‘Well, like I say, we were lucky. The surveillance camera at the pumps gave us their license plate. From that, it was easy to track them down.’
‘I see.’
‘I don’t mean that there’s anything lucky about this,’ Camillo demurred.
‘I understand,’ said Shelby.
Camillo frowned. ‘There’s just one more thing. From what we saw on the video, your son-in-law really got up in their faces. Is he normally kind of a hot-tempered guy?’
Shelby shook her head sadly. ‘No. Usually he’s pretty mild-mannered.’
‘Any particular reason why he would have been edgy last night?’
Shelby was silent. She felt extremely grateful to the police for finding the people who had forced Rob off the road, but she didn’t really relish the idea of divulging the reason Rob had been in a belligerent mood. What if it ended up on the news? Molly would be humiliated at school and everywhere else. She was a teenager, awkward and self-conscious like most teenagers, and she didn’t deserve that. She was the innocent victim in this whole thing. Shelby suddenly understood exactly why Lianna had not offered this information up to the police.
‘Did something happen last night?’ asked Detective Camillo.
Shelby shook her head. ‘No. Not really. There was a family argument. You know. Between exes. Normal stuff.’
‘I’m not asking to be nosy ma’am. Your son-in-law’s state of mind is going to make a difference if this thing gets to trial.’
Shelby frowned. ‘Why?’
‘Well, the defense might try to say that he provoked these guys. Challenged them maybe.’
‘You don’t believe that, do you?’ she asked.
‘What I believe is not important. It’ll be what the jury believes.’
‘That is horrible. A man is minding his own business and he’s dragged into this situation. He’s pursued and run off the road by criminals. And now you’re saying they might blame it on Rob?’
‘I’m saying that it’s important to know what kind of a person he is. Is he prone to violent outbursts?’
‘No. I mean, not normally. Last night, he’d had a bit of a shock. He was probably not completely himself,’ said Shelby carefully.
‘No criminal convictions. No . . . domestic violence. Nothing like that.’
Instantly, Shelby thought about Chloe and the cruise. Wasn’t this what she had secretly wondered and feared? How could you ever really know a person from the outside? To the world Rob was a churchgoer, a social worker, a kindly father, a good husband. But people like that had been known to snap. Isn’t this exactly what she had suspected? That there was a hidden side of Rob that was capable of violence? Of murder?
The thought of it filled her with despair. She realized that she had just about gotten to the point of acceptance. For a while she had suspected Rob, and then, everything she learned had made her see him as nothing more than a grieving husband. He had been honest about Chloe’s alcoholism, and passed a lie detector test. Even Perry Wilcox, an experienced detective, had judged that Rob was being truthful, and that Chloe’s death was probably an accident.
Now, with his question, Detective Camillo had set her brain ricocheting in her skull again, like that of a shaken baby. Was there no respite from this doubt, she wondered? She didn’t know how she could go on living with it. She had to resolve this in her mind. She had to learn how to accept it and move on. For her sanity.
‘Mrs Sloan?’ Detective Camillo asked worriedly.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘Anything you want to tell us?’ he asked.
Shelby stared straight at him. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Nothing.’
TWENTY-ONE
Shelby sat calmly in the waiting area outside of Elliott Markson’s office. She had stopped by her apartment, and she was properly dressed for her own termination. A well-known designer had once told her that navy blue was the color of power, and she had taken that suggestion to heart. She had on one of her very favorite suits, a Ralph Lauren, with the faintest pinstripe, and some heels that were rather higher than she might normally wear. They would at least put her at Elliott Markson’s eye level. She tapped one foot idly, and pretended not to notice the delay. Finally, the intercom on his secretary’s desk buzzed.
The secretary turned to Shelby. ‘You can go in now,’ she said.
Shelby went to the office door, took a deep breath, turned the knob and strode in. She knew he would be seated, watching her, and she met his gaze without flinching as she crossed the large, paneled office and put a hand on the