Alaskan Courage: Silenced Part 14

"Look. I know you're not here to talk about me and my kid. Let's just get this over with, so we can all get on with our day. All right?"

"Of course," Jake said, moving straight to it. "We've heard you and Conrad were an item."

Patty chuckled. "That's one way to look at it."

"How d'you look at it?" he asked, resting his boot on an overturned bucket.

"Conrad and I came from different worlds. When he first came in the gym a couple years back, he was this uptight type-A business dude. Even his climbing was tense. I told him he needed to learn to relax."

"And did he?"

"We'd talk while we climbed, talking turned to flirting, and after a while . . ."

"You two ended up in bed."

"Yeah."

"Did you know he was married?" Kayden asked.

"Yeah. Conrad was totally up front with me." She grabbed a watering pot and carried it to the sink.

"Meaning?" Kayden pressed.

"He didn't sugarcoat things, didn't lie just to have his way. After years of marriage to a liar, it was refreshing to hear the truth for a change."

How could she equate marital infidelity with truth?

Patty filled the watering can, shut off the faucet, and moved to the first row of seedlings.

"How long had you and Conrad been having an affair?" Jake asked.

"A couple years."

"And it didn't bother you that he remained married?" Kayden asked. "That he didn't leave his wife?"

"Leave Vivienne?" She laughed. "He wasn't going to leave Vivienne."

"Why's that?"

"Because she'd take him to the cleaners, because he liked the image of the perfect society family, because I think on some level he still loved her. He held on to feelings for a long time."

"To your knowledge, was Vivienne faithful to Conrad?"

"I don't know. When she confronted me at the festival-which I know you've heard about-she swore she'd never cheat. Said she still loved Conrad too much, but I had my suspicions."

"Based on what?"

"Seems to me if you know your man is cheating and you plan on staying in the marriage, you're going to find a way to have a little fun on the side. Payback, if you know what I mean. It's what I'd do-if I chose to stay in the marriage, that is."

Yep, Patty was a winner. "But you wouldn't stay in the marriage?" Kayden said. She could see it. Patty wasn't the sort to stick something out if she wasn't happy.

"Uh-uh. No thank you."

"If Vivienne strayed, any idea who she might stray with?" Spruce Harbor, like Yancey, was a small town. Word of affairs, of any gossip, spread like wildfire.

"Nuh-uh. I never heard of her being with anyone, and they had an all-female household staff. Conrad didn't want Vivienne getting even with the lawn boy."

"So he was worried she'd cheat?"

"No, not really. He just took preventive measures to ensure she didn't."

What kind of sick dynamic was this? "I'm sorry, but if he was cheating, why did he care if she strayed? If he was worried about her taking everything in a divorce, wouldn't her cheating make that unlikely?"

"You've got to understand Conrad. He was all about control. Control of his environment. Control of his image."

"Control and free-climbing appear at odds with one another," Jake said.

"Nuh-uh." She looked at Kayden. "Ask her, she'll tell you. Free-climbing is about the ultimate control. Mastery over something you were never meant to do. Mastery over the odds. You master that and there's nothing you can't conquer."

Jake looked at Kayden, studying her response.

She shifted the focus back to Patty. "So tell us about your confrontation with Vivienne at the festival."

"Yeah . . ." Patty shrugged a shoulder. "First time Vivienne had seen us together-that's all."

"Vivienne says Conrad broke it off with you after that."

"Yeah, right."

"So you're saying Conrad didn't end things?"

"No, Conrad wasn't going anywhere."

"You have any idea who may have wanted to harm Conrad?"

"I'd put Vivienne at the top of that list. He humiliated her by showing up at the Spring Festival with me-making us public. She was furious. Said she'd kill him. If that's not motive, I don't know what is."

13.

"Let me guess," Kayden said, climbing in their rental car. "Back to Vivienne's?"

"Looks like it." It was the next logical step, but Jake needed a bit of time to pull the puzzle pieces together before questioning Conrad's widow again. "Why don't we grab a bite to eat first. I'm starving." It had been a long morning.

They settled in a front booth at Spruce Harbor Deli, a tiny establishment on Spruce Avenue-the main street running through the downtown district. A decent crowd bustled in and out, and Kayden swore they had the best breakfast burritos, served fresh all day.

