Free Faces of Evil [4] Rage by Debra Webb Page B

spoken in all that time, what was her reason for suddenly calling you, after what”—Jess shrugged—“two years?”
    Baron leaned against her desk and crossed her arms over her chest. “I made it a point not to get to know anything about the other woman. For the first year or so I hated her. Then I decided she wasn’t worth the emotional expenditure. I put it behind me and moved on.”
    “Ten years was quite an investment to just put behind you,” Jess countered. Sylvia Baron and the lieutenant had been married for a whole decade. Seemed to Jess that would be about like her trying to pretend the relationship she and Burnett had shared was dead and buried.
    “Touché, Chief,” Ms. Hoity-Toity confessed rather than going off on Jess as she’d expected. “It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing I’ve ever done but I managed.”
    “Have you spoken to your ex-husband since the divorce?”
    “Not once.” She laughed, the sound deep and rich yet tinged with a hint of self-deprecation. “That’s what lawyers are for.”
    “You were saying that Gabrielle called you yesterday.” They’d gone off course there for a moment.
    “She did. I was frankly”—she turned her palms up—“stunned when she identified herself. I almost hung up on her.” Baron shook her head. “But there was something in her voice.” She paused, appeared thoughtful. “Gabrielle was worried. Afraid even. Whatever it was about, it involved Larry and she wanted to talk to me. I think you’ll agree that for her to take that step required considerable desperation and no small amount of courage.”
    Certainly explained why the associate coroner had insisted on showing up at the scene. “I take it you didn’t learn what it was.”
    “She wanted to meet and talk last night. She said she couldn’t discuss it over the phone and since Larry was working last night it would be a good time, but I had other plans and…” Baron looked straight at Jess, defeat in her eyes. “That’s not true. I didn’t have any plans. I didn’t want to see her.” She looked away then. “Really, how was I supposed to react to that kind of abrupt call? I needed time to come to terms with her request so I put her off until lunch today.” She lifted her chin higher as if in defiance of the guilt she clearly felt. “I wasn’t going to jump just because she called.”
    So much for having moved on. “But you sensed that she was worried and afraid and it was related to her husband?”
    “Gabrielle said as much.” Her shoulders sagged. “And now she’s dead.”
    Jess reminded herself to choose her words carefully, but that just never worked for her. “You said you’d moved on but two years is hardly any time at all on the cheating-spouse scale. You surely understand that it’s necessary for me to determine whether you’re passing along this information out of concern or as some sort of payback against your ex-husband.”
    Sylvia started to object but Jess held up a hand so she could say the rest. “You also stated that you haven’t spoken to your ex-husband in all this time. It’s quite convenient that the day after his wife is murdered you announce that she called you about a possible problem with him. I’m not accusing you of misstating the truth, Dr. Baron,” Jess pointed out, “however, I do need you to see this the way others will. Before I go forward with this information, is there anything at all you’d like to revise about what you’ve just told me?”
    The other woman stood. She adopted that arrogant posture she pulled off so well and leveled a challenging gaze on Jess. “ Before you waste time trying to round up a bevy of suspects from gangland, I would urge you to take a long hard look at Lieutenant Lawrence Grayson. His wife was worried and it was about him and now she’s dead. That’s all I have to say.”
    “Count on it,” Jess assured her. “Thank you for your time, Doctor.”
    As Jess made her way back to the lobby, she put a