Free A Wedding and a Killing by Lauren Carr Page A

mean, Chip was the type that if he had a weapon, he would just grab it and shoot someone without thinking about it.”
    Mac, David, Bogie, and the sheriff exchanged grim expressions.
    Tina stopped sobbing and looked up at their faces. Her mother stopped mopping her daughter’s tears.
    Silence fell over the room.
    “Don’t tell me Chip has a gun,” Tina said.
    “A man was shot at Spencer Church this afternoon,” David said.
    “The church?” Stunned by the news, Tina stopped sobbing. “Why would he go shoot someone at the church ?”
    “He was angry with them for nixing his bake sale,” Mac said. “He had threatened Eugene Newton in front of witnesses.”
    “Yeah, but Chip has been mad and threatened at least a dozen other people since then,” she said.
    “Chip is always threatening someone for something,” Abby said.
    “If my husband got his hands on a gun, he wouldn’t be going after the church. He’d go after—” Tina stopped. Her face turned white.
    “Who?” Sheriff Turow asked. “Who would Chip be mad at enough today to kill?”
    Tina swallow. “I am so humiliated.” A fresh flow of tears came to her eyes.
    Abby mopped them away. “Tell them, dear. Tell them about Heather.” She told the officers, “He’d go after Heather. The bartender at the bar where he hangs out. He’s been having an affair with her and she called Tina last week to tell her about it. It’s been going on for over six months and she wanted Chip for herself. Tina said she could have him and left. Chip was furious with Heather for calling Tina. He wanted the best of both worlds—a devoted wife and a sex slave on the side.”
    Sheriff Turow was writing down the name. “Heather—What’s her last name?”
    Tina choked out a gut wrenching sob. “No!”
    “We have to tell them, dear.” Abby patted her daughter’s shoulders. “Even if she was sleeping with your husband, we can’t let him—”
    “No!” Tina covered her face with her hands. “You don’t understand.”
    “We do understand,” Abby said before adding, “Be careful of your nails, dear. They’re still wet.”
    “No.” Tina shook her head firmly. “It wasn’t Heather who called me.”
    “Who told you about Heather?” David asked.
    “You don’t understand,” Tina said. “Chip wasn’t having an affair with Heather. I just said it was her. She had nothing to do with it. Chip was cheating on me with …” She took in a deep shuddering breath before choking out, “Frank-Frankie!”
    Sheriff Turow crossed out the name on his notepad. “Frankie. What’s her last name?”
    “His last name is Sandler,” Tina sobbed. “My husband cheated on me with a man!”
    “Frankie Sandler,” Abby said with a gasp. “That creepy clerk at the bookstore who always wears long dangly earrings and—” She stopped to shudder. “Ee-eewww!”
    “Eeewwww is right!” Grabbing a handful of tissue, Tina rattled on while mopping the tears that flowed freely from her face. Clearly, she cared no longer about disturbing the wet nail polish. “Frankie called me last week and told me that he and Chip were in love and, if I cared for Chip, I’d let him go. Of course, I confronted Chip and he didn’t deny that he was having sex with Frankie, but he said he didn’t want to come out of the closet. Frankie had been insisting that if Chip loved him, he’d go public with their relationship. Chip said he loved me and didn’t want me to leave him.”
    She clenched both hands into tight fists. “Well, no way am I competing with a man for my husband!”
    “He wanted you to be his cover,” Abby said with disgust.
    Tina nodded her head. “So I left and Chip was furious with Frankie for breaking up our marriage.” Her voice cracked when she continued, “This morning, when Chip called, he said that he was sorry for embarrassing me and that he was going to end it today.”
    “Did you say Frankie was a clerk at the bookstore?” Bogie tapped David on the shoulder after