Page 38 of One Last Night

“Do you have reason to suspect that it is?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. “I mean, Robert Cartwright has a reason to sabotage the Bellamys, but I don’t know how someone would introduceListeriainto wine barrels.”

“There are ways to do it that are very low-tech,” Jaleel says, half to himself. “Manure, contaminated samples from other harvests, untreated soil… but it would be next to impossible to prove unless there were fingerprints on the barrel, and we haven’t found fingerprints anywhere else.” He looks back at me. “Let’s go back to the statement you made about Robert Cartwright. What reason does he have to sabotage the Bellamys.”

I blink. “Well… they’re rivals.”

“And that’s theonlyreason?”

My lower lip trembles. I am ordinarily not so bad at keeping things to myself, but I’ve lost much of my self-control since finding my sister’s letters. It appears that I’ll have to betray yet another confidence. This one is all the worse since I’m not supposed to know what I’m about to say.

I take a deep breath and lower my eyes. “Victoria had an affair with Robert over forty years ago. It… It’s possible that they still harbor some resentment over that affair.”

“How did you hear about this affair?”

“Her diary. I found it in the safe right there.”

I point to the safe. Detective Jaleel looks at his partner, who says softly, “We can get the code from the homeowner.”

Detective Jaleel nods. “We’ll bring her in next.” He turns to me. “Miss Wilcox, you’re free to go for the moment. I appreciate your honesty. In the future, please be honest from the beginning. We’re not here to make any more trouble for this family than we need to, but information like this is critical, especially in the early stages of an investigation.”

I nod, unable to meet his eyes. I was only trying to help everyone, and instead, I’ve made everything worse.

I return to Sean, and when I see that we’re alone in the room, I bury my head in his shoulder and weep.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“When were you going to tell me?” Julian shouts. “Damn it, Mom!”

“I thought you knew!”

“That you fucked him? Yeah, I knew that. Hell,everyoneknew that. You two eyefuck each other every time you’re in the same place. What I didn’t know was that he might be…”

He stops himself and lowers his voice enough that Sean and I can’t hear him from the living room. Actually, he’s probably more concerned with his children upstairs than with the two of us.

It doesn’t matter. I know what he’s going to say.He might be my father.

“WhatshouldI have done? They didn’t have DNA tests back in the eighties. Should I have told your father—”

“Which one? The one you married, or the one you opened your legs for when the one you married wasn’t looking?”

“That’s notfair, Julian!”

She’s weeping now. Her sobs echo through her words.

“The hell it isn’t!” he shouts. “I could be a bastard, and you never had the courtesy to tell me!”

"You don't know what it was like!" she shrieks. "I was twenty-three years old, and my life wasover! I wasn’t Victoria anymore, I was Parker’s wife. I was the ‘lucky girl’ who snatched up the heir to the Bellamy wine empire. It didn’t matter that I had an MBA when most people were finishing their bachelor's degree or that it was my idea to partner with Picard wines in Bologne and open up the European market. I was the damned trophy wife!”

“So you became the trophy whore?”

“That’s notfair!”

“No, you know what’s not fair? Telling Dad you loved him then writing in your diary about how much better Robert was in bed?”

There’s a moment of shocked silence. Sean and I share a look. He appears just as miserable hearing this as I feel.

“Yeah. That’s right. I read the diary. The police wanted to know if I was aware of what it said. I wasn’t, but I sure am now. And hey, good for you. Every girl deserves the best sex she can get right? Even if it means fathering a bastard child and making your cuckold husband raise it. I hope it was good enough, Mom. I really do.”

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