Faithless in Death (In Death, #52)(42)

Eve pressed the bell beside the double front doors.

Please state your name and the purpose of your visit, the computer demanded.



“Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, NYPSD.” She held up her badge for scan. “Roarke, civilian consultant to NYPSD. Police business.”

Your identification is verified. One moment please.



It took a few more than that, but Merit Caine opened the door.

Not fully dressed for the day, Eve observed. Suit pants, dress shirt, but no tie or jacket. But it told her he intended to go into work.

“Lieutenant. Roarke.” He held out a hand to Roarke to shake. “It’s good to see you, if unexpected.”

“Can we come in, Mr. Caine?”

He looked back at Eve. Though shadowed with fatigue, his eyes stayed calm and direct. “If this is about Gwen, you should know I’m no longer her attorney.”

“I’m aware.”

“Yes, of course you are. Aware of all of it. Yes, come in.”

He stepped back into a foyer with white marble floors and an enormous chandelier with serpentine silver coils stabbed through layers of glass balls. Then he gestured to the living area, which hit the grand and sleek and modern.

Twin curved sofas in pure white held fancy white pillows. Glass and silver tables held more crystal, ornate vases or bowls.

White marble framed a long, narrow fireplace, and above it only a high blank space.

“Gwen wanted our wedding portrait to hang there. That won’t happen now.”

“I’m sorry for your trouble, Merit,” Roarke told him.

“Apparently, I’ve narrowly avoided much more trouble. Sit down, please. Can I offer you coffee?”

“We’re fine,” Eve said, “and we’ll try not to keep you long.”

He sat in a silver chair. “I understand a woman is dead, and finding who killed her is—must be—your priority. I understand, too, you verified my whereabouts during the time in question—as you should, and must. You need to ask, and I’ll answer before you do. I had no knowledge of Gwen’s affair. Maybe that makes me a fool, but I had no knowledge, no idea, no suspicion. I never heard the name of the victim before yesterday.”

“She never mentioned Ariel Byrd to you?”

“No, not before yesterday. And I believed her claim that she’d gone to the victim’s apartment yesterday morning for a sitting. Why wouldn’t I?”

He looked down at his hands. “I’m also aware she lied to me when she claimed, after you arrested her, that Ms. Byrd attempted to assault her. The preponderance of evidence negates that claim.”

“You’re in a difficult situation, Mr. Caine,” Eve began.

“Merit.” He looked up again. “You know far too much about my personal life at this point for formalities.”

“Merit. Faced with your knowledge that she lied to you, did she tell you the truth?”

“I can’t tell you what she said to me while I was still her attorney of record. I can’t do that.”

Since she’d expected that, Eve followed up. “Since you’re no longer representing Gwen Huffman, can you tell us your opinion on the character of your ex-fiancée?”

He sent her a weary look. “She’s a talented liar, or I’m more gullible than I like to think.”

“You loved her,” Roarke said simply.

“I did. Or I loved the woman I thought she was, even with her flaws. I actually found her flaws endearing. She needs admiration, even devotion. She needs appearances.”

He spread his hands to encompass the room. “This house, for instance. She agreed to it, though that took some persuasion, and I agreed to let her furnish and decorate it. I believe in compromise. I also believe in being faithful and keeping a promise. Finding out she was unfaithful, and repeatedly, left me with no choice but to sever our relationship.

“I’m angry,” he admitted. “I’m angry and humiliated she betrayed my trust, and I have no doubt would have continued to do just that after we married.”

“Did you know of her, and her family’s, connection to Natural Order?”

He let out a short, bitter laugh. “I’m not at all sure now I knew the real truth on that, either. She told me she was raised in a very strict household, an unforgiving one. When her brother rebelled, he was cut off and kicked out. She loved her parents, she claimed, despite all, and only kept her—distant—association with Natural Order to avoid conflict with them. When we married, of course, things could change, but until then she had to meet those requirements. Demands.”

“All of them?” Eve asked.

“We were never intimate—which makes me incredibly stupid. She feared they’d find out she’d broken one of the tenets, or she’d get pregnant. If I could only wait, be patient with her, she would make it all up to me on our wedding night. I accepted this, assumed she was inexperienced, and was careful with her. I was faithful to her.”

“Did you ever meet any of the other members?”

He spread his hands. “I don’t honestly know. I’ve certainly socialized with her parents, been in their home. I can’t claim I liked them, particularly, but they were to be my in-laws, my family. So I and my family maintained a cordial relationship. I’m not sorry that’s no longer necessary.”