Seven Months Earlier

Richmond Dougherty was not a hard man to find. He hid in plain sight. His face had been splashed all over the news, on gossip sites, and in true crime forums on and off for the past twenty-seven years. His place in history firmly established eleven days before his eighteenth birthday, when he appeared before the cameras teary and dazed, covered in blood and shaking. A victim and a hero.

Since then, he’d crafted his image. Packaged, shined, and sold it. A survivor on a mission. A young man who’d refused to cower. A person who did the right thing. A savior surgeon who continued to put others first and gave hope to countless parents.

The truth was he craved attention, sucked it in like oxygen. He gathered up every scrap of praise, breathed life into it, and thrived off of it. Some saw his surgical skills as a calling. A gift from God. People could believe what they wanted, what they needed, but deifying Richmond was like putting a golden crown on the devil himself.

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