Free Distortion (Moonlighters Series) by Terri Blackstock

light under the door. What are you doing? It’s 3:00 a.m.”
    “Close the door,” Juliet said. “I don’t want to wake the kids.”
    Cathy quietly closed it and came toward her, wearing a pair of shorts and a big T-shirt. “Juliet, what are you doing?”
    “I couldn’t sleep. Something Wanda said tonight was bugging me.”
    “Wanda who?”
    “Wanda Bennet. Another doctor’s wife.”
    “What did she say?”
    Juliet looked at her sister. Did she want her to know that her husband might have lied to her? Maybe she should leave well enough alone. But since when had she been able to keep a secret from Cathy? “Wanda said they missed us at the medical conference in Denver back in May.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Bob went. Or . . . he told me he did.”
    Cathy frowned. “You don’t think he did? Maybe Wanda made a mistake, or maybe you heard her wrong.”
    “No, I just looked. He has Denver on his calendar, but his airline ticket was for Nassau.”
    Cathy came around the bed to look at the computer. “Are you sure?” Juliet showed her, and Cathy read it carefully.
    “Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. There was a lot going on in May. If he told you he’d changed his plans, you might have forgotten.”
    “No. I always have his itinerary. I thought he was in Denver. He told me he was. He said he was staying in a hotel near Mile High Stadium.”
    Cathy pulled up a chair next to her and scrolled through Bob’s other airline tickets. “All this traveling. Where did he go?”
    “To drug studies. You know, the pharmaceutical companies pay all their expenses so doctors can come and learn about their new drugs. Free vacations, really. I used to go with him, but when the kids are in school, I can’t. That’s why I didn’t go in May.”
    “Well, I’m sure there’s an explanation. Why don’t you ask his travel agent or his secretary? See what they remember.”
    Juliet stared at the airline ticket. “Why would he lie? Cathy, do you think he was having an affair?”
    Cathy stiffened. “No, I do not. Bob loved you. There’s no way.”
    “But that guy . . . Jerome Henderson. Michael said he mentioned that Bob had dirty hands.”
    “Jerome is being accused of murder! He was trying to get the heat off himself. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation, and we’ll find it. I think you should talk to Bob’s office workers when you see them at the funeral tomorrow. Ask them to clear it up.”
    “But the phone call. Why were they threatening him?”
    Cathy was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. But it isn’t about another woman.”
    Juliet stared at the computer, numbness starting in her stomach and spreading up through her chest. “I’m just confused. I don’t know what to think anymore.”
    “This is a little thing,” Cathy said. “Don’t blow it up in your mind.”
    “He was murdered. Not robbed, but murdered. Then the threatening call. Now I find out he lied to me. I need to know.”
    “Then we’ll find out,” Cathy said. “I’ll get Michael on it. If Bob had a woman, we’ll find her. And we’ll figure out why he went to Nassau. But first let’s get through this funeral. Come on. Go to bed.”
    Juliet just sat there, sorrow tightening her throat, rising to her eyes.
    Cathy tried to hug her, but Juliet shook her off. “No, just stop.”
    “We’ll get through this, Juliet.”
    “No, we won’t! He’s dead! He’s not coming back.”
    Cathy had the grace to be quiet as Juliet wept. She tried to rub her back, but Juliet didn’t want to be touched. She moved away and got under the covers. “Go to bed, Cathy.”
    Cathy closed the door quietly. Juliet buried her face in the pillow and wept until there were no more tears.
    Sleep never came that night, but she forced herself to function. Her children needed her.

CHAPTER 13
    J uliet kept her hand on Zach’s knee during the funeral, wishing he would warm up to her, but he seemed angry. Truth be told, she was angry too. She had never envisioned herself