“Shampoo and conditioning rinse,” he repeated without inflection.
A.J. said steadily, “That’s what Mother said.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I see. Well, first of all, we have only your mother’s word she didn’t bring those things into Massri’s home. She could be making that up now in an effort to throw suspicion off herself.”
A.J. opened her mouth, but he cut her off.
“Or maybe another woman did bring those items into Massri’s apartment. Maybe he was having an affair with another woman and your mother discovered it and killed him.”
A.J. couldn’t seem to unlock her gaze from Jake’s green one. “She didn’t.”
“I’m just telling you how it might look if you went around sharing this brand-new information too freely.”
She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and said, “You won’t even consider the possibility that if there was another woman involved, she might have killed Dicky?”
“We haven’t found any evidence of another woman being involved with Massri.”
“Well you didn’t find evidence that he’d been married to Maddie either.”
His jaw tightened, and she knew that one had hit home.
“Fair enough. But how about this for an explanation? How about Massri bought the products himself?”
“I told you, The Salon caters to women.”
“Hey, for your information, Avon makes bath oil that works great as a bug repellent. I use it camping, although I guess you’ve probably noticed I’m not generally at home to the Avon Lady.”
Feeling deflated, A.J. sat back in the leather booth. She said stubbornly, “I don’t believe it’s a coincidence.”
Seeming to feel he’d already won that round, Jake asked more tolerantly, “You don’t believe what’s a coincidence? That Maddie and Massri bought hair products from the same place? That’s not that amazing of a coincidence, believe me.” She could feel his gaze on her face. He said, “We’ve turned up another possible lead, though.”
At her look of inquiry, he said, “Massri was fired from his position at the SCA. We haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what happened, but from everything not being said, it sounds potentially serious.”
A.J. said slowly, “So you think it’s a legitimate lead?”
“It’s too soon to tell if it will pan out, but I think it casts reasonable doubt on the case we’re building against Elysia.” He threw her a look from beneath his brows. “Obviously that’s off the record.”
“When isn’t it? Anyway, for the record, Mr. Meagher has already been looking into Massri’s connection with the SCA.”
He gave her a funny look, but whatever he might have said was interrupted by the reappearance of the waitress with their dinners.
They ate for a time in silence that gradually, at least in A.J.’s mind, took on the weight and substance of a funeral pall. With every bite it was clearer and clearer to her that Jake had not invited her out for the pleasure of her company or to discuss the case against her mother. She began to wish that he would just get it over.
The waitress returned to clear away their plates and offer dessert menus.
“Did you want dessert?” Jake asked, frowning over the menu. A.J. nearly laughed. He was clearly desperate not to have this discussion whatever it was.
“No thanks.”
He ordered apple pie and stuffed the menu back in the metal holder.
A.J. waited.
He looked at her and this time he held her gaze. “Look, I owe you an explanation.”
Inhale.
Exhale.
A.J. nodded.
Almost impatiently, he said, “We never specifically said anything about not seeing other people.” He stopped. A.J. nodded. She managed to keep control of her face, but her stomach dropped. Officially she had only been dumped once in her life. That was when Andy had left her for Nick. It had been devastating; devastating enough that just the memory of it could give her dry heaves. Though thankfully not at the moment. The situation was shaping up to be humiliating enough as it was.
Jake’s gaze rose from the wet ring on the table. He said, “But whether we said anything about it or not, I haven’t been interested in dating anyone else.”
“Me neither,” a surprisingly calm voice said on A.J.’s behalf.
There was another pause, and then Jake said, “I’m not good at this kind of thing. What I’m trying to say is-what I’m trying to explain is-”
He stopped in awkward silence.
A.J. got out, “Honestly? It would be easier on me if you’d just say it.”
Jake nodded. “I told you that I was engaged once.”
“Jenny. Yes, I remember.”
“What I didn’t tell you-because I’ve never told anyone-is that Jenny disappeared two weeks before our wedding. No word, no explanation, nothing.”
“You mean… something happened to her?”
Now there was a dumb comment, but Jake just nodded. “Yes. But not what I thought. I thought… I don’t want to tell you the things I thought. That she’d had some kind of accident or had been kidnapped-or was dead. Maybe even worse.”
Worse than dead? Then A.J. remembered that Jake was a cop and had probably seen things that she didn’t want to know about-things that might be worse than being dead.
She tuned back in to hear him saying, “I spent weeks, months trying to find her. Trying to… find an answer.”
“Did you find one?”
“Yes. I did. Or, more exactly, the answer found me. She’d gone into the WPP.”
“The what?”
“The Witness Protection Program. Jenny worked for a real estate agent who turned out to have mob ties. Anyway, one night when she was working late, she saw her boss killed by none other than Jackie Palermo.”
The name was vaguely familiar to A.J. Was Palermo a mob boss? Somebody connected to organized crime, she was pretty sure.
“Palermo’s goons spotted her, but Jenny managed to get away, and she went straight to the cops who put her in contact with the feds. She agreed to testify, but Palermo put a contract out on her. To keep her alive, she was moved into the WPP.”
“She didn’t leave word for you?”
“No. It was deemed too risky. Palermo had a lot of clout, a lot of contacts-there was fear that it might reach all the way into the police department.”
A.J. began to understand why Jake was such a fanatic for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. As the last puzzle piece fell into place, she said, “Chess is Jenny.”
Jake nodded.
“I don’t understand why she didn’t get word to you. You were her fiancé. Spouses are moved into the program-well, I mean, from what I’ve seen on TV.”
He said shortly, “She wasn’t thinking clearly. She wasn’t prepared for that. Who is?”
Clearly a sore spot. She said mildly, “Okay. Just wondered.”
Jake was instantly apologetic. “No. It’s a valid question. I asked it myself plenty of times. Why did she let me go through all that time believing the worst?”
“Would you have gone into the program with her if she’d told you?”
He stared at her. “I… don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s so long after the fact it’s hard to say what I’d have done then.” He sighed. “Anyway, I thought I’d never see her again.”
“So…” For the life of her, A.J. couldn’t think of what to say. Her first instinct was to ask if Jake had proof that Jenny was telling the truth, but she knew Jake well enough to know he didn’t accept anything at face value. Jenny must indeed be telling the truth. It was an amazing story, and A.J. knew that she should probably be ashamed that her primary reaction was the essentially selfish one of wondering whether she was losing Jake to his exfiancée.
At last she managed-almost steadily, “Are you still in love with her?”