A Widow's Guilty Secret by Marie Ferrarella

answers. Were they friends of Peter’s? People he dealt with?
    “Can you tell me who else was killed, or are their identities something that’s being kept from the public for the time being?” she asked.
    “You’ll know soon enough. We have to make sure all the families are contacted first.” The FBI was handling that part of it, the part that involved handling the media and releasing information. The names were going to be released sooner than later, because of the media that had converged on Vengeance, thanks to the Grayson disappearance and probable kidnapping. The reporters were everywhere, digging into everything. Suzy was going to hear about the other two men soon enough, but he could talk to her later about the details.
    “I understand, Detective.”
    “Did the sheriff ever talk about anyone in particular? Did he discuss his personal affairs with you?” Nick asked.
    There was no humor in the small laugh that escaped her lips. “Peter actually talked less and less to me in the last six months or so. I think he’d started to have real regrets about talking me into getting pregnant and having a baby.”
    “If you don’t mind my asking, why did you?” She didn’t strike him as the type who would blindly do anything her husband asked her to—
unless she wanted to. “Let him talk you into having a baby?” he explained when she seemed confused.
    Her initial reaction had been to say no, but then she’d changed her mind.
    “Because I felt I owed it to the marriage to give it another try,” she told him honestly. “And I thought that maybe a baby would help us find that spark. The one I never seemed to have felt,” she confessed, then pressed her lips together as her words replayed themselves in her head.
    “I guess that’s a little too much information.” Suzy laughed ruefully, embarrassed over what she’d just admitted to a total stranger. He had a sympathetic look in his eyes, but she didn’t want his sympathy. There was no reason to have allowed that slip out. It was much too personal. “That’s certainly not going to help you solve the crime. Any of them,” she tacked on.
    “Technically, I’m only working your husband’s murder,” he told her. “We have the other two murders assigned to other people and we’re sharing information—if there’s any to share,” he qualified. It was still early in the investigation and so far nothing was being shared. “Do you know if your husband kept any files or extraneous information around somewhere? You know, things that weren’t on the computer, but he still didn’t want anyone else to see?”
    As he spoke, he started to conduct a search himself. He pulled at the middle drawer, only to find that it wouldn’t budge. He looked down, his expression registering only mild surprise. “Did he always keep his desk locked?”
    “I wouldn’t know. Peter didn’t want me in here.” She knew how that had to sound, but she’d really had no interest in his work, other than it helped pay his share of the bills.
    “How about when he was at work?” His guess was that most women would have taken the opportunity to poke around then. “Weren’t you curious?” he prodded.
    “Not really. Peter kept the office door locked. Besides, I was at work myself for most of that time.” She paused a moment, then added, “I told myself that whatever he had in this room had to do with the job.”
    “And did you believe yourself?” Nick asked, watching her closely to get a handle on what she was really feeling.
    She looked at him knowingly. “I’m not an idiot, Detective.”
    “No, ma’am,” he agreed. “In my opinion, you’re definitely not an idiot.” He ended the sentence on a firm, upbeat note, waiting for her to follow it up with something, anything.
    He didn’t have long to wait.
    “I felt that as long as I didn’t ask questions and accuse him of cheating—as long as I supposedly didn’t know what he was up to, we could make our way back from