suffered.â Tagg choked with emotion.
Barbara Jeanâs gaze locked with Sandersâs and without saying a word she conveyed her concern. He closed his eyes for just for a second and she understood exactly what he was reliving in that dark moment and how the other manâs words had touched a sharp, painful chord in Sandersâs very private memories.
Sanders cleared his throat. âIâll oversee the case personally, but Iâll put one of our top agents in charge of the investigation. His name is Holt Keinan. I called him in from Knoxville last night and heâs ready to return to Memphis with you today to handle things in the field. He will need your full cooperation. Do you understand?â
âHeâll have it,â Tagg assured Sanders.
âWhatever you share with us will go no further, even if youâve been involved with anything illegal. But in order for us to do our job, we have to know about anything that might have the slightest bearing on your wifeâs murder.â
âNo one Iâm associated with killed her. Iâm sure of that. Nobody was out to get me through Hilary.â
âNevertheless, we will be digging into your and your wifeâs personal lives, past and present.â
Tagg clenched his teeth and nodded.
âThe more you can tell us, the more time we can save investigating and having to find out things you could have told us.â Sanders paused, giving Tagg a chance to inject information into their conversation. He didnât. Sanders continued. âYou seem to think thereâs no one in your life who posed a threat to you or your wifeâwhat about someone in your wifeâs life? Somebody from her past? Or someoneâ?â
âItâs no secret that for a while, when she was in her early twenties, Hilary went from being a Las Vegas showgirl to a star in several low-budget adult movies.â
âBy adult you mean pornographic movies?â
âYeah. Hilary was a beautiful woman. She had a great body. And she loved showing it off. She loved lifeâ¦loved sex. When we met, she gave up the movie business and her agent was none too happy. This guy wore two hats, one as an agent and another as a producer of porno flicks. He told Hilary that sheâd regret leaving him to marry me, that sheâd miss the business and come back to him the first time she caught me in bed with another woman.â
âDid she?â Sanders asked.
When Tagg looked him in the eye, his gaze questioning, Sanders clarified. âDid she ever catch you with another woman?â
âFrom the day we married, there was never anyone else for either of us. Itâs been that way for the past seven years.â
âWho was this guy, the agent-cum-producer?â
âTravis Dillard.â
âDid your wife have any contact with him over the past seven years or perhaps only recently?â
âNo, none, not over the years or recently.â
âWe will check into it, find out if there is any reason to think he might be involved.â Sanders glanced at Barbara Jean. âSee if Holt is free to join us and then have coffee prepared and served in approximately twenty minutes.â
âCertainly.â Barbara Jean wheeled out of the room and headed straight for the kitchen. Holt would be there having a late breakfast. She had spoken to him less than fifteen minutes before Tagg Chamblessâs arrival.
The moment Cam Hendrix had contacted Sanders to tell him about Hilary Chamblessâs murder, she had known Sanders would agree to take the case. He identified with any man who had lost his wife in such a brutal way. And each time he became involved in a case such as this, he relived his own wifeâs death at the hands of a monster.
Â
Charles Wong placed the letter back in the envelope, tore the envelope into several pieces, and dumped the pieces into the kitchen wastebasket.
âWeâre off,â his wife Lily
Emma Daniels, Ethan Somerville