Chapter Seventeen

“It’s Thomas,” she corrected, a bit harshly. “And you’re looking at her. What’s going on?”

“I need to talk to you, ma’am,” the man said, and showed her his detective’s badge. “May I come in?”

“Sure,” Faith gestured to him, completely confused. “Would you like some coffee?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Not at all,” Rick answered, pouring him a cup.

She and Rick sat together at one end of her kitchen table, and the detective took the seat opposite her.

“Ms. Thomas, I’m Detective Mitchell, Dallas PD,” he said. “I need to ask you a few questions about your I am guessing now ex-husband, Kevin Tucker.”

“Oh, Christ,” Faith said bitterly. “What the hell did he get himself into now? Did he get caught bouncing on someone else’s wife?”

“I suppose that could be a possibility,” Mitchell said, “since he was murdered yesterday.”

Faith and Rick’s mouths dropped open. In any other situation, they’d have looked comical.

But this was not any other situation.

Rick put his arm around Faith’s shoulders as she shook her head.

“What? Did I hear you right?”

Detective Mitchell nodded in affirmation.

“His body was found about one-fifteen this morning up in Philly. Coroner estimates he was killed sometime between six p.m. and ten p.m. Tuesday night. Philly PD pulled up his records and he still has you listed on everything. Next of kin notification, emergency contact, all of it. Naturally, they asked us to come talk to you.”

“Detective, the last time I saw Kevin was over a year ago. The thirtieth of May, to be exact. That’s the day I found him screwing another woman in our bed.”

And the image flashed into her head like she was right there again, in real time. Every sound, every heartbreaking thing about that moment came rushing back.

It made her nauseous.

She started to tremble and felt Rick’s arm tighten a bit in silent support. She paused for a moment, regained her composure, and continued.

“Trust me, if I were going to kill him, I would have done it right then. He didn’t even have the balls to show up to our divorce hearing last August. And I certainly haven’t sought him out since. I don’t miss him, or the bullshit being with him brought me. I am sorry he was murdered, Detective, no one deserves to go like that. But I cannot in all honesty sit here and pretend to be sad that he’s dead. I won’t,” Faith finished, eyes dry and head held high.

“I understand completely. I’m just here to make the notification, and ask a few questions, that’s all.”

He leaned his elbows on the table and held her gaze.

“So, for the record, I do need to ask you where you were Tuesday between six and ten p.m.”

“I was here, alone."

“Ms. Thomas,” the detective continued as he made notes, “can you think of a reason why Kevin would still have you listed on everything?”

“Detective, I didn’t know I was still listed on everything, but I do know exactly why,” she said, maintaining eye contact.

“He was extremely lazy, and he truly believed tedious little life tasks like paperwork were beneath him. I handled all legal and financial matters in our marriage. If not for me, he wouldn’t have built up any assets at all. So, it doesn’t surprise me at all that he never changed anything, despite the fact his lawyer probably strongly advised him to.”

She didn’t know it, but she’d just confirmed Kevin’s divorce attorney’s comments when he’d been interviewed up in Philly earlier in the day.

“Well,” the detective rose. “That should do it. I appreciate your time. I’d say sorry for your loss, but...”

“In this instance, my loss occurred over a year ago.”

“Yeah, sounds like.”

He shifted on his feet.

“Like I said, Philly says he has you listed on everything still. Don’t be surprised if you get contacted by his lawyer, the life insurance company, or both.”

“Thanks for the heads up, Detective Mitchell. If Philly has any more questions for me, please tell them I will help however I can. I didn’t kill him, I have nothing to hide, and I am not going anywhere.”

“Quite a statement, ma’am.”

She shrugged.

“I’m an accountant. OCD is part of it. Details matter when you’re trying to solve something. And that also means ruling out the ones that don’t fit the puzzle. Besides, what I just said is true.”

She saw him to the door, then turned back to Rick.

“You all right?” he asked as he crossed to her.

She sighed.

“Yeah. That was a little surreal to hear. But I’m not upset. That part’s weird. I was with him for twelve years, married for ten. You’d think I would feel…something. But nope. It’s like hearing about a complete stranger’s death. No emotional reaction at all.”

She looked at him. “Is that wrong? That I don’t feel anything?”

“I personally think that there’s not a damn thing wrong with that. He cut you deep once upon a time, Faith, and for your own safety, you banished him. It’s a natural reaction, and the result is, the feelings go too. Maybe not instantly, but over time, they go away too.”

***

Philly Homicide Detective Munoz was at his desk at seven a.m. on the dot.

His desk phone rang.

“Munoz,” he answered, then listened. “Wow, that was fast. I’ll be right down.”

He made his way to booking, where a nineteen-year-old kid had been picked up on carjacking charges, and whose prints were found at the scene where Kevin Tucker’s body had been found.

Not even an hour into the interrogation, the kid cracked.

He’d tried to steal Kevin’s car as part of a gang initiation. There’d been a struggle, and Kevin had been shot and left in the alley. The kid’s prints were both inside and outside the car, he’d changed clothes but still had spatter traces of Kevin’s blood on his Air Jordans, and he’d tested positive for gunshot residue.

Police were still looking for the 9mm handgun that had been used, but other than that, police had an open and shut case against him.

The kid had never even heard of anyone named Faith. This was a straightforward carjacking gone wrong, no conspiracy, no planning.

Once Munoz had all his reports typed up, he sent them and the kid’s confession to the DA’s office. He also sent a formal statement of findings to the life insurance policy representative he’d reached out to the previous day. Then he erased the case from his whiteboard and wrote in the data for his next.