Jayne blinked. “His ex-wife, you mean.”
Hardy shrugged. “Sure.”
“He told me he used to be married. That it didn’t work out. He doesn’t like to talk about her very much and honestly I don’t think it’s any of my business.”
“He tell you her name?”
“Brandy, I think,” she said.
That brought a smile to the detective’s face. She picked up her phone. “Let me show you something.”
She held up the device for Jayne, who took a couple of steps closer. A picture filled the screen. It was a soft image of a woman standing by a black car. It was parked in a driveway, the tailgate in the raised position, and there were what appeared to be a couple of bags of groceries spilled on the driveway.
“Okay,” Jayne said. “Who’s that?”
“That is the question,” the detective said. “The image could be crisper, I know. I got this nifty little app on my phone you can run photos through, the idea being that it sharpens them up some. Admittedly with varying degrees of success. So I used the app on this shot and enlarged it and it’s not a lot better, but there is some improvement. Here, have a look.”
She was about to pass the phone to Jayne when Tyler strolled into the kitchen. He’d pulled some jeans on over his boxers but was naked from the waist up, and shoeless.
“Oh,” he said, seeing Hardy. “I didn’t know someone was here.”
“Hi,” Detective Hardy said, putting the phone down and extending a hand. Tyler took it. “I’m Detective Hardy with the Milford police.”
Tyler looked as though he’d received a minor electrical shock. “Uh, what?”
“The police,” Jayne said. “Detective Hardy just had some questions about a neighborhood thing.”
Tyler saw the detective’s phone and picked it up. “Who’s this?” he asked, looking at the picture.
“That’s why I’m here,” Hardy said. “Wondering the same thing.”
“Nice ride,” Tyler said.
“I’m sorry?” the detective said.
“The Volvo wagon. I like those.”
“Is there something I can do for you, Tyler?” Jayne asked.
“Was just gonna get some breakfast or something.”
“Sleep in, did you?” Hardy asked.
He looked at her, not sure whether to answer. Jayne said, “Could you give us a couple minutes?”
“Fine,” he said, handing the phone back to Hardy and padding out of the room in his bare feet.
“Sorry about that,” Jayne said.
“No problem.” She tried again to hand her phone to Jayne, and this time Jayne took it and looked at the image.
“Why are you showing me this?” she asked.
“Do you recognize her?”
“No.”
Hardy took back the phone. “Okay. Let me ask you this. Where—”
“No,” Jayne said abruptly. “I’m not answering any more questions until you answer mine. Why did Andrew change his name, and why are you asking me about the woman in that picture?”
“Okay,” Detective Hardy said. “Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll fill you in.”
Eleven
Detective Hardy: Thanks for coming in, Mr. Raymus.
Greg: No problem. Anything to help. This is just an awful thing that’s happened.
Detective Hardy: Let me just get this right for the record. Your name is Gregoire Franklin Raymus.
Greg: Right, but I just go by Greg.
Detective Hardy: I want to ask you about the Saturday night when you and Mr. Mason were up at your respective cabins at Sorrow Bay, but first I’d like to ask you about how things have been between Mr. Mason and his wife, Brie.
Greg: Um, okay.
Detective Hardy: How would — I’m sorry, but you can’t smoke in here.
Greg: Oh, sorry. It’s not a joint or anything, but I do roll my own.
Detective Hardy: You just can’t smoke in here. How would you describe the relationship between your friend and his wife.
Greg: You know. It’s a good marriage, I guess. I mean, is there any marriage out there that’s perfect?
Detective Hardy: Are you married yourself, Mr. Raymus?
Greg: Me? No.
Detective Hardy: But you’d say that your friend and his wife were getting along okay.
Greg: You know, ups and downs.
Detective Hardy: By ups and downs, are you referring to the affair that Mr. Mason had?
Greg: Oh, you know about that.
Detective Hardy: Yes, I do.
Greg: It wasn’t that big a deal. Didn’t last long, and it ended some time ago. Months, in fact.
Detective Hardy: And you know this woman Mr. Mason was seeing?
Greg: No. I never met her. I mean, Andy told me about seeing her, about how he felt he’d made a big mistake, but I never knew her at all.
Detective Hardy: Do you know what prompted Mr. Mason to cheat on his wife?
Greg: I think they were in a bad place. I got the impression maybe Brie had kind of strayed, too.
Detective Hardy: Do you know with who?
Greg: Nope. Andy didn’t say and I didn’t ask. Thing is, they really love each other, but there was some friction about how they’ve been living. Getting a house, fixing it up, selling it, moving to another, doing it all over again. The lack of a permanent home base was getting to her. She talked about it in the office sometimes.
Detective Hardy: The office?
Greg: Our construction office. A trailer, actually. Brie comes in sometimes to help with the books and stuff. But I think Andy was saying this was the last time, that they’d probably stay in this house, the one on Mulberry.
Detective Hardy: You’ve known Mr. Mason a long time?
Greg: Since UConn. College. And then we eventually went into business together. Which we are now.
Detective Hardy: How’s that going?
Greg: A bit like a marriage. Ups and downs.
Detective Hardy: Your friendship, or the business?
Greg: Business is a little shaky right now. I guess you’d call it cash flow issues. Lost some jobs we thought we’d get. To be honest, I think we may be going our separate ways before long. I’m gonna do my thing, Andy’s gonna do his.
Detective Hardy: Do you know whether there’s an insurance policy on Brie Mason’s life?
Greg: Huh? Beats me. Christ, what are you suggesting? You think Andy did something to Brie to collect some insurance to help with the company? That’s totally insane. And if that was his plan, well, you’d want to know she was dead so they’d pay up, right? I mean, where is she?
Detective Hardy: That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? What did you do to your leg?
Greg: It’s fine, hardly giving me any trouble at all now.
Detective Hardy: You’re using a cane.
Greg: Probably going to retire it this week. I’ll be limping for a while, but that’s okay.
Detective Hardy: What happened?
Greg: I was on a job site, working alone, and the ladder somehow fell over and I was up about ten feet on some scaffolding and figured I could make the jump. Could have done it, too, but there was a short length of angle iron I hadn’t noticed and I hit that and broke a bone. Stupid, you know. I shoulda known better.