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She might have been grappling at straws.

She might have been just trying to hold onto something that would prove to her that Sal wasn’t that selfish cheater she saw in that bed, but that he was still the great man she always thought he was.

“How could you not remember?” There was more anger driven by fear than compassion in her voice.

“You ruined our marriage and you don’t remember how you got in bed with that woman? ”

Sal ran his hands through his hair and squeezed his hair. “I’m telling you the truth, Gemma. I went to her house to let her know what happened to Zam. And she took it hard like I knew she would. They had just got married a few months back. She was devastated.”

“When did you buy that lake house, Sal?”

That was a question he didn’t expect to hear. Not now anyway. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“What that got to do with anything?”

“When did you buy it?”

“I’ve owned it for years. Decades. Before I even met you.”

“Why didn’t you let me know about it?”

Sal frowned. “What’s there to know? I own real estate from here to Maine. What’s the big damn deal?”

“The fact that you don’t understand what big a deal it is that you continue to keep stuff like that from your wife is the big damn deal,” Gemma said.

But she knew she was getting sidetracked.

“Why did you take that woman to your house? Not our house, mind you,” she was clear to point out.

“To your house? Or is it your babe crib?”

“Now that’s beneath you, Gemma,” Sal said to his wife. “Don’t you dare say something like that to me.”

Sal could see Gemma felt bad about characterizing the house that way.

And he felt bad for adding more to the burdens she had to bear just by being with a stupid fuck like him.

He exhaled. “My guys got into a brawl with another group and some of those guys pulled out weapons when they realized they were losing the fight. My guys took out most of them, but some still got away. I wanted her in a safe environment just in case they had more backup in Arkansas where they came from, and that they would seek revenge on her.”

“When she first married Zam I thought you told me she was a gold digger.”

“That’s how I saw her. Zam wasn’t the only one she was flirting with. Zam was the only one willing to marry her.”

“Then if you knew this about her why didn’t you just get Robby to put a security detail on her rather than take her to your house? Or better yet, why couldn’t Robby give her that death notification instead of you if you knew she would come on to you like that?”

“Because I misjudged her. The more I saw her with Zam, the more I saw the love she had for him. She was a good girl.”

“So good that you ended up in bed with her,” Gemma shot back.

Sal leaned his head back and shook it. “That’s not how it happened.”

“I thought you said you don’t remember how it happened.”

“I don’t! But I know I didn’t come onto her and she wasn’t flirting with me or anything like that.

She was devastated over the loss of her husband.

That’s all she cared about. That’s all I cared about.

And because Zam was one of my closest guys, I knew I had to look out for her the way Zam would want me to.

That’s why I didn’t drop her off at some safe house. I took her to the lake house.”

“With no security detail?”

“I was going to get one there but I . . .”

“But you what?”

“But I don’t know what happened. I made us a drink when we got there last night and we sat down and were talking about Zam and then . . .”

“And then what, Sal?”

“And then I think she took my glass and refilled it and we drank some more and then the next thing I know I’m waking up naked in that bed and staring at you and Trina.

The next thing I know my world is upside down.

And please don’t say I got pissy drunk and didn’t know what I was doing because a couple of drinks don’t do nothing for me. So don’t go there.”

“Don’t tell me where to go. I wasn’t planning on going there. Besides,” Gemma said, her arms now folded in that lawyerly posture she often took in the courtroom, “you don’t get pissy drunk.”

When she said those words, Sal looked at her as if she, not he, held the key to his mystery. “What do you think happened then?”

“She might have spiked your drink.”

“Put a mickey in my drink?” But although that could help explain a lot for Sal, what Gemma loved about him was that he wasn’t buying it. “Why would she put a mickey in my drink? Why would she even have a mickey on her like that? She was grieving her husband’s death. That don’t make no sense.”

“Maybe she’s a good actress.”

But Sal was shaking his head. “No way. It’ll take more than good acting to fool my ass. She was in pain. She was in pure grief. I’ve seen it too many times with too many other widows to know what I’m talking about. That was no act.”

Gemma gave Sal an inquisitive look. “You do realize that her putting a mickey in your drink would exonerate you, don’t you? That it’ll explain everything?”

Sal nodded. “Yeah I know. But I don’t want a lie to exonerate me. I want the truth. And I’m telling you, Gemma, I didn’t come on to that woman not one time. I was just looking out for Zam. I loved that man. He was a true soldier. We were grieving together.”

Gemma didn’t know what to do. What had been so clear to her before Sal showed up was now as murky as a swamp. It seemed as if her entire world had tilted to the right, and then tilted to the left, and now was teetering on both sides. And it was an awful feeling.

Her small shoulder leaned against the wall beside the elevator, and tears began to fall down.

Sal didn’t see her distress at first. He was still in his own feelings and trying to figure out what could have happened to him.

But then he looked over and saw the state Gemma was in.

“ Oh Gem ,” he said as he hurried to her and pulled her into his arms. And she sobbed a loud, anguished sob for the first time since their ordeal began.

“I’ll never hurt you like that. I wouldn’t do that to you. ”

And for several minutes they just stood there, with Sal holding onto her, as she sobbed. Then he pulled her back and looked at her with anguish still in his eyes. “You do believe me, Gemma.” Then he searched her eyes. “Don’t you?”

Gemma stared at Sal. “Sometimes it’s very painful being your wife,” she said honestly to him. “But most times,” she added, tears returning, “it’s wonderful.”

Sal wanted to cry too. “But do you believe me, Gemma?”

Gemma nodded her head. “You could have went along with me when I said she might have spiked your drink, but you didn’t jump on that obvious bandwagon at all.

You said you wanted the truth to exonerate you, not some easy answer that might not be true because you couldn’t confirm it.

That’s the Sal I know,” she said as the tears returned.

She placed her hand on the side of his face.

“Yes, I believe you, Sal. I believe you.”

Sal leaned his head back in exhilaration. “I thought I had lost you,” he said as he pulled her into his arms again. “I thought I had lost you.” And Gemma began sobbing again.

But in the midst of that sobbing the entrance door opened, and this time Reno and Trina walked in.

“What you doing with an unlocked door this time of night?” Reno proclaimed. “We could have been killers walking up in here.”

“You are killers,” Sal said as he handed Gemma his handkerchief and she began wiping her eyes with her back to Reno and Trina and still in Sal’s arms. “You killed the mood, that’s the kind of killers you two are. What are you doing here anyway?” Sal asked them.

“Number one,” said Reno, “we were worried about Gemma. Not your ass. Gemma.”

Gemma, her eyes dried, turned around. “Hey guys.”

Trina went over to her. “You alright, girl?”

Gemma nodded, although Trina could see her tear-stained eyes.

“So what’s the second reason, Reno?” Sal asked him. “Why are you here?”

“You got trouble, Sal.”

Sal grinned. “No shit?”

“No, no,” Reno said, shaking his head. “You thought you had trouble. You ain’t had shit compared to this.”

And that ominous proclamation caused Gemma to turn toward Reno with that what now look on her face. But it was Trina’s face that convinced Gemma that Reno wasn’t exaggerating. Trina looked stricken.

Sal saw Trina’s look, too, as he held Gemma closer against him and waited for it to happen. For that proverbial other shoe to drop.