Victor felt as if he were wrestling with himself even though he hadn’t moved an inch.
He didn’t want to endanger Layla further. Even if her kidnapper had taken the insulin to give to her, she was still in peril. And if her kidnapper was Phillip, and Phillip was in jail, she was in worse jeopardy. He wondered for a moment if Rizzo and Lucas had thought of that.
“Maybe you should release Phillip.” He tilted toward Abby, though he was talking to Lucas. “If he really did kidnap Layla, he can’t be giving her the insulin she needs.”
“Maybe you should let me be the cop and you be the helpful witness.” Lucas spoke with apparent frustration.
Victor glowered at Lucas. He didn’t want to besmirch Layla. Yet he wanted to help. On the one hand, Lucas and Rizzo seemed to be decent detectives. On the other hand, he couldn’t help but feel they had misdirected their energies in the crucial early hours of their investigation when they were pursuing him as a suspect.
Trouble crawled into Victor’s lap and started purring. When Victor’s hand drifted down to pet the cat, Trouble rose up and tapped Victor’s shirt pocket, and meowed plaintively.
“He’s trying to tell you something.” Abby sounded sincere, though Lucas made a low rumble in the back of his throat like a man who wanted to laugh but knew better.
Victor wasn’t sure if Trouble was really trying to tell him something, unless it was “feed me.” Besides, his pocket was empty.
Trouble leapt from Victor’s lap into Abby’s and began to lick her earlobe.
Despite his despair and weariness, Victor grinned at Trouble. He had to appreciate the cat’s innate good taste in ears and women. And Victor couldn’t deny that he hoped to nibble Abby’s earlobe too, and soon.
Abby brushed Trouble away from her ear, and pulled him into her lap. With her hand ruffling the fur on Trouble’s head, she focused on Victor. “Maybe you should tell us what you’re holding back. We don’t know if Layla is hurt or if her kidnapper knows how to give her the insulin.”
The sadness in Abby’s voice cut right through to Victor’s heart. “All right,” he said.
Trouble curled around in Abby’s lap to look straight at Victor.
“Layla was…I mean this is what I think. I don’t know it for sure.” Victor hesitated. He didn’t want to accuse Layla. Though, really, he had to admit to himself, who really cared about adultery anymore in a general sense. It wasn’t like anyone would make Layla wear a scarlet A around her neck.
But still.
Victor couldn’t help but flash back to his own brief, strained marriage. His wife had cheated on him, flagrantly as it turned out, and that had destroyed their relationship. Then she’d pulled that stunt on Facebook by taking advantage of a brewing military scandal and making him look like a vengeful creep and ruining his career in the Navy. Maybe that made him ultra-sensitive and judgmental. Could be that having an affair with a married man was no big deal these days.
No, it was a big deal.
He didn’t like to think of Layla as a home wrecker. Did anyone even use that term anymore? But even if nobody cared about that, sleeping with your boss to get hired was a sure way to guarantee professional failure. She’d never live that down if it became widely known.
“Victor?” Abby put her hand on his thigh, and the soft weight of her fingers helped him make up his mind. Layla’s life was certainly worth more than her reputation.
“I’m pretty sure Layla was having an affair with Phillip.”
Beside him, Abby inhaled sharply. But Lucas leaned forward, so close to him their noses practically touched.
“I have a photograph of them…not, you know, doing anything. But the way they are hugging each other is very close. Very.” Victor studied his hands in his lap. There was more than that. “And the way she always spoke about him. Like she was in awe of him—in love with him. Her face would light up when she talked about him. Plus, she spent time in his house with him a lot, especially when his wife was at her Junior League meetings.”
“You’re wrong. And you’re jealous.” Abby jerked her hand away from Victor’s leg.
“Jealous?” Victor repeated. “Why would I be jealous?”
“Why would he be jealous?” Lucas echoed.
Abby cast her eyes back and forth between the two men, her expression puzzled and unhappy. “Because you were…you are Layla’s boyfriend.”
If Victor hadn’t been so upset, he might have laughed. “Me and Layla?” He shook his head. “Abby, we’re just friends. Honest. We’ve never been anything else but friends.”
“I can vouch for that,” Lucas said, tilting his head toward Abby. “I’ve asked everybody who knew either one of them.”
Abby flushed red, her discomfort obvious.
For a moment, nobody spoke. Victor didn’t know how to soften Abby’s embarrassment over her mistake.
“I’m sorry I misunderstood.” Abby spoke formally, almost as if she might be addressing a jury. “Nonetheless, you’re wrong about Phillip and her being lovers. Phillip was her godfather, as well as her mentor, and he was a father figure. Phillip felt a sense of responsibility for her and he understood her own father was…distant. You told me yourself her dad didn’t have much to do with her. See, you’re misreading the situation.”
Lucas cut his eyes over at Abby and seemed poised to ask her something—probably how Abby knew what she’d just said, but Victor spoke, cutting off whatever Lucas might have asked.
“I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.” Victor wanted Abby to be right. But a goddaughter wasn’t a daughter, and that godchild connection might not have stopped an affair between the two of them. And there was more to his theory that Phillip and Layla were lovers. Victor rubbed his hands on his pants and leaned forward to tell them the rest.
“Layla knew Phillip was trying to lure the governor and the attorney general into hiring the law firm for some kind of deal with offshore oil drilling. I really don’t know the specifics. She was very closemouthed about her work with Phillip and the law firm, but I overheard some things when she was on the phone.”
Abby nodded. “Yes, the firm—Phillip and Delphine at least—were actively courting the governor and the attorney general. I gave them a tour of the offices while Phillip gave them a sales pitch. He definitely emphasized our expertise in off-shore drilling.”
“Was Layla part of that tour and sales pitch?” Lucas asked, perched at the edge of his chair.
“At first.” Abby hesitated as if thinking over her next words carefully. “Delphine took Layla away from the governor and the attorney general.”
“Why?”
“Delphine doesn’t like Layla and I think—just me guessing really—that Delphine thought Layla was being disrespectful to the governor.” Abby spit out the words in a hurry, her distaste for what she was admitting evident.
“Okay,” Lucas said, dismissively. He turned back to Victor. “I have the feeling you were about to tell me more.”
Victor struggled to remember exactly what Layla had said the night Phillip had called her. He’d been working with Layla at her kitchen table, compiling class notes, when her cell phone rang. She’d glanced at the caller ID before asking him to give her some privacy. He’d wandered around in her den, but still heard part of what was said.
“I’m pretty sure Layla said something like she would keep the secret, or maybe that she’d hide their secret. But she also said—and this I heard pretty clearly—that she wouldn’t hide ‘them’ in her apartment.” Victor paused, and edited himself. It wouldn’t do to admit he’d gone to Phillip and Jennifer’s house on false pretenses to look for whatever Layla might have hidden there. He was already in enough trouble.
“Go on,” Lucas said, his tone of voice encouraging.
“Layla said something about off-shore oil drilling, but I didn’t hear that part too clearly.” Victor looked up. Lucas, Abby, and the cat were all staring at him. “Something in her tone made me think Phillip was up to something and she had to help him.”
“If you were just listening while she was on the phone, how did you know she was talking to Phillip?” Lucas asked.
“After she was finished, she put the cell phone down, and later, when she was out of the room, I checked. The number was in her contact list as the Drapers’ house.” Victor felt a jolt of shame after admitting he’d spied on his best friend.
“She could have been calling Jennifer,” Abby said.
Victor nodded. “Could be.” He cast a conciliatory glance at Abby. But before he could say anything, the doorbell rang.
“Well, it’s about time that evidence tech got here to fingerprint the refrigerator and the kitchen.” Lucas rose and headed toward the door.