“You said my reputation precedes me, but apparently you haven’t heard that I don’t give guarantees. Now, either your client has something useful to tell us for which we may or may not recommend leniency when it comes to charges, or you’re wasting our time. And if you’re wasting our time, that’s not going to help anything because we’ve got a lot to do today.”

The lawyer seemed frozen with indecision.

Sam stood, prepared to walk away if he couldn’t move his fat ass and get this show on the road.

“Wait,” Courtney said. The single word sounded torn from her soul. “I’ll tell you what you want to know. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Courtney—”

“Shut up, John. I’m all done keeping secrets. It’s gone on long enough.”

Here we go, Sam thought as she returned to her seat. It was all she could do not to rub her hands together with glee. She pressed the record button on the device on the table. “This interview is being recorded as part of the Hamilton investigation.” She listed the time and date and who was present in the room. “Mrs. Hamilton?”

“Troy met Dustin in law school at Northwestern in Chicago,” she began in a soft tone, her gaze fixed on the observation window behind Sam. “They were closer than brothers. The night I met Troy, I also met Dustin. We were at a summer home on Long Island that belonged to the parents of one of their law school friends. I’d been invited by friends of mine from home who were renting a house in the Hamptons for the summer. Troy and I hit it off immediately that night. We had a lot in common. We both came from high-profile families and were often burdened by the weight of their expectations. Dustin, he was a different story. He’d been raised by a single mother in the projects in Chicago and had gone to Northwestern, undergrad and law, on scholarships.” She took a sip from her glass of water. “I’m not sure how long Troy and I dated before I realized if I got one, I also got the other.”

“How do you mean?”

“I rarely had dinner alone with him, for example. Dustin was always there.”

“Did they live together?”

She nodded. “But it was more than that.”

“Were they lovers?”

She hesitated before she nodded again. “But I didn’t know that until after Troy and I were married.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Sam said, legitimately baffled.

“I didn’t either,” Courtney said.

John handed her his monogrammed handkerchief, and Courtney accepted it with a grateful grimace that might’ve been a smile under other circumstances. She dabbed at her eyes. “I caught them. In our bed.”

Sam tried to imagine... No. Just no. “How long had you been married?”

“About two months.”