“I would have thought the news would have made you happy,” Tracy said.
“Not really,” Strickland said. “She’s still missing, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, there’s that,” Kins said.
“I’ve already talked to you about this,” Strickland said, dropping his gaze back to his cell phone.
“We’re not here to talk about your wife,” Tracy said, keeping her tone informal. “We came to ask you a few questions about Devin Chambers.”
At the mention of the name, Strickland’s fingers paused on the keypad.
“You do know her, don’t you?” Tracy asked.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Strickland raised his gaze. “Of course I know her,” he said, calm. “She was a friend of Andrea’s.”
“How close were they?” Tracy asked, deciding to play him for a bit.
Strickland sat back and crossed his legs, leaving his phone on the table. The canvas of the umbrella rippled in the breeze, sounding like a sail catching the wind. “I don’t really know. She and Devin worked together.”
“How much time did they spend together outside of work?”
“I really couldn’t say for certain. Andrea didn’t go out much after work. She was an introvert.”
“How did she spend her time?”
“Reading. She read all the time.”
“What was your relationship to Devin Chambers?” Tracy asked.
“I didn’t have one,” Strickland said, his demeanor still relaxed.
Lightning crackled, a blue-white fork in the distance. Seconds later came another clap of thunder.
The waitress returned. “Would you rather move inside?”
Strickland shook his head. “This is fine,” he said, almost as if he were playing a game of chicken with Tracy and Kins.
The waitress looked to the empty chair. “Are we waiting for one more?”
“Yes,” Strickland said.
After the waitress departed, Tracy said, “Did you have a romantic relationship with Devin Chambers?”
“What?” Strickland made a face like it was a ridiculous question. “No, of course not.”
“Adultery isn’t a crime, Mr. Strickland,” Kins said.
“I’m aware of that, Detective.”
“Your wife told her boss you were having an affair.”
“My wife did and said a lot of crazy things, including faking her own death. She wasn’t exactly acting rationally.”
It was a good argument, one that Strickland and his attorney would hit hard if they ever had to argue that his wife had set it up to look like Strickland had intended to kill her.
“So you weren’t having an affair?” Tracy asked.
“I’ve already talked about this with the other detective,” he said. “And as my attorney advised you the other day, we’re not going back over old ground.”
Another bolt of lightning sparked in the cloud layer just over the bridge. “When’s the last time you saw Devin Chambers?” Tracy asked.
This time the thunder exploded overhead, strong enough to rattle the restaurant windows. Strickland shook his head as if he were completely disinterested. “I don’t know, months.”
“You haven’t seen her since your wife’s disappearance?”
“No.”
“You didn’t seek her out to ask if she knew anything about it?”
“No, because as I’ve already explained, at the time I believed my wife had died in an accident. So what exactly was I going to ask Devin Chambers?”
“Whether or not she knew about the insurance policy your wife took out naming you a beneficiary? Or why your wife would have consulted a divorce lawyer or told her boss you were cheating on her again?” Kins said.
“It was an incredibly stressful time for me, Detectives. I believed my wife had died. Then I’m suddenly being questioned like I’m a suspect in her death.”
“You did have an affair though,” Kins said. “You admitted that.”
“It was a mistake, okay? I’ve been over this. I’d been seeing the person before I met Andrea. I should have ended it. I didn’t. And as you said, it isn’t illegal.”
The first drops of rain splattered the concrete patio and the canvas umbrella. Strickland acted like he didn’t notice.
“Any idea where we might find Devin Chambers?” Tracy asked.
“I assume you would find her either at work or at her home.”
Tracy watched Strickland’s face for any sign he knew Chambers had fled, but his expression remained completely placid, and his eyes never shifted from hers.
“Are you aware that Devin Chambers told her boss and some of the tenants in her apartment building that she was moving back home to New Jersey?”
“Obviously not,” he said. “Or I would have told you that in response to your last question.” He turned his head and looked to the interior of the restaurant, presumably searching for his lunch date.
Water trickled over the sides of the umbrella. Kins had to move his chair closer to the table to keep from getting wet. “She never told you that?” he said.
“I told you, I haven’t seen or spoken to Devin Chambers in months. We seem to be going in circles.” Strickland uncrossed his legs and looked again to the lobby.
“This is the first you heard of it?” Tracy asked.
“Yes.”