Page 28 of What We May Be

She nodded. “Assuming it’s the same perp, I doubt they’d be that sloppy with the washer. It was probably Julian trying to hide his misdeeds.”

Sean almost missed the next step. “You think he was cheating on Tracy? Already? They’ve been married, what, six months at most?” He knew from his snooping that Tracy’s divorce from Trevor had only been finalized in November.

“Five months. Married on Valentine’s Day.” She dug two sets of surgical gloves out of her coat pocket and handed a pair to him. “She’d been sleeping with Julian for two years.”

Sean focused on the next step to make sure he landed it. “Did Trevor know?”

“He knew.” They crested the top of the stairs, and Charlie halted several feet from the crime scene techs gathered outside the master bedroom. “Even offered to bring Julian into their marriage, despite the complications it would cause.”

Sean raised a brow as he snapped on the gloves. “What complications?”

“Julian was a classics professor at HU and dean of the Humanities Department.”

“Trevor’s boss.” Sean whistled low. “This Julian guy sounds like a piece of work.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Was Trevor in love with him too?”

Charlie shook her head. “No, but he would have tried to make it work. I doubt Julian would have objected either.”

“So Tracy decided she wanted to be married to Julian instead?”

“Only to Julian, for numerous reasons.” Charlie could pull off the spitting mad face too. “And the fact she wasn’t poly was at the bottom of the list.”

“Charlie, that you?” a woman called from the direction of the bedroom.

It had been years since Sean had heard that voice, but it hadn’t changed much. Maybe a little hoarser, probably from bossing everyone around, a husband and three kids added to her list of cats to herd.

“Yeah, Mags, it’s me,” Charlie returned.

A freckled face popped out from behind the doorframe, and Maggie Perez, née Reardon, smiled wide, her green eyes bright and her auburn curls bouncing despite the early hour and reportedly gruesome crime scene. Her pleasant demeanor, however, vanished as soon as her gaze landed on him. Eyes widening, she yanked off her gloves and barreled toward him, five and a half feet of blistering Southern fury.

Charlie moved to intercept, but Sean stepped in front of her and held out a hand, aiming for polite, same as Charlie had done with Tracy downstairs. “Hey, Maggie, good to see you again.”

Worked about as well on Maggie as it had on Tracy. “Hey?” Her open palm connected with the side of his face, right where Trevor had decked him on Saturday. “Hey yourself, asshole.”

Okay, worse than the run-in with Tracy. He flexed his jaw and held a hand over the aching spot. The whole side of his face was going to be a rainbow at the rate things were going. “I probably deserved that.”

“You bet your sorry ass you did.” She crowded into his personal space and stabbed his chest with a manicured nail. “You wrecked the lives of two people I care about.”

And just like that, he was back in the graveyard, regret and remorse rushing back in. He had to work twice as hard to keep his shoulders and spine straight, to stop from deflating on the spot for everyone to see.

As if sensing his deterioration, Charlie stepped around him and lightly clasped her friend’s elbow. “Maggie, let it go.”

“I will not.” Maggie shrugged her off and came at Sean again. “You left them on a night that was supposed to be a celebration. Just left. You deserve a whole lot worse than a slap and a few bruises.”

He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Believe me, I know.”

“And just because she’s tolerating your presence on this investigation doesn’t mean I have to. You’ve got a steep hill to climb, mister.” She shoved him hard, two hands to his chest. “One more fuckup, even a tiny one, and it’ll be my fist next time. You got me?”

Sean held up his hands. “I got you.”

“All right.” Charlie slipped all the way between them, facing Maggie. “Now that you’ve said your piece, can we please get back to the crime scene?”

“Sure,” she replied brightly as if a light switch had been flipped. “Fair warning, it ain’t pretty.” She snapped on another pair of gloves and headed toward the bedroom. Sean marveled at how easily she’d swapped the best friend hat for her medical examiner one.

“Show’s over, folks,” Charlie said to the crowd that had gathered to observe the ruckus. “Clear out.” She waited for the last tech to descend the stairs before turning back to Sean. “You okay?”

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