The Wife Who Knew Too Much(85)
His eyes were pleading. I could feel how much he needed me to believe him. But I couldn’t get there. Not yet, not without more of an explanation.
“Nothing changes the fact that you actually went ahead and married her without ever telling her the truth.”
“Yes, and that’s wrong. But you have to understand, things with Nina went faster than I ever imagined. Within a few months, she wanted to get married. And I wanted to, too. It was an amazing life I could have with her, and I wasn’t about to miss out on it because of Lissa’s bizarre situation. I know it looks bad. But I didn’t see Lissa as my responsibility, and I didn’t want to ruin things with Nina by confessing my knowledge of this—impostor—in her midst.”
I heaved a big sigh, partly convinced by his explanation, yet mad at myself for going along with it. I worried I was missing something. Then I realized that I was. Nina had ended up dead, and Connor with her money.
“None of this explains why Nina’s dead, you’re rich, and I’m framed for her murder. Go on. Explain all that.”
“Around Memorial Day weekend, Lissa told me she wanted to deal with Nina, as she put it. And she had this, like, delusion, that I’d help her. We’d kill Nina and split the money. And you know, it’s not like she’d never mentioned that concept. But I just put it down to her being crazy. I never thought it was real. And I told her no. I said, I will never agree to that. I want nothing to do with it, and if you’re serious, then I’m going to the police. That’s when she threatened to out herself in order to ruin me. She was going to tell Nina I’d been in a plot to kill her from the beginning. That was plausible enough that I knew it would ruin my marriage. There was no good explanation for why I’d concealed Lissa’s identity for so long. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do. That’s when I went up to New Hampshire to think things through. And I found you.”
“Can I ask you something? Did Juliet follow you there?”
“Yes. It was her, outside the ski house that night. She took that picture of us and that gave her more ammunition to blackmail me with. But, by then, I’d found you again. And I came back here determined to tell Nina I was leaving.”
“Yet, you didn’t.”
“I was looking for a way to tell her without triggering the prenup. I hate myself for dragging my feet over that, because in my moment of hesitation, everything went south. Nina found out about Lissa. She called us to her office after the Fourth of July party, told me she was triggering the prenup, and to get the hell out.”
“What was your reaction to that?”
“Honestly? Relief. I wanted to leave, I wanted to be with you.”
“Relief? Not rage? Then, why did the night end with Nina floating in the swimming pool, dead?”
“That wasn’t me. I had nothing to do with that. If you don’t believe me, ask Steve Kovacs. He saw me go.”
“Go where?”
“I called an Uber and left. I was on my way to the city when I got the news that Gloria found Nina’s body. I turned right around and came back. The next morning, after they took Nina’s body away, I confronted Lissa. She admitted everything, said she drugged Nina’s drink and pushed her into the pool. She did what I wasn’t man enough to do, she said.”
“You’ve known for months that Nina was murdered, that it wasn’t suicide, yet you never came forward?”
He sighed. “I wanted to. But when I told Lissa I was going to the police, she laughed. She said she had to do it alone because I was a coward, but she wasn’t taking the fall alone. She would tell the cops we did it together, and they’d never believe my denial. But just to make sure, she had an insurance policy. My fingerprints on the glass that she used to drug Nina’s drink. Mine, not hers. She has it hidden somewhere. That’s why I haven’t turned her in.”
I wanted to believe that Juliet acted alone. I really did. But there was one big, glaring loose end.
“If she really acted alone, why am I getting framed for this? Why didn’t you stop her? Why not come to court today to proclaim my innocence?”
“Why you is easy. She wants you out of the picture.”
“And you’re letting her. Connor, she tried to kill me. She was the one in the Suburban, I’m sure of it. She ran me off the road. I could’ve been killed, the baby, too.”
He looked crestfallen.
“I didn’t believe that before, but I’m starting to think you might be right. When you first told me about that incident, I was sure it was Nina. That car is a company car. Anybody who worked for her had access to it. Lissa did, too, and the more I think about it, the more sense it makes that it would be her. Especially since, to my knowledge, Nina was not aware of your existence.”
“Juliet tried to kill me, and now she’s framing me.”
“Yes, that’s a fair conclusion to draw,” he said.
The sadness in his voice made me angry. It was for her as much as for me. He still cared about her—this woman who’d murdered Nina, who’d tried to kill me and his baby.
“You’re letting her. You still care about her.”
“I understand her. I feel sorry for her. But it’s you I love. And sweetheart, there is no way I’m letting you take the blame for this. I spent today working out a plan. That’s the only reason I wasn’t in court. I was moving assets around, looking for an apartment in Dubai—”