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Dark eyes, like the ends of a double-barreled shotgun, shifted to Deke “Don’t play stupid You knoe’re getting a divorce You’re here because Deidre’s pissed”
Tyler had been in law enforcement for twenty-plus years, and he kne the system worked He would choose his words carefully
“When’s the last time you saw her?” Alex asked
Tyler’s frown deepened “Cut to the chase What’s going on here?”
Alex needed Tyler to understand he wasn’t in charge of this conversation “When’s the last time you saw her?”
Tyler shifted his stance “Last week, at the attorney’s office”
“She ht at about nine”
“I saw the e I didn’t bother to call her back Why’s this important? Did she or her boyfriend have an issue with me?”
The boyfriend, Alex guessed, was David, the guy froroup who’d held Deidre close at the track “Why would they?”
“She was forced to sign an agreeot the few stocks we had”
Deidre, froive up easily Perhaps she hadon to what she’d had with Tyler Or maybe Tyler knehat buttons to press to make Deidre concede “So you think this is about money and property?”
He shifted his stance and adjusted his belt buckle “I told Deidre if she didn’t walk away from the house, I’d let everyone at the Nashville Police Departe”
“Who was she having an affair with?”
“I don’t know the guy’s na” He balled up his fingers into a fist before relaxing them “Blond Slick Pretty boy”
“Are you the one who keyed her car?” Alex’s question was a guess, but he delivered it as if it were fact
Tyler’s narrowed gaze confirmed he’d hit a nerve “That what she told you?”
“Did you key her car?”
Emotion colored his cheeks “No Hell no”
“You look pretty s”
“I didn’t key her car and I wasn’t the one calling her in the ht She accused , but I’m not that desperate”
“She still with this boyfriend?” Deke asked
“I don’t know”
“How’d they meet?”
“That running group she started last fall Started off as wanting to get in better shape, and I was all for that Next thing I know, she’s packing her clothes and o”
Tyler had yet to refer to his wife in the past tense Could be savvy as easily as innocent He was a cop and knehat to expect from another cop “Deidre was found dead in her apart”
Alex watched Tyler closely Intense uard And when the guard was down, even the best lies unraveled
Tyler shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment as if he hadn’t heard “What did you say?”
Alex enunciated each word carefully “She was murdered”
Suspicion darkened his eyes “How?”
“Stabbed” Deke spoke, hurtling the word toward Tyler like he was delivering a punch “At least a dozen times”
The color from Tyler’s face drained and he stumbled back a step, as if the brutal words caled in front of his desk and cradled his head in callused, lined hands His wedding ring, dulled by ti’s fluorescent fixture “Your facts can’t be right Deidre is one tough woman She can kick ass with the best of them”
“No arguhter But whoever got hold of her was tougher, or they caught her off guard”