The Bones She Buried: A completely gripping, heart-stopping crime thriller(46)

Josie regained her voice. “We need to talk to you about your ex-wife.”

The grimace morphed into an expression of sadness. “I’ll do what I can,” he said.

Gretchen pulled out her phone and swiped to a photo of the three items they had found in Colette’s sewing machine. She showed them to Lance, but his expression remained the same. “Do you recognize any of these items?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t. What does this have to do with Colette?”

“Maybe nothing,” Josie said. “Where did you and Colette meet?”

“High school,” he answered easily. “We were high school sweethearts.”

“What was your marriage like?” Gretchen asked.

He frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t see the relevance of—”

Josie cut him off. “We need to know if Colette ever had an affair—or multiple affairs—that you know of.”

At this, Lance laughed. “Is this a joke? This is a joke, right? Did the kids put you up to this? Yes, I was having an affair with Andi while I was still married to Colette. Yes, Andi got pregnant, and I left. I know it wasn’t an ideal situation, but it’s been years. They really need to move past this.”

Josie put sugar and cream into her coffee and took a sip, using the mug to hide the shock on her face. There was more bad blood than she had thought between Lance and his adult children.

Gretchen raised a brow. “We’re here on behalf of the Denton Police Department investigating a series of murders, Mr. Fraley, so no, no one is ‘putting us up to’ anything.”

“A series?” he said, face paling.

“Yes,” Josie said. “We have reason to believe that the person who murdered Colette also murdered another woman, and attempted to kill a third person. We’re trying to get as much background on all the victims as we possibly can. If we can find connections among them, it might help us find the killer.”

“Oh, I see. Sorry, I—I just… listen, I haven’t talked to Colette since our divorce was finalized.”

“Not even about your kids?” Josie said, setting her mug back onto the table. She recalled the photos she had seen from Noah’s college graduation. His father hadn’t been in any of them. She wondered if he even knew that Noah had been shot a few years back. She knew divorced parents of adult children wouldn’t have much reason to keep in touch, but for the big things—graduating from college or a medical crisis—it seemed like they could at least communicate then.

Lance said, “No, our kids were grown up. There was no need to discuss them anymore.”

“Oh, so once they grow up, there’s no need to concern yourself with them?” Josie blurted, for which she caught a sharp elbow in the ribs from Gretchen. She clamped her mouth shut and let Gretchen take over the questioning.

“Mr. Fraley, I think what my colleague is trying to say is that we understand you also had little contact with your children after the divorce. So it’s probably safe to say you had no contact with Colette in recent years either directly or indirectly.”

Lance shifted uncomfortably but said, “Yes.”

“So with that in mind, we’d just like to ask some background questions. You were married to Colette for over thirty years. It stands to reason that you knew her pretty well during that time, wouldn’t you say?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t like asking uncomfortable questions any more than you like answering them, but it’s necessary for our investigation. We do have to exhaust every line of inquiry. I hope you understand.”

“Of course,” Lance said.

Josie watched as Gretchen weaved her spell, all professionalism and sympathy. Gretchen continued, “So to your knowledge, did Colette ever have an affair?”

“No, not that I know of, and truly, I don’t think she ever did. She just wasn’t that type of person. She was very devoted. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t so keen on getting married. I—I kind of wanted to break up after high school, but then she got pregnant with Theo. You know, back then, not getting married wasn’t an option.”

“Was Colette happy when she found out she was pregnant?” Gretchen asked.

“Thrilled, yes. She wanted to marry right away. We planned a quick wedding. Moved in together. Had more kids. It wasn’t always easy, but we made it work. Well, until the kids got older and I met Andi…”

He trailed off, his eyes staring at a point over their heads. After a few seconds, he said, “I know I hurt her. I know I hurt the kids. I deeply regret it, but I just couldn’t keep going on like that… Noah was about to go off to college. It would have been just the two of us. You know, we really didn’t have much in common. When you meet in high school, it’s not really—”

“I married my high school sweetheart,” Josie said.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said. “I didn’t mean—I mean some people are perfectly happy—”

Josie managed a smile. “It’s okay. It didn’t work out. We… grew apart.”

This admission seemed to loosen Lance’s posture. He returned her smile. “Yes, I think that’s what happened with us. We were interested in our children, and then when they weren’t there to bond over any longer, we just got so distant. Then I met Andi and everything changed.”