“Okay. Why did she tell me?” Hmmm. Why? “I figured it was because she had all this stuff just dammed up inside, and it needed to come out.”
“Try again. Remember that everything has a purpose, a reason. Cops have to find those reasons.”
Max cocked her head. “She wanted to incriminate Jake?”
He beamed, chucked her under the chin. “Exactly. Provided his motive.”
Max pushed his hand away. “But if she wanted to incriminate him, why give him an alibi?”
“Might have been giving herself an alibi.”
She arched her eyebrows and beamed at him. “Whoa. I like the way you cops think. This is cool. And just to throw me off, she tossed in that bit about Ariel.”
“You’re getting it, sweetheart.”
Damn, she was just too happy with his praise. “But why me?”
“Yeah, why?” he prodded.
“Because she’s not stupid. She knew I was the one who’d asked Jake questions.”
“You’re getting it. Back to my original question; since Nadine brought her up, what about Ariel?”
In defense of Ariel, Max returned to what Cameron had said earlier. “According to Nadine, Tiffany stole Ariel’s husband three years ago. Why wait all this time? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Surprising what people do, how long they’ll plot and plan before they execute.”
He was too sure of himself, too know-it-all. She narrowed her eyes. “Those cops said something about her, didn’t they?”
He held up his big hands. “Nothing. Swear it. They didn’t think she had much of an ax to grind.”
“Why don’t I believe you? You’ve got some ulterior motive here.”
“Curiosity, Max. Simple curiosity.” Relaxed again, Witt put one hand on the top of the cab, the other on the door, boxing her in.
He was too close, too big, and too damn cute with that shit-eating grin of his. She picked on him just to keep an emotional distance. “Yeah, and because the great Detective Witt Long never overlooks a suspect?”
He gave her an indulgent smile. “Who don’t you suspect?”
That was an odd way of putting it. It made her think of Bud Traynor, the one she most suspected. But she wasn’t about to breathe his name to Witt. There was the question of psychic hunches still between them, and while Witt was willing to believe she was capable of it, he’d think she was delusional if she mentioned Traynor. He’d think the man was her obsession.
It was best to keep Witt out of the Traynor thing altogether, so she answered only the question he’d asked. “I don’t suspect the husband.” She shrugged. “Not much anyway. He was jealous. But he still wanted ...”
She stopped, suddenly uncomfortable. She simply didn’t want to get into the sex thing with Witt, especially not when he had her virtually trapped in the vee of the truck door. All she had to do was hoist herself up onto the seat, invite him closer ... damn, she was bringing on another Tiffany fantasy.
“Yeah, Max?”
She shrugged off the feeling. She only hoped Witt wouldn’t choose this moment for one of his frequent sexual innuendoes. “He wanted ... what they did that night as much as she did. He liked it when she included him in her games. So, I don’t think he needed to kill her right then. Maybe another time. But not that night.”
“Maybe he snapped. People do. Things go along day after day, and then, kaboom.”
Ah, no sexual aside from him. Thank God. She focused on what really bothered her about the night Tiffany died. “More went on here than people exploding. Someone watched her. She knew, and she was playing with fire. She liked it, but it burned her in the end.”
“Who was watching?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. It could have been Miles. It could have been the janitor, Jules.”
Though she absolutely hated the idea of Jules. Worse than Ariel. Jules was sweet. She wanted him untouched by the evil around him.
Still, Nadine had said Tiffany didn’t like older men, which left Jules the better choice over Miles.
“Jules?”
She fluttered her eyelashes, glad to finally have one up on him. “Our esteemed detectives didn’t mention Jules?”
“No Jules, no janitor. Sounds interesting, though.”
She regretted for a minute having said anything at all. “He’s a little funny in the head. I can’t picture him killing Tiffany, then being smart enough to dump her miles from home.”
“Don’t forget the two in Snake’s ... vision.” It bothered her a tad that he had to search for the word.
“I suppose someone could have helped him dispose of the body.” But she still didn’t like the idea of Jules being involved.
He drummed his fingers on the roof of the truck. “Maybe I’ll ask the guys about the janitor. Get them thinking.”
No, don’t. She managed to stop the words before they popped out. She was sorry to make trouble for Jules, but ... she also couldn’t be sure he wasn’t Tiffany’s watcher.