Page 82 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

“Let me know when you make up your mind.”

“I’ll tell you one thing, if she knew about it and didn’t tell us the first time we were here, I’m going to be pissed.” Sam knocked on Paula’s front door. “You know how I hate people who waste our time.”

“Yes, I do.”

She knocked again. “Metro PD.”

The inside door opened, and Paula seemed surprised to see them there. “You’re back,” she said as she opened the storm door.

“We’re back,” Sam said. “We have some follow-up questions.”

“Come in.”

Once again, they followed her back to the kitchen, where Paula turned down the heat under a pot on the gas range.

Sam wouldn’t live in a house with gas. Her first year on the job, she’d responded to a house explosion that was later tied to a leak in the gas line. The house had been reduced to splinters, killing two people inside. Sam had never forgotten what she’d seen that day. She wondered if the White House had gas. If it did, it was probably inspected regularly. She’d have to ask Gideon about that so she’d have something else to worry about.

When they were seated at Paula’s kitchen table, Sam glanced at Freddie, giving him the ball.

He gave her a withering look before turning his attention to Paula. “Did Pam ever give you any indication that she was unhappy in her marriage?”

“No, not at all. She and Bob were solid.”

“Did she mention interest in other men?”

Paula recoiled. “Of course not. She was married.”

“It’s come to our attention that Pam was having an affair with Mark Ouellette, one of the coaches of her sons’ football team.”

“That’s not true.”

“We have reason to believe it is.”

Paula was quiet for a long moment, and Sam was pleased that Freddie waited on her. That’s what she would’ve done, too. “How did you find out?”

“Mark told us.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because we’re trying to figure out who killed Pam, and we made it clear to him that withholding information in a homicide investigation is a crime.”

“How do you know he’s telling the truth?”

“His story was convincing, as was the fact that he’d have nothing to gain by telling us this and everything to lose.” Sam waited a beat before adding, “You heard the part about withholding information pertinent to a homicide being a crime, right?”

“Yes.” She ran a trembling hand through her hair. “I hope you understand… Pam was my friend. My best friend. When you were here the first time, my only thought was to protect her family. She’s gone, you know? But her husband and kids… They have to live with the fallout of what happened.”

“Tell us what happened,” Sam said.

“She… She loved Bob very much. I never heard her say a bad word about him, even when the rest of us were husband-bashing. She said he was a wonderful father and husband and a hard worker.”

“But?”

Paula released a deep sigh. “In the past few years, he’d stopped wanting a physical relationship with her. Everything else between them was as it had always been, but that part of their lives had come to an end.”

“Had she talked to him about it?”

“She had, and he’d seen several doctors who couldn’t find any physical reason for his sudden lack of interest in sex. He’d recovered from the prostate cancer he’d been treated for and was back to full health, so it wasn’t that. They’d been to counseling, which had also failed to solve the problem. It was a very difficult situation for her. She was forty-seven years old and not ready for that part of her life to be over.”