“Thank you,” Liza said, her hands continuing to shake as she took a drink. “Jamie is my friend. We met at yoga class and fell into the habit of getting a smoothie after class. We got to know each other, shared confidences. That’s how I knew about her friendship with Willie. She talked about him a lot. I started to wonder, you know?”

“About?”

“If it was more than friendship. I follow the team, so I knew he was married. I knew he had children.”

“Did you suspect she was having an affair with him?”

“I know she was.”

Sam gripped the conference table tighter. “How did you know that?”

“She told me.”

“What did she tell you?” Sam hated interviews like this in which she had to pull every piece of information from the interviewee.

“That she was in love with him, and he loved her too. He was going to leave his wife after the season. They weren’t getting along. They were fighting about money and how he wouldn’t help her brother. He didn’t want to be with her anymore. He wanted to be with Jamie, or so she said.”

“Was she sleeping with him?”

Liza bit her bottom lip and nodded. “She said she’d never had sex like that in her life, but something happened a couple of days before the game.”

“Do you know what it was?”

“He told her he couldn’t leave his wife. As much as he wanted to be with Jamie, he was afraid he’d lose his kids if he left Carmen. She was devastated and furious. She’d made plans with him, and then he pulled the rug out from under her. She was very, very angry with him.”

“It would help our investigation if you gave us a written statement,” Sam said, glancing at Gonzo.

Liza’s ravaged eyes widened with dismay. “Why? I just told you everything I know.”

“We need it for the file.”

“I... I don’t know about that.”

“If you weren’t prepared to assist in our investigation, why did you come here?”

“I... I thought I should tell someone what I knew. I love Jamie. I don’t want her to get in trouble, but she was so mad. She... She said she felt like she could kill him for putting her through this.”

“Would you please write it down for us?” Sam asked, glancing at Gonzo who produced a yellow pad and a pen.

Tears rolled down Liza’s cheeks as she waited for one of them to blink.

Neither of them did.

Sniffling, she picked up the pen and began to write.

Sam went to the door and called out to the pit. “Cruz!”

Freddie came into the room. “You bellowed?”