“That’s part of it,” said Cindy.
Mattheus came up close to both of them then. “You’ll get the whole picture, little by little,” he said. “There’s a lot of questions you still have to answer.”
Margot looked at him pleadingly. “I don’t want to,” she said.
“Maybe not this minute,” Mattheus said, and turned to Brayton. “There’s only so much a person can take. Give her some time.”
“I can give her until tomorrow,” said Brayton, “but we can’t sit on this for long. We’ll come back tomorrow, but first there’s one thing we got to know.”
“What is it?” asked Margot.
“What were you doing two weeks ago, the first Sunday of the month?”
Margot shivered. “The first Sunday of the month is when the book club meets at my home. Everyone was here with me all day...”
Brayton nodded. “Give Mattheus the name of some of the people who attended,” he said, “and we’ll call it a day. Tomorrow’s time enough to go forward.”
“Is there’s something else?” said Margot then, once again, trembling. “If there is, tell me now.”
“We may as well tell her,” Cindy said. “Better to hear it now when we’re all around. She’ll find out anyway, once this thing breaks open.”
“What is it?” Margot asked, her face contorting.
“Your husband had another wife and family,” Cindy slowly said. “He was known as Paul Kowan. They lived on the mainland.”
Margot just stared. “Another wife?” she mouthed silently.
“Double life,” said Mattheus softly.
Cindy turned once again then, and saw Graham clutching onto the edge of the open door. He’d been listening to every word. It was his father who had been killed as well.
“Come in,” Cindy called to Graham.
“Who’s that?” asked Brayton, suddenly seeing him.
“It’s the son,” said Cindy.
Graham walked in, went over to his mother, and stood behind her very close.
“We’ll get through this,” he said, “in a hoarse ragged tone.”
“And maybe we won’t,” said Margot.
CHAPTER 16
Mattheus drove home with Cindy in her car, the police car trailing behind them.
“You did it again,” he said grinning, “blew the case wide open.”
Cindy was still in shock herself, and worried about Margot. “I don’t like leaving Margot alone that way.”
“She’s got her son, and her friends are coming over.”
Cindy said nothing. That might not be enough. Who knows how this news could affect her? In many ways she seemed so fragile. And then her striking bitterness came through. How could she not have been bitter, with her husband married to someone else all these years? And how could she not have known?
“I’m trying to figure out how a woman could not know that her husband had another wife and family, for years and years?” Cindy said to Mattheus. “It defies the imagination.”
“Most people fall into routines and think everything’s great,” said Mattheus.” Then it hits.”
“But she had to feel it in some part of her being,” Cindy insisted. “You didn’t see how bitter she could get. And it’s not only another wife, there are children in both families.”
“I thought the woman was completely in shock,” said Mattheus. “The police will go over her pretty good the next few days. They’ll want everything she can tell them about Paul. Now we don’t only have a defense attorney, we got a full blown con man on our hands -- and a whole other world he lived in. He fooled two women for years at the same time. Who else was he fooling?”
Cindy took a deep, painful breath. “He also had a fling with Heather,” she said.
Mattheus grinned. “That’s right. Jesus, this was one busy guy.”
“Heather told me he meant a lot to her and that she ended their relationship suddenly.”
Mattheus’ ears perked up.
“Heather had to know about Kendra when she took up with Paul,” Cindy went on, “so that wasn’t the reason her relationship ended. When I asked her why, she told me to come here, and I’d find out everything I needed to know. Heather probably found out about Margot herself! It had to be too much for her. She had to realize the guy was a con. I’m going to spend more time talking to her.”
“Talk to anyone you want,” said Mattheus, “but Heather’s just a side liner. Kendra’s the one who will suffer from this. This only adds new fuel to the fire. People are going to think that Kendra knew. She’s smart, she’s aware, runs her life like a pro. it would be harder to figure that Paul could fool her. There’s more motive now. Maybe she found out and blackmailed him with that insurance policy? Or, she might have made him pay by buying her expensive jewelry? The other wife’s just a pathetic character, sitting in a fancy home, in shock. He pulled the wool over her eyes completely.”
“It’s awful, awful,” Cindy breathed. She felt as though she had just witnessed a life being wrecked under her eyes.