Suddenly he sounded coherent and in control. “Yeah, that sounds good, Marty. Just keep cool and it’ll all work out. But there’s one other thing we need to talk about.”

“What’s that?”

“No matter what happens, you know the police are going to talk to you, if for no other reason than the fact that you’re Teal’s ex-husband. You have to face them and be cool and composed during the whole meeting. They might come as soon as tonight. They’ll try to trip you up on details. You have to be careful with what you say.”

“Talk to me about what? We’ve been at the track all day, then stopped for a drink at the Palm Beach Grill. I can account for almost every minute of my day.”

“And I’ll back you up on every single thing you say. But we need to practice our story over and over. And not be on the phone to each other every few minutes.”

He nodded. “Smart, very smart. I’m lucky I have you.” He focused on the street in front of him, careful not to cause an accident or draw any attention. If someone spotted us up here at the north end of the county, it would blow all our plans instantly.

I leaned back in the seat and took a deep breath. I tried to clear my mind, but all I could see was that dark blood spreading across Teal’s pretty flowered dress. I was an accomplice to murder.