Her face scrunched up in displeasure. ‘How did you know that?’
A woman came down the stairs then, wearing a silk dress. Her jewelry was classy and understated, her face made up, but subtly so. ‘I’d like to know that too. Go on back to bed, sweetheart. I’ll be up soon to tuck you back in.’
‘Do I have to say my prayers again?’
The woman smiled at her daughter, but the smile was strained. ‘No, baby. I think God heard them just fine the first time.’ She waited, staring up to the second floor until a door closed. Then she walked toward them, her gait runway-model smooth.
He and Trip stood when she descended the two stairs into the living room. ‘I’m Detective Kimble. This is Agent Triplett.’
‘Yes, I heard. Please sit down.’
They did, Trip’s chair creaking ominously once again. Mrs Voss smiled wanly. ‘Don’t worry, Agent Triplett. It’s just a chair. If you break it, I’ll buy my sister another one and we’ll have a great story to tell someday.’
Trip didn’t look terribly pleased with that, but he nodded anyway.
Adam cleared his throat. ‘We’re here to talk to you about your husband, Mrs Voss.’
Her brows lifted. ‘What has he done?’
‘You don’t seem surprised,’ Adam said.
‘I’m not. Now, anyway. My husband has . . . predilections that were unknown to me up until three months ago. I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d come to me before then.’
‘What kind of predilections, Mrs Voss?’ Trip asked.
She looked away, a flush spreading across her face. ‘He cheated on me.’
That is not a predilection, Adam thought. Not the way she’d said the word, as if it tasted foul. ‘Is that why you left him and took Penny with you?’
Candace inclined her head in a single nod.
Adam leaned forward, lowering his voice, conscious of the child upstairs. ‘With all due respect, ma’am, cheating on its own isn’t something that would make a visit from law enforcement unsurprising. Was there something specific that he did?’ He caught the tightening of her jaw and his stomach gave a lurch. ‘Or perhaps who he did it with?’
God. Please don’t let it be the little girl. Please.
She gasped. ‘No. Not . . .’ She leaned closer. ‘Not Penny. Thank God she was a little older than my six-year-old.’
Adam steeled his spine. ‘How old, ma’am?’
‘Eighteen, or so the one I talked to claimed. I had my doubts. She looked twenty-five, but some of the others looked fifteen. They were college students, though, so . . .’ She trailed off with a shrug.
Adam drew a breath that was slightly easier. ‘All right. So you’re saying that your husband had an affair with a college student?’
Her lips twisted bitterly. ‘If by “affair”’ – she used air quotes – ‘you mean “orgy” and by “college student” you mean “prostitutes,” then yes.’
Okay. That might explain the blackmail, but the attempted murder of a restaurant full of people? No, that didn’t fit. And Adam still wondered how Penny fit into the equation. The child was in therapy. It might be simply because her parents had split up. He hoped so, but he didn’t think so. Were that the case, Broderick Voss wouldn’t be trying to intimidate Meredith away from treating his daughter.
Unless . . . unless the daughter knew something and he thought she’d told Meredith. ‘How is your daughter handling the separation?’
‘Not terribly well.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Why? Why are you asking questions about my daughter?’
Adam shrugged slightly. ‘She’s a sweet-looking kid. I was hoping she didn’t know what her father had done.’
Her eyes narrowed further to slits. ‘Bullshit,’ she said flatly, startling him. He hadn’t expected her vocabulary to include that word for some reason. ‘What’s this got to do with my daughter?’
Adam met Trip’s gaze, his own brows lifted, and the younger man nodded.
Adam hoped he was not ruining Meredith’s career. ‘Okay, we’re going to tell you how we got to this point, okay? Because we need you to understand how we came to be here, both here in our investigation and here in your living room.’
Candace leaned back in her chair. ‘All right,’ she said slowly.
‘Have you seen the news today?’
She shook her head. ‘No. I have made it a point not to watch the news. Why?’
‘There was a shooting in a restaurant on Fountain Square this afternoon. One man was killed, another wounded. An explosive device was disabled.’
‘What does this have to do with my husband?’ Candace demanded. ‘And my child?’
Adam held up his hand, hoping to calm her. ‘I promise I’ll tell you.’ Everything but the hacked bank records. ‘The target of the attack was shot at, but not hit. I believe you know her. Dr Meredith Fallon.’
Candace’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘What? But . . . You think Broderick was responsible? He’s a pervert, but he’s not violent.’
‘Um, not true, Candy.’ The sister came out of the kitchen, her arms folded tightly over her chest. ‘He’s hit you.’
Candace flinched. ‘But . . . he wouldn’t shoot . . .’
Dianne was angry. ‘Fallon told you to come here? She promised us confidentiality.’
Adam held up his hand again. ‘That’s just it. She did not tell us to come here. That’s why I was leading you up to this moment. She wouldn’t tell us who had threatened her.’
‘She outright refused,’ Trip added quietly, his voice a deep soothing rumble. The two women seemed to settle. Hell, Adam even felt calmer.
‘Then why are you here?’ Dianne demanded.
‘Wait,’ Candace interrupted when Trip attempted to answer. ‘Are you saying Broderick threatened Dr Fallon?’
Trip held up a finger, wordlessly asking for their patience. ‘She would not tell us the names of any of the parents who’d threatened her because it violated her clients’ privacy,’ he continued, ‘but she did tell us where she’d been.’
‘Dr Fallon gave us a detailed account of her activities over the last three weeks,’ Adam said. ‘We obtained footage from surveillance cameras and studied her movements.’ He pulled the photographs from his pocket and unfolded them, handing them to Candace.
Her sister stood behind her, viewing the photos over her shoulder.
‘Oh my God,’ Candace whispered. ‘How long has this been going on?’
‘About three weeks,’ Adam answered. ‘Your husband will show up and just smile at her. There is no overt threat, which is why she hasn’t reported it.’
‘That’s why the other two . . .’ Dianne murmured, and Candace nodded numbly.
‘The other two what?’ Trip prompted.
‘Penny saw two therapists before Dr Fallon,’ Candace murmured. ‘Both told us that they were cutting back their hours and would no longer have the available slots for Penny. Do you think he threatened them too?’
‘If you give us their names,’ Trip said, ‘we’ll ask them.’
Candace nodded, still looking stunned. ‘Of course. Whatever will help.’
‘This still doesn’t answer why you were asking about Penny,’ Dianne said.
Trip’s smile was mildly apologetic. ‘We figured a child entered into this somehow, because Dr Fallon’s clientele is exclusively pediatric and adolescent. We found photos of you, Mrs Voss, with your husband and your daughter online with very little trouble.’
‘Because Broderick is a fucking attention whore,’ Dianne muttered.
‘But . . .’ Candace shook her head helplessly. ‘It doesn’t make sense that he’d have Dr Fallon shot. Or that he’d kill a lot of other innocent people. And with a bomb?’
Adam had to admit that was true, if only to himself. ‘Does he plan to go into politics?’
Candace nodded. ‘That’s why he got so angry when I walked out.’
Trip lowered his voice again. ‘Does he know that you know about the multiple prostitutes?’
‘No.’ Candace shook her head firmly. ‘He believes that I believe it was “only an affair.”’ Again she used air quotes. ‘I didn’t want to voice it aloud with him. He’d just find a way to wriggle out of it. Nothing is ever his fault. I decided to cut my losses and get out while I still could.’