Page 24 of Take Your Breath Away

Isabel: Having an affair is being emotionally abusive. Are you married? If your husband cheated on you, wouldn’t you call that abusive?

Detective Hardy: The relationship I have with my partner is not what we’re here to discuss today. Can you cite any specific examples where Andrew Mason was emotionally abusive to Brie? When you saw them together, did he speak disrespectfully to her, threaten her? Did Brie appear fearful of him?

Isabel: Not exactly.

Detective Hardy: Let’s come at this from the other direction. Mr. Mason told me that Brie had also been unfaithful. Do you know anything about that?

Isabel: No. Did he say who it was?

Detective Hardy: Yes.

Isabel: Who was it?

Detective Hardy: That’s not something I’m going to share with you, Ms. McBain. I want to check out this individual’s alibi.

Isabel: My guess is it’s not even true. Andrew’s making excuses. Wants to justify what he did by saying she did it, too. And even if it is true, it doesn’t matter. The only reason she might have done something like that is because Andrew wasn’t treating her right. It was horrible living with him. You know what he’d do?

Detective Hardy: Why don’t you tell me.

Isabel: He renovates houses. So they’d buy one that needed work, and he’d fix it up while they lived in it. Total chaos, living in a house while it’s being ripped apart. And then when it was all fixed, when they had a nice place to live, he’d sell it, make some money, and buy another fixer-upper, and do it all over again. Imagine living like that. Never having a place that’s really home. Brie couldn’t take it anymore.

Detective Hardy: I’m not so sure what you’ve described constitutes emotional abuse.

Isabel: All I’m asking you is to do your job.

Detective Hardy: And where were you this past weekend?

Isabel: Excuse me?

Detective Hardy: I’m just getting a sense of where everybody was. Building a timeline, that kind of thing.

Isabel: We went away Saturday, overnight, to Boston. To see family.

Detective Hardy: We?

Isabel: My husband, Norman, and I. And I feel sick about it. If we’d been in town, maybe there’s something we could have done. Brie might have called me if she was in some kind of trouble. You know, instead of talking to me, you should be out there looking for her.

Detective Hardy: Believe me, we’re doing that. Mr. Mason insists that he and Brie both felt guilty and regretful about what they’d done, and that it prompted them to reassess their marriage, that it actually brought them closer together.

Isabel: And you believe that?

Detective Hardy: Do you?

Isabel: What I believe is you need to talk to Natalie Simmons and see what she has to say. Maybe Andy told her he really was in love with her, that he wanted to make a life with her, and all he had to do was get my sister out of the way first.

Detective Hardy: We intend to talk to all relevant parties in our investigation.

Isabel: Have you talked to her already?

Detective Hardy: No, we have not.

Isabel: Good God, what kind of detective are you? You should have talked to her the moment I gave you her name.

Detective Hardy: I will. As soon as we’re able to find her.

Nine

Andrew