A chorus of namastes echoed back from the smiling students. Usually she lingered after class to answer questions and accept personal expressions of gratitude from her students. Not today, not with the police waiting. Aubrey expertly rolled her mat, rose to her feet in a graceful motion, and walked from the room, leaving a few of the regulars gazing after her in puzzlement.
As she entered the glass-walled office, her assistant Mikayla, round and freckle-faced and normally cheerful, turned to her with alarm. A man and a woman stood in front of Aubrey’s desk. Aubrey recognized the man from the TV news. He was the chief of police.
“These officers are here to ask some questions about your friend who died. I explained I don’t know anything,” Mikayla said.
“Thank you, Mikayla. I’ll take care of this.”
Aubrey shut the door firmly behind Mikayla. “What can I do for you, Officers,” she said.
“You’re Mrs. Saxman?” the man asked.
“Aubrey Saxman, yes. And you are—?”
“Chief Owen Rizzo, Belle River PD, and my colleague, Detective Keisha Charles. We’re investigating the death of Kate Eastman, and we’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Was she required to speak with them? Aubrey wondered. Should she refuse, or call a lawyer? Or would that look bad? If only she’d thought about this before the police showed up. She’d expected them to question her at some point, but she never thought it would be so soon. And she’d been too caught up in taking care of Griff to look out for herself.
Aubrey decided the best course of action was to appear cooperative.
“Certainly, have a seat. Can I offer you some tea? Such unpleasant weather,” Aubrey said, taking a seat behind her desk.
“No, thank you, that’s not necessary. We were told you knew Ms. Eastman, is that correct?” Chief Rizzo asked.
“Oh, yes. We were close friends, for twenty years, give or take. I’m devastated at her death,” Aubrey said, looking away, her face puckering.
Rizzo nodded at the female detective, and Aubrey noticed that she started taking notes. That was unnerving. Why would they think anything Aubrey had to say was worth writing down?
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Rizzo said. “When exactly did you last see Ms. Eastman?”
“I—well, I’m not sure,” she said.
“Any guess?”
Aubrey’s stomach fluttered with nerves. She wondered if this was one of those situations like on TV cop shows where they already knew the answer and were trying to catch her in a lie.
“I wouldn’t want to say the wrong thing,” she said, her eyes trailing the detective’s pen as it moved across the page.
“An approximate date would be fine,” he said.
“Let me see. I remember we had lunch a few weeks ago.”
“Just the two of you?”
“No. Jenny was with us. Jenny Healy.”
“The mayor?”
“Yes.”
“Why was she there?” the chief asked.
“Because we’re good friends.”
“You and the mayor?”
“All three of us. We roomed together freshman year at Carlisle. You didn’t know that?” Aubrey said, trying to gauge whether they’d done their homework.
He ignored her question. “So the three of you had lunch several weeks back, and you haven’t seen Ms. Eastman since then?”
“That’s right.”
“What about this past Friday?” Rizzo asked, and Aubrey’s heart stopped.
“Uhh, you mean—?” she asked, stupefied, and shook her head.
“Weren’t you planning to see Ms. Eastman this past Friday? It was her fortieth birthday, and I understood you had a dinner scheduled.”
“Oh! Right, yes. Yes. We did have a plan to take Kate out for her birthday. Jenny and I. It was originally supposed to be the six of us, the three roommates and our husbands, at Henry’s Bistro, but we changed it to a girls’ night.”
“What time were you supposed to meet?”
“Seven o’clock.”
“But it never happened?”
“No.”
“Why not?” the chief asked.
“It got called off.”
“When did that happen?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe that same day.”
“This was only a few days ago. You don’t remember?”
“No, sorry, I’m not good with dates and such,” Aubrey said, with an innocent flutter of her eyelashes. If she played up the airhead-yoga-instructor stereotype, maybe they would go away and leave her alone.
“Why was it canceled?”
“I think Kate was sick.”
“Did you hear that from Kate herself?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe you should ask Jenny. Details aren’t my strong suit. I might be remembering wrong.”
“No worries,” the chief said. “We’re talking to a lot of people. We’re simply trying to develop a timeline of Ms. Eastman’s actions on the day she disappeared, so we can answer questions like who saw her last, and so forth,” the chief said.
“But why does that matter? Wasn’t Kate’s death an accident?” Aubrey asked.
“Maybe, but maybe not. That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” the chief replied.
Aubrey folded her hands, trying to appear calm. There was nothing to worry about here. It was always likely that the police would investigate, and that they might question her. The chief just said, they were talking to a lot of people. It was always a possibility that they might decide Kate’s death was suspicious. None of that should concern Aubrey unduly, since nothing they would find could implicate her.
“If you don’t think it was an accident, then it must have been a suicide, right?” Aubrey said.
“Not necessarily,” Chief Rizzo said. “She didn’t leave a note. So there’s nothing definitive that suggests this was suicide, unless you know something about her state of mind, in which case, please, tell us.”
Aubrey hesitated. If they didn’t think Kate’s death was an accident, and they weren’t considering the possibility of suicide, then that meant they were considering murder, for sure. Could they be thinking that, already? Did they already have a suspect?
“Mrs. Saxman?” the chief prompted.
“Oh, yes, sorry,” Aubrey said. “I’m just a bit hesitant to discuss Kate’s private … troubles.” She had almost said affairs.
“I understand. But this is very important. We’ll keep what you tell us confidential if at all possible,” he said.
“All right, then. If you must know, Kate did have what you could call suicidal tendencies. She made a pretty serious attempt in high school, and talked about killing herself a lot in college. She seemed serious about it. I wouldn’t be surprised, if she got upset, that she might contemplate something like that to this day. It’s something you should be looking into.”
“I see. Do you have reason to believe she was particularly upset recently?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been so busy with my kids, and the yoga studio lately. Of course, I regret it now, not making more time for her,” Aubrey said.
“We have reason to believe Ms. Eastman’s marriage was troubled,” Rizzo said. “Can you tell us anything about that?”
Did he know something specific, or was he fishing? If the police hadn’t already found out about Kate and Ethan’s affair, Aubrey wasn’t about to enlighten them. It would only turn the spotlight on her own life.
“I had no idea,” Aubrey said.
“You weren’t aware that she recently filed for divorce?”
Aubrey looked at him in surprise. Was that possible? Was it even true? Surely somebody would’ve told her something as important as that.