“True, but if she was in real trouble, I don’t think she would hesitate to hire the best legal mouthpiece in the country. She certainly could afford it.”

“Or at least her husband could. How much money does she have on her own? And what if her current husband is like her past husband? What if he holds all the purse strings and she knows he’d be reticent to hire a lawyer to defend her?”

“All true, but the fact that she did speak without a lawyer to me means either she thinks she’s clever enough to beat the system or she doesn’t have anything to do with Ben Little’s murder. Plus she was checked out thoroughly by Vitton and Lamar, and they couldn’t dredge up anything against her except Ben’s insurance policy. I think Ben was worth more to her alive than dead. He allowed her to tap into her trust fund. And, as a woman, I think part of her really liked her husband.”

“Ditto,” Oliver chimed in with his eyes still closed.

“Are you agreeing with him or me?” Marge said.

“You.” Oliver straightened up. “Melinda’s arrogant, and a liar and a thief. She could even be a murderer. But I don’t think she murdered Ben Little. I believe her when she said she had enough of the sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I think she was grateful to get out of the scene with her marriage intact and get rid of those losers.”

Decker said, “You think she was happy in a loveless marriage?”

Marge said, “Some women can deal with passionless marriages, especially if they occasionally get it from an outside source. Melinda seems to me to be one of those.”

Oliver said, “I also don’t think that she set up Ryan Goldberg to murder Ben. She wouldn’t be involved with a loser unless she was planning to whack him afterward. Otherwise he’d be an albatross around her neck.”

Marge said, “I agree with that as well.”

Decker said, “May I remind you two that Goldberg is missing? Maybe she did have him whacked.”

“If she was going to whack him,” Marge said, “she would have done it long ago.”

“Then how about Ryan murdering Ben on his own?” Decker asked.

Marge was noncommittal. “Melinda told us that Goldberg swore he didn’t do it.”

“That’s meaningless.”

“You met Goldberg, Pete. What do you think?”

“At first glance, he seems too compromised mentally to pull off a murder. But like you said, I didn’t know him then, and I don’t know him now. He could be a gentle giant ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. It may be that point one percent that we should be concerned about.”

Oliver made a face. “He stalked Melinda. That’s not a passive guy.”

Marge said, “But he stopped after Ben Little died.”