Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(53)

Ryker rolled his shoulders. What time had he smacked Jay around? Obviously Jay thought explaining the situation would end up working against him, for now. It had to have been around one in the afternoon. Jay could’ve still had time to drive to the motel and kill Julie before three in the afternoon, although he would’ve been sore from the fight. “How certain are you about time of death?” Ryker asked.

“Preliminary report sets TOD between noon and three, but after the autopsy, we’ll have a better idea, hopefully.” The detective scratched in his notepad. “So nobody was at City Hall with you, Mayor.”

“I was the only person working in City Hall yesterday.” Jay kept his voice level, but his eyes flashed. “Not many public employees work weekends, Detective. I will keep thinking about the day and if I saw anybody. Right now nothing is coming to mind, but I’m a little bit in shock. While Julie and I were having problems, I just can’t believe she’s dead.”

Ryker studied the mayor. He wasn’t mentioning the blonde, and that made sense, because cheating spouses always looked bad to the law and juries—especially during a divorce. Or was Pentley actually protecting the woman? It was doubtful, but Ryker needed to calm the hell down, look at all angles, and stop just reacting out of fear for Zara.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Detective Norton said. “Who filed for divorce?”

“She did,” Jay said. “But I’m fairly certain she was seeing somebody else.”

Look who was talking. Ryker made a mental note to find out who the blonde on Jay’s lap had been.

“She was not cheating,” Zara burst out, her face turning red.

Detective Norton’s head snapped up. “Who was she seeing?”

“Dunno,” Jay said, scraping both hands down his face. “It was just a feeling I got last time I talked to her. She said something about knowing what a real man was like.”

“But no names or other clues?” the detective asked, his focus zeroing in.

“No,” Jay said, his shoulders slumping.

“I’ll need copies of all correspondence between you.” The detective wrote something down.

Jay nodded wearily. “We’ll get everything to you.”

“When was the last time you saw your wife?” the detective asked, his voice a low rumble.

Jay’s gaze strayed to Zara. “I saw her last week at a motel on the north side of town. She asked me to drop off some of her clothing, so I did.”

Zara drew in air next to Ryker. Was that when Jay had hit Zara?

Ryker stood straighter in place, a ball of lead in his gut. The entire situation sucked, and his fingers curled into a fist as he felt the desire to punch Jay again. “Have you spoken with her since?”

“No. She was upset about the competency hearing, and she became abusive. Kicked me and hit me, so I had to leave.” Jay shrugged his shoulders. “It wasn’t her fault. She truly wasn’t herself.” He sighed heavily. “Is there any chance this was a drug deal gone bad? I mean, I know she was using again.”

“Julie didn’t do drugs,” Zara blurted, her voice heated.

Triumph surged into Jay’s eyes before it was quickly veiled. “You and Julie haven’t been close for years, so you wouldn’t really know. She did do drugs, and that was part of the competency issue. My wife was horribly clinically depressed, Detective.”

Brock spread his hands sympathetically, his gaze on Zara. “We have evidence of self-destructive behavior that includes everything from suicide attempts to picking up strange men for the night. She needed help, and we were trying to get that for her through the competency hearing.” He leaned forward and read several lines from a notepad. “The doctor would’ve diagnosed her with a drug problem, we’re certain.”

Zara vehemently shook her head, and Ryker gently slid an arm around her shoulders to play with her hair. She settled immediately. Yeah. He could do this. He could cover and protect her calmly and rationally without losing his temper or drawing attention to his brothers.

“We wanted to help Julie, not hurt her.” The lawyer was smooth with just the right amount of concern and genuineness. No wonder he often won in court.

There was only one way to get to the truth of whether or not Julie was doing drugs. Ryker focused on the detective. “When will the autopsy be concluded?”

Norton glanced at his watch. “I’ve put a rush on it, but that could still mean the end of next week.”

“I’ll get it done sooner.” Jay reached for his phone and texted something, his hand shaking. “My chief of staff will light a fire under the coroner. We have to find out what happened to Julie.”

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll take care of the press,” the detective said, standing. “Do you want to make a statement or have the officers outside escort them out of the subdivision? They’re technically trespassing.”

Jay stood and smoothed back his hair. His handsome face fell into sad lines. “I should probably make a statement.” Without looking at Ryker, he moved past them to the door.

Ryker rolled his eyes.

The detective nodded, his expression veiled. “I’ll come with you.” They left with Brock in their wake.

Zara moved toward the door. “Oh, I want to watch this,” she whispered.