prefer to end that marriage as cleanly as possible.”
“Do you love your husband?” Peabody asked her.
“I want a chance to find out, that’s all. I’d like the chance to find out the answer.”
“Where were you when Ziegler was killed? Your sister gave us her whereabouts.”
“I was here, preparing for the party that night. You can question the domestics, the decorating team—they, and I, were here all day. I had catering staff arrive at seven-fifteen, and was here to speak with them. I was here all day, supervising the preparations.”
“And your husband?”
“I’m honestly not sure, and it’s ridiculous. I was working with the staff, the caterers, so I’m not sure when he arrived. But I know he was here by seven-thirty, as he was dressing when I ran up to change for the first arrivals.”
“Where’s your husband now?” Eve asked her.
“I—at his office, I suppose. Please.” She sat again, leaned toward Eve. “Lieutenant, Detective, please don’t take away my chance to save my marriage. If you tell JJ I had an affair with Trey, it’s over. He won’t forgive me for it. I only want the chance to fix things, to try to hold on to my marriage. I made a mistake—a stupid, selfish mistake—but right now what I did hurts no one but myself. If you tell JJ, it hurts him, and destroys the future we want to make together. Please.”
“I can’t make you any promises, but we won’t share that information unless we find it necessary to the investigation. While your marriage is your priority, Ms. Quigley, finding the person responsible for taking Trey Ziegler’s life is ours.”
Eve got to her feet. “Did Ziegler ever push you for more money, ever indicate he might use your relationship with him against you?”
“No. It was, as I said, mutually beneficial. We enjoyed each other for a brief time. No more, no less.”
“Okay. Thanks for your time.”
“What would you do?” Quigley rose, clasped her hands together. “In my place, what would you do?”
“I can’t tell you. I’m not in your place.”
Peabody bundled up her coat again as they stepped outside. “What would you do? Would you confess the cheating, or bury it like she’s trying to do?”
“I wouldn’t have cheated in the first place.”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“There’s no ‘but.’” Eve pulled open the car door, slid in. “You go into marriage, you plow a road. You’re going to hit rough patches, and some may be rougher and last longer than others, but you’ve got choices to make. You work to smooth them out, you hold until they do, or they don’t. You stick with the road, or you get off. But you don’t do something to make it worse, don’t do something that maybe makes you feel better for the short term while it sucker punches the person you’re married to.
“Plug in Copley’s office. We’ll talk to him next.”
Peabody keyed the address into the in-dash. “Some people cheat because they can’t see a way out.”
“Bullshit. There’s always a way out. You just have to pay the price, whether it’s money, status, the emotional hit, or all of that and more. Cheating’s cheap and it’s lazy.” Pausing at a light, she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “It’s not just about sex,” she said. “Marriage is a series of promises.” When she’d realized that—marriage equaled promises—she hadn’t feared it. As much.
“Maybe you can’t keep them all. The whole till-death-do-us-part business. Maybe you can’t keep that one. Life can be long, and people change, circumstances change, so okay. You realize you don’t really want this life or this person, or the person you made the promises to isn’t who you thought, or they’ve changed in a way you can’t accept or support. Whatever. You make a choice. Stick and try to work it through, or don’t. But don’t give me the boo-hoo, I’m not happy so I’m getting naked with somebody else on the side. It insults everybody.
“Walk or work,” she concluded. “But don’t make excuses.”
“I can feel that way personally—and philosophically. But . . . people are flawed.”
“People aren’t flawed, Peabody. People are deeply fucked up.”
“So, considering that, didn’t you feel a little sorry for her? For Quigley?”
“I might if she grew a pair and went to her husband, told him she’d fucked up, been stupid and selfish and so on. She cheated, now she’s lying. How’s that going to fix anything if she’s serious about fixing things? Added to it, I don’t feel sorry for either of them at this point because