Page 15 of Little Merry Murder

“Claire saw me eyeing this tea set when we were on vacation in London a couple of years ago,” she said. “Before we flew home, she returned to the store and bought it for me.”

“It’s adorable.”

Leah nodded and poured two cups of tea, handing me one.

“Is there anything else I can do to help you with your investigation?” she asked. “Ask me anything.”

I’d been waiting to segue into harder questions, and she was making it all too easy.

“Did Claire know Owen was having an affair?” I asked.

Leah raised a brow, but the question didn’t seem to surprise her. “Yes, Claire knew Owen had been stepping out on her.”

“He told me he wasn’t sure if she knew. Why didn’t she confront him about it, you think?”

Leah took a deep breath in. “She kept telling me she was going to, but she always talked herself out of it.”

“Why?”

“Claire disliked any kind of confrontation. But that’s just part of it. She’d even convinced herself she was partially to blame for the affair. After her mother died, she became distant. Not just with him—with everyone. But her relationship with Owen suffered the most.”

No matter how distant she may have been, it didn’t give him the green light to sleep with another woman. It was something I’d never understood about cheaters. Why not just leave the person rather than putting them through such a nasty betrayal? And yet, in aspects of today’s society, it seemed far easier to blur lines than it had been in previous generations, to accept the unacceptable when it served an individual’s purpose.

“You don’t strike me as the kind of person who’d stand by and do nothing when you know your friend is being cheated on,” I said.

“I’m not. Believe me, I wanted to slap him upside the head.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Claire made me promise not to interfere, to let her deal with it in her way and time. I kept my promise. Well, that is to say I didn’tconfronthim, but I found ways to make life a bit harder on him andher—Nadia.”

“You knew about the personal trainer?”

“Sure did. When Claire told me she thought he was cheating, I threw on a wig and a hat, I rented a car for the day, and I followed him. He came walking out of the gym, and that tramp was prancing around him, running her fingers up and down his arms, giggling like a high school girl with a crush. It was ridiculous.”

It sounded ridiculous—like a woman desperate for attention. Maybe that’s what drew them to each other—not getting what they needed at home.

“When you say you found ways to make life hard on them, what do you mean?” I asked.

“Let’s just say they both started having car trouble, among other things, and leave it at that.”

I didn’t want to leave it there, but I had an even more pressing question. “Do you think Owen or Nadia ever suspected you?”

“Nah, I have the best poker face on the planet, and I’m a convincing liar when I need to be.”

I wasn’t sure how to take her admission.

Nothing in our conversation so far had led me to believe she’d been dishonest with me. Maybe she had, and I hadn’t picked up on it. Then again, there was no reason for her to lie—not one I could think of, anyway.

“Did you know Owen was planning on divorcing Claire?” I asked.

Leah jerked back, smacking a hand against her lips. “Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“No, I didn’t.”

I reached for my teacup and took a sip. “I wonder if Claire knew. Owen said he hadn’t told her yet. He’d met with an attorney once, and he was planning on meeting with him a second time before breaking the news to her.”

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