He wasn’t lying. Mendez was as straight an arrow as arrows could be. But he was trying to be evasive about something. Sara Morgan.

“Did you ask her how long she’d been friends with Marissa Fordham?” Vince asked.

The glance down.

“No. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I wasn’t going to push her over the edge.”

“Uh-huh. Very chivalrous of you.”

“What? I was supposed to browbeat her?”

Anger.

“There was no point in it,” Mendez said. “She doesn’t have it in her to kill someone. Besides, she’s going to divorce the husband. That ends her suffering regarding his infidelities.”

Denial. Rationalization.

Vince nodded.

Half a scowl. “Don’t give me that look.”

“What look is that?” he asked.

“You smug bastard,” Mendez complained. “Don’t you sit there and psychoanalyze me.”

“Well, I wouldn’t,” Vince said, amused. “But it’s just so easy.”

“Say it, then.”

“Say what?”

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Oh, yeah,” Vince said, chuckling.

“So I’m attracted to her,” Mendez admitted. “So what? What guy wouldn’t be? She’s gorgeous and talented—”

“And needs a champion—”

“I kept everything very professional. Nothing inappropriate happened.”

“Of course not.”

“I mean it!”

“I know you do, Tony,” Vince said, serious now. “You’re an honorable man. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to stand up for a woman—even if she doesn’t belong to you. I mean, really, that’s how it ought to be. I just don’t want to see you blur a line here.”

“Oh, you mean like you didn’t?” Mendez said sarcastically.

“Anne wasn’t a person of interest—”

“Sara couldn’t—”

Vince held up a finger to stop him. “Listen to me. Anne wasn’t a witness. She wasn’t a suspect. Her involvement in the case—while crucial—was peripheral when we first got together. Then she became a victim. Now Crane’s attorneys are trying to get evidence thrown out, claiming I planted it because Anne and I were involved.”

“The hell!” Mendez said.

“It’s true. They want that tube of superglue excluded. Thank God it’s not that important to Anne’s case. But if they can get it excluded now, chances are our side doesn’t get it back in later. If Crane goes to trial on any of the See-No-Evil cases, and the prosecution wants to establish a pattern of behavior ...”

“Shit.”

“Now back to you, Junior,” Vince said. “Don’t get me wrong, I like Sara, Anne likes Sara. But if Steve Morgan was having an affair with Marissa Fordham, then Sara had a motive and she has to be considered a person of interest. Even if she wasn’t, Steve Morgan is certainly someone we have to take a look at. You can’t get involved with Sara.”

“I wouldn’t,” Mendez said, frowning with the working side of his mouth. “She’s a married woman.”