Free Deadly Décor (A Caprice De Luca Mystery) by Karen Rose Smith Page B

had sometimes disagreed, but after the disagreement . . . her mom would make a frocia, one of her dad’s favorite meals, and he’d open a bottle of one of their favorite wines. They’d negotiate over that meal, and then they’d turn in early. As Caprice had gotten older, she’d realized what that meant, even if she didn’t want to realize what that had meant.
    “I’m not trying to pry, Bella, really I’m not. I’m just trying to figure out if Joe . . .”
    “Has kept his vows?” Bella asked. “I think he’s the kind of man who does. That’s why I married him. That’s why I’ve stayed with him, even when we aren’t getting along so well.”
    “I want you to think about something, Bee, and think about it really hard. Was he acting differently before the news of your pregnancy? Did he come home smelling like smoke then?”
    “Everything’s becoming all muddled together.”
    “I know. But this is important.”
    Bella closed her eyes, as if she was trying to remove herself from the present situation so that she could go back. “Last winter I got really worried one night when the roads were icy and he was terrifically late. He said he had a client meeting. I really didn’t think too much of it because then there was Valentine’s Day and he sent me flowers. Joe doesn’t usually buy me flowers.”
    A guilt present? Compensation to make up for whatever he was involved in? Whether it was another woman or something else. Unsettling as the realization was, Caprice wasn’t sure if she knew Joe well enough even after all these years to decide whether he’d break his vows. Could anyone really know someone else?
    “There are tons of questions we need to have answered here, Bella. Where was Joe last night if he didn’t go for a drive? If he was with another woman, is he afraid to say so because he doesn’t want to lose you? If he wasn’t with another woman, then where was he? And then there’s the really important question.”
    “More important than any of those?”
    “The most important question. You might be the only one who can answer it.”
    “What?”
    “Do you think Joe could hurt somebody? If he found out about your rendezvous with Bob, could be he jealous enough to kill him?”
    Before Bella could recover from the shock and horror of Caprice asking that question, they heard chairs scraping against the linoleum in the kitchen. As the two men entered the living room and she and Bella did the same, Caprice noticed the sharp contrast between Grant and Joe.
    Grant wore a charcoal suit, a pale gray shirt, and a red-black-and-gray patterned tie. He was the epitome of the thirty-something professional. No one would ever guess by looking at him the tragedy he’d been through. He never spoke about his divorce and the loss of his child. His guard was usually up. Her best friend, Roz, insisted there were thumping vibrations in the air when she and Grant were in the same room. Her mother had told her that she treated Grant with kid gloves. Not so much anymore. Not so much since the murder investigation they’d gone through together in May.
    But thumping vibrations?
    That was just from the strain that was created because the two of them disagreed about a lot. They didn’t think the same way. They often seemed to be at odds. Yet she also realized she’d trust Grant with her life.
    When she looked at Joe, she saw a man who wished he could wear jeans and a T-shirt to work every day. She saw a man who wanted to come first and foremost with his wife over and above her family. She saw a man with traditional values who’d never before seemed to be hypocritical about any of them.
    But was he? Did he have a mean streak, instead of just a short temper? Did he do more than raise his voice when he grew angry?
    She and Bella heard Joe say to Grant, “I can’t pay you very much. We’re strapped right now, and with the baby coming, we only have some savings from . . .” He stopped. “It’s from presents her family