“Any idea who Lauren might have been involved with?” Gabriel asks.

I shake my head. Lauren’s sex life was not a topic that we ever discussed. Mine took up all the air.

“I wish I did, but I’m kind of shocked to learn about it at all, to be honest. So, no, I don’t have the first clue. I don’t remember her ever even saying that so-and-so was attractive.”

Gabriel nods. “We’re flashing her photo around the hotels in the neighborhood near the office. If someone recognizes her, maybe they can work with a sketch artist to come up with her guy. A better bet is her mystery lover showing up on the surveillance tapes from the ATMs where she made the withdrawals. But you know how the banks like to take their time getting those over to us.” He pauses for a moment. “It’s a little weird that she’d be the one paying, though, right? I mean, I’m all for gender equality, but I think that when you’re having an affair with a married woman, the guy should pay.”

The way he says it suggests that this is not a hypothetical in Gabriel’s life. I wonder how many times he’s paid for hotel rooms to spare a married woman from doing it.

“Maybe they went twice a week,” I say. “Or maybe the guy wasn’t a multimillionaire or married to one, so Lauren felt like it was only fair that she pay.”

He nods. “I didn’t think of the twice-a-week thing, but yeah, they might have alternated paying. Because even if he wasn’t a millionaire, I still think the guy would pay sometimes, no matter how much money the woman has. Otherwise, I don’t know, you feel like a hooker.”

I’m not going to debate the etiquette of who should foot the bill for adulterous affairs with my boyfriend, so I change the subject to something more relevant. “What does Richard say about the affair?”

“We talked to him before we had the bank records, but he told us that he didn’t think there was another man in her life. Dismissed it out of hand, actually. We haven’t gone back to him with this evidence, but I’m sure it’s not going to change anything. He’s a smart enough guy to realize that admitting he even had an inkling his wife was cheating gives him motive.”

I couldn’t agree more. Richard Trofino’s no stranger to peril—legal or otherwise—and those experiences undoubtedly taught him the importance of establishing a defense early and sticking to it, no matter what. On top of which, he’s most definitely not the kind of man who would play the cuckold well. If he had learned that Lauren was cheating on him, he very well may have killed her.

27. DANA GOODWIN

27.

DANA GOODWIN