As the crew reloaded the production equipment into the truck, Ryan pulled Laurie aside. “Do you mind if we sit in the car for a minute?” he asked, glancing toward George’s house to indicate that he wanted to talk discreetly.
“I actually believe the guy,” Ryan said as he settled into the passenger’s seat.
Laurie thought for a moment. “There’s no way he could have known Kendra was accusing Martin of cheating. It was never in the papers. He was going on what he saw in the back of a cab.”
“Could it have been Kendra who he was kissing?” Ryan asked.
“I doubt it,” Laurie said. “By all accounts, they were both miserable with each other. Maybe Kendra’s hunch about an affair was right after all, but she just suspected the wrong woman.”
“So now we’re looking for some other woman, potentially with a jealous husband? How are we going to follow up on this?”
Ryan was right. It would be a fishing expedition. In addition to having a mystery man from the Beehive bar, they now had a mystery woman from a taxi on their hands.
Laurie analyzed the consequences of the new information. On the one hand, if Martin had been involved with another woman, it added to Kendra’s motive to kill her husband. Not only had he been planning to leave her, but he already had a replacement waiting in the wings. On the other hand, an affair also created the possibility of alternative suspects—the unidentified mistress, and potentially a jealous husband as well.
Laurie had to remind herself that they wouldn’t always be able to solve a case. They moved the needle even if they unearthed new information, which they had now done.
At least she had yet another piece of the puzzle to lock in. “I was thinking about George’s description of his mother before she passed,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I know why Kendra was so out of it the night of the murder.”
After she spelled out her theory, Ryan said he would supplement the cross-examination he had prepared for when Kendra finally went before the cameras.
Laurie shook her head. “I don’t feel right about ambushing her on television with something like that.”
“Isn’t that kind of what we do?” Ryan said, wrinkling his nose. “No kid gloves, plus she’s still our number one suspect.”
“This is a private health issue,” she said. “It’s different. I’ll talk to her one-on-one.”
She expected him to argue, but he held up his hands, acquiescing.
There was the rap of knuckles against the glass of the car window, and she looked up to see her father. She cracked open the door. “Dad, thanks so much for being here. If you keep helping out at my job, I’m going to have to add a line item to the budget to put you on payroll.”
“And have you as my boss? Or Brett Young?” He feigned a shudder. “Consider me free labor.”
She looked at her watch. It was four o’clock. “Can I hit you up for more work?” She explained that Timmy had trumpet practice until five, and that she might be running late tonight.
“Consider it done,” he said.
If she was lucky, she could catch Kendra at home.