“What can I do for you?” Sam asked.

To Nick, Natalie said, “Would it be possible to get a glass of water?”

Nick made eye contact with Sam. “Sure.” When he returned with the water, Natalie had taken a seat on the sofa and was focused on her hands in her lap.

Sam looked at him and shrugged.

“Here you go,” Nick said, handing Natalie the glass of water.

“Thank you.”

“It’s really late, Natalie,” Nick said. “Why don’t you tell us why you’re here?”

“It’s so unreal,” she said softly. “I still can’t believe it…”

“Mrs. Jordan, we can’t help you if we don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sam said.

Looking up at them with shattered eyes, Natalie said, “Noel. I think he…”

“What did Noel do?” Nick asked, his heart beating harder all of a sudden. He wanted to take Natalie by the shoulders and shake it out of her. “What did he do?”

“He might’ve killed John.”

“Why do you say that?” Sam asked.

Nick noticed that she’d slipped into her cop mode, all signs of her earlier dismay over Peter gone.

“He’s been acting funny, leaving at odd hours, long silences. He seems very angry, but he won’t tell me why.”

“When I talked to you earlier in the investigation, you didn’t mention any of this.”

“I hadn’t put two and two together yet.”

“Tell me what you think you’ve put together.”

“That night,” Natalie said haltingly, “the night John was killed, we went to bed together, but I woke up in the middle of the night and he was gone.”

“You never mentioned that before.”

“He’s my husband, Detective.” Natalie’s eyes flooded with new tears. “I couldn’t believe it was even possible. I didn’t want to believe it’s possible.”

“So what changed?” Nick asked. “Why did you come here?”

“You were John’s friend,” Natalie said to Nick. “I thought you’d want to help find the person who did this to him.”

“Of course I do! But I want the truth!”

“So do I! I loved him! You know I did. Noel was jealous of him. I couldn’t even mention John’s name without setting him off.”

“What do you think set him off enough to want to kill him?” Sam asked.

“We saw John a couple of weeks before he died. It was at a cocktail party the Virginia Democrats had at Richard Manning’s house.” Natalie wiped new tears from her cheeks. “John came over to me, gave me a friendly hug and kiss. We talked for a long time, just catching up on each other’s lives. It was nothing. But I looked over at one point and saw Noel watching us. He looked like he could kill us both on the spot.”

“Why didn’t you mention any of this to us the other day?” Sam asked.