The waitress started them off with water, and they both ordered a cup of coffee-black. It was Kayden's one indulgence, if you considered one cup of black coffee a day an indulgence.

"Everything's organic," she said, handing Jake a menu.

No wonder she liked this place so much. Kayden was a health nut, running ten miles a day, eating nearly all organic foods and daily green smoothies. It was almost as if she believed if she worked out enough and ate just right she could prevent . . .

He was an idiot. How had he missed such an obvious clue for so long? Kayden was so stringent about her health and everyone else's because she was terrified of getting sick like her mom.

His heart ached for her. He knew she and her mom had been close, and had a.s.sumed her guardedness was tied to her mom's death, but this opened up a side of Kayden he hadn't seen before. Now he understood why she worked so hard to stay healthy. She feared getting rheumatoid arthritis like her mom.

"What'll it be?" the waitress asked.

"Santa Fe burrito for me," Kayden said.

"I'll take the same," he said without even bothering to open his menu, his thoughts on Kayden and the fear she must be struggling with.

Her brows pinched together. "Something wrong?"

"No." He cleared his throat. "Not at all." It certainly wasn't something she would want to talk about-maybe never, but for sure not in the middle of a crowded restaurant. He lifted his coffee mug and took a sip.

"So who do you think is lying?"

He gurgled on his coffee, burning his hand in the process. "What?"

"Who do you think is lying about Conrad having broken off the affair, Patty or Vivienne?"

Oh. "May not be either."

She nodded. "So, Conrad?"

"Could be he told Vivienne he was breaking it off to placate her."

"But never said a word to Patty."

Jake took a slower sip of coffee this time and nodded.

"What a sad existence."

"Whose?" he asked over the rim of his cup.

"All of them! Patty and Vivienne were in a relationship with a man who didn't care enough about his wife to be faithful or enough about his mistress to leave his wife, and they're both just okay with that. I mean, who does that?"

"You'd be surprised." Jake shifted as the waitress set down their plates.

"Can I get you anything else?"

When Kayden shook her head, Jake said, "We're good. Thanks." And as the waitress walked away, he asked, "Would you like me to pray?"

"That would be nice. Thanks."

Jake lowered his head. "Father, we thank you for this meal, for your provision and guidance on this case, and for this time together. Amen."

"Amen." Kayden busied herself with laying her napkin across her lap. "So what did you mean when you said I'd be surprised?"

Jake swallowed his bite of burrito-scrambled eggs, diced potatoes, chorizo sausage, pepper jack cheese, and green chiles. It was outstanding. He swiped his mouth with a napkin. "I've just seen it before on cases."

"Any of them stick in your mind?"

"A woman named Angela Mark.u.m, for one."

"That name . . ." Recognition dawned. "The college president's wife?"

Obviously she knew whom he was talking about. When Darcy filled the McKennas in on his past, she'd no doubt told them about the case that had flipped his world upside down. "Yeah."

"Her husband cheated on her with the co-ed he murdered?"

"Yes, Joel Mark.u.m. And he had affairs with a handful of others that we know of. But no other murders, as far as we know."

"Did his wife know? I mean . . . all along?"

"She knew. Even stepped in and helped dispose of Candace Banner's body after Joel killed her."

"How could his wife do that? Why would she put up with it? And why would she cover for him?"

"She liked her life, liked the style to which she'd become accustomed, liked the image and prestige."

"She was married to a monster."

"A monster she nearly helped get away with murder."

"Do you think someone is helping our killer in this case? I mean, do you think there's an accomplice?"

"Could be. Just depends on the killer."

"What do you mean?" She added Tabasco to her burrito.

"Well, let's say, hypothetically, if Vivienne wanted Conrad dead for cheating on her, she would have had to enlist Stuart or someone else with climbing expertise to help her."

"But if Stuart wanted Vivienne for himself, he could have easily acted alone. He doesn't appear to possess the needed level of sophistication, but that could be an act."

"Patty Tate also could have easily done it on her own."

"Which brings up the question of motive." Jake took the bottle of hot sauce from Kayden and added a few shakes to his burrito before folding it back up.

"Maybe Conrad really did break things off with Patty, like Vivienne claimed, and Patty didn't take it so well."

"Could be. We need to keep digging until we uncover the truth."