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WHEN LANDRY FINALLY made it back to the office, he found Chloe Matthews sitting in the waiting area.
“Detective Landry?” she called out, obviously ready to follow him to his desk. Landry abruptly whirled around and focused a malicious stare at her. She snapped her mouth shut and looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. He felt like such a heel, but this wasn’t the first time a beautiful lady made him feel this way and it definitely won’t be the last.
“Ms. Matthews, I suggest you stop following me around,” Landry hissed at her through clenched teeth. “Surely you have someone else that you can pester. I will have your cute little derriere thrown out of here if I believe you are impeding my investigation.”
She stared back at him frostily. She had never backed down from a flight, and she won’t start now.
He continued ranting, “A statement will be issued to the press at five o’clock tonight. I will not give anyone my speculations on the case, is that clear? For the rest of the day, I prefer not to see your pretty little face around this station.”
Before she had a chance to respond, he stormed off to the task room. Landry had always been proud of the way he handled himself during tense situations, but, for some reason, this woman brought out the worst in him. Every time he saw her he pictured her lying naked in his bed, with him showering her with kisses.
Detective Landry was finalizing some reports for the day when he heard a knock at the door. Officer Payne poked his head in, “Sir, you have a visitor?”
The woman was as stubborn as a mule. What else did he have to do to get her to stay the hell away from him? “Send her back.”
“Yes, sir.” He was expecting it to be Chloe Matthews, but instead the victim’s wife walked in. “Mrs. Walters, I didn’t know you were coming into town.”
Landry pulled out a chair for her. It was hard to miss her red, swollen eyes. He had hoped that she would stay in Grant, Texas and wait for them to contact her. He always had difficulty finding the right things to say in cases like this. What could you possibly say to someone who had just lost a loved one?
She sniffed and wiped the Kleenex beneath her nose as a fresh wave of tears flowed down her cheek. She cleared her throat, “Are you the officer investigating my husband’s death?”
“Yes, ma’am. I assure you we are doing everything we can to find the murderer.”
She pressed on, “Do you know anything yet?” Her voice trembled as she talked, attempting to stop the tears from falling, “I’m sorry. I usually don’t get this upset over things, but I just can’t seem to help it.”
He patted her hand, “It’s alright Mrs. Walters. Take all the time you need.” Landry slid the box of tissue toward the grieving wife and mother. She pulled a fresh one from the box and discarded the used one in the trash can by the door. Landry waited for her to talk. He had a feeling she traveled all this way for a reason.
“He was a lying, cheating, bastard you know. I have suspected him of cheating on me for a while, but I was always too afraid to confront him. I believe he considered himself to be a ladies' man and found it hard to settle down with one woman.”
“Why did you stay with him, if you don’t mind me asking?”
She smiled through the tears, “The money, pure and simple. It may sound cold, but before we married, he had me sign a prenuptial agreement. I would walk away with barely anything, even after all the hell the man put me through. It was easier to stay and ignore his indiscretions. Besides, two can play at the same game. I doubt he ever knew that while he was away on business with his little playthings, I had my own fun.”
Landry wondered why all the tears if there was no real love lost between the two. Before he could ask another question she continued, “I guess you are wondering why the tears?”
“I had wondered that.”
“Even though I knew the man was a lying, cheating bastard, I honestly did love him. We may not have had a conventional marriage, but it was one that worked for us. I stand to gain a lot of money from my husband’s death detective, and Grant, Texas is a small city by Texas standards. The rumor mill has already started and I want to make sure that the killer is found so that the finger pointing can be stopped. It doesn’t matter to anybody in town that I was nowhere near Stewart, Louisiana at the time of his death. There are people around town that believe I hired someone to kill him. I need these rumors quelled immediately.”