Chapter Eight

Maribeth went with Isobel to a small sitting room a few doors down from the parlor. She dreaded what was to come. Her intentions for coming to the party and the subsequent argument... It would all come out. And poor Gregory... She just hoped she could hold it all together and remember what to say. Sniffling into her tissue, Mari attempted to pay attention to the detective.

Once they were seated on either side of a small table, Isobel began, "What was your relationship to the deceased?"

"I... Uhm..." She cleared her throat then whispered hoarsely, "He asked me to marry him."

"So you were his fiancé?" Isobel made a note on her pad.

"Not exactly. You see... I never gave him my answer."

"Why not?" Straight to the point, Isobel hoped to make some headway.

Maribeth sniffled again and shrugged. "I saw him with another woman. I had planned to give him my answer tonight, but..." Maribeth took a deep breath and went on in a rush, "After I found out he was seeing someone else, I came to break it off with him."

The detective waited a moment as the young woman cried into her tissue. Then she asked, "So you were angry with him? Did you threaten him?"

"Oh, I was so mad I could chew nails. And I'm not sure exactly what I said. But I would never have hurt him. I love—loved him too much."

"What happened after Ms. Venture interrupted your argument?"

"I couldn't believe... When she came to the study door, I couldn't believe that the woman he had been with... She was here, right here in this house." Maribeth stabbed her finger on the table, emphasizing her words. "I ran out and went to the powder room."

"Where were you when the power went out?" Isobel felt she might be getting somewhere.

"Still in the powder room. I was so upset I became sick to my stomach. I can't believe this is happening..." The blond dropped her head onto her arms resting on the small table and sobbed.

Isobel patted the distraught almost fiancé on the shoulder and asked very softly, "Maribeth, did you kill Gregory?"

Maribeth made an effort to pull herself together. She sat up then dabbed at her eyes. She placed one hand on her stomach and met the detective's gaze without flinching. "I would never harm the father of my baby. Never."