Page 70 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

She held up another photo of Pam. “Her life has already been ruined, Mr. Ouellette, by someone who wanted her to suffer. Do you care at all about getting justice for her?”

“Of course I do, but you’re asking me to implode my entire life to get justice for someone who’s gone now.”

“I’m sorry that it’s come to this. We’re not out to destroy anyone’s life, but your wife and Mr. Tappen have motive because of the affair.”

“Even if they didn’t know about it?”

“You think they didn’t know.”

“I’m sure of it. My wife isn’t the type to put up with something like this. If she knew, she would’ve killed me, not Pam.”

“Did she know Pam?”

He nodded tentatively. “Our boys grew up together, played football from a young age on the same teams.”

“Did she consider Pam a friend?”

“They were mom friends. They didn’t run around together or anything like that.”

“But they were friends.”

“Yes, I guess you could say that they were.”

“So if your wife knew, not only had she been betrayed by her husband, but also by a longtime friend.”

“She would never do something like that to anyone,” he said, gesturing toward the pictures of Pam on the phone. “She doesn’t have that in her.”

“Let me tell you something I’ve learned about people, Mr. Ouellette. When they’ve been betrayed by the people closest to them, they’re capable of anything.”

“Not my Josie. She’d never leave someone to die like that. She rescues birds with broken wings and takes them to the sanctuary. That’s who she is.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll need to speak to her, and I’ll need to ask her if she knew about the affair.”

Ouellette made a tortured-sounding moan.

“How could you do this to her, Mark?” Holleran asked. “That’s my sister. You’re on your own with this.” When he would’ve stormed out, Freddie stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“We need you to keep the details of this investigation confidential until we’ve had the chance to speak to Mrs. Ouellette,” he said. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I understand. I’m not allowed to tell my sister her husband is a dick. Got it.” He pulled free of Freddie’s grasp and walked out.

Sam put her notebook on the desk in front of Ouellette, who was now weeping quietly. “Write down the information about where we can find your wife. And please don’t play any games or do anything to waste more of our time, or I will arrest you.”

He took the notebook from her and started writing.

Chapter Thirteen

“I hate this,” Sam said to Freddie as they made their way through traffic toward the home of Mark and Josie Ouellette in the Woodley Park neighborhood.

“I do, too. She’s at home minding her own business while her husband is at work and her kids are at school with no idea a bomb is about to go off in her well-ordered life.”

“I have to be honest,” Sam said. “I didn’t have Pam pegged as the type to have an affair.”

“Me either. If you’d asked me to bet my life…”

“I know. Same. It seems out of character from everything we’ve learned about her.”

“I just wonder when she’d have the time between running her own business, taking care of a family, attending football games, helping with other people’s kids. She seemed really busy.”