Max thought about Jake Lloyd’s alibi, about the fact that he’d run back to Nadine last night after she’d confronted him. She took a chance. “Is Jake the dog she laid down with?”
Nadine’s jaw worked, and her fingers on the door tensed. “He was one of her victims.”
“Because she divorced him?”
“Because she wouldn’t let him go after she did. She didn’t want him. She wanted her parade of men when, where, and how she wanted them. But she made damn sure Jake wasn’t good for anyone else either.” The words seemed to rush out of her as if a dam had broken. She’d probably said them before, over and over, most likely to Jake, but Nadine wasn’t done hating her sister. She wanted a new audience, needed someone else to listen.
Jeez, Nadine was stupid.
And she was definitely in love with Jake. Hence the alibi. And the lie. Max knew Nadine had lied. She lapped up the woman’s every word and pushed for more. “She treated him badly, didn’t she?”
“Worse than bad. She threw him out, then when he ... when I ...”
“I thought she was the one who moved out.”
“You obviously didn’t know her as well as you think you did. Tiffany left their apartment, but she threw him out of her life.”
“And she moved in with you. To watch you?”
For the first time, tears clouded Nadine’s eyes. They were tears for herself. “She probably told you about Jake and me, didn’t she? Probably told you we were having an affair behind her back. But that wasn’t true. Jake would never ... he loved her. He just came over to talk. Because she drove him crazy.”
“But he knew what she was like when he married her,” Max prodded, though she didn’t think Nadine really needed any encouragement.
“Oh, I can just hear her saying that. He thought he could change her. He asked her to give up the other men.”
“And that’s when she left him.” Max spoke quietly, wondering how long she could keep the woman going.
“She left when he got drunk because he couldn’t stand thinking about her with those other guys. He fell asleep on my couch. She accused him of sleeping with me. It wasn’t true. And then she actually came to cry on my shoulder about how he wanted to change her, expected her to give up her so-called ‘little flings,’ when he wasn’t willing to give up other women. She said that to me,” Nadine stabbed her chest, “the woman she’d accused of sleeping with him. She told me she didn’t have anywhere else to go. Then she allowed him to come over, let him beg her to come back, and made me watch the effect she had on him. And she enjoyed it. He did everything she wanted—let her have her men. He thought she’d realize he was the only one for her. She’d even sneak off with him. I know they did ... kinky things. She loved telling me about it. It was terrible.” A single tear slipped from her eye, ran down her cheek into a line etched permanently along the side of her mouth.
“So, you quit your job ... ” Max urged.
“And told her to get out of my apartment. I thought maybe that would stop her. If she couldn’t rub my nose in it anymore, maybe she’d just leave him alone. I kept hoping, praying ... ” She stopped. Max held her breath. The woman went on, “But she just kept carrying on with the different men. It drove Jake crazy.”
Crazy enough to kill? The question hung in the air between them. Nadine stopped then, with her mouth open, and really looked at Max for the first time in the last five minutes. “He wouldn’t have hurt her. Never. He’s not like that.”
Max believed her, mostly because she had bigger fish to fry anyway. Like Bud Traynor. “Did she see anyone in particular, more than most?”
“Some.”
“Maybe an older man, someone who might have a greater influence over her?”
“No one had an influence over Tiffany, and she barely tolerated older men. Mostly, she liked them young, virile.”
Damn. Max knew there was a connection. There had to be.
Nadine eyed her suspiciously now. “You should know all that if you’re her friend. Like you say you are. What did you say your name was?”
“Max.”
“She never mentioned you.” Nadine paused, her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed. “Max. You’re the one Jake told me about. What is it you want from us?”
Exactly what you just gave me, Nadine dear. The story behind Jake’s relationship with his wife. It was time to go for the jugular. Nadine wouldn’t give her anything else without a fight. “Didn’t it occur to you that he might have killed her because he couldn’t have her to himself?”
“He was with me the night she was killed.”
Max wagged her finger. “No, he wasn’t. He was with her.” She cocked her head. “And you just might be covering for a murderer.”
Nadine’s lips thinned. “Are you a cop or something? Undercover? Trying to trip me up?” She clutched the dish towel between her fists, snapping it like a weapon.
Max knew she’d lost the woman. For now. She pointed down at the boxes. “No, Nadine. I’m just here to bring you Tiffany’s stuff.”
Nadine stared at the contents without comment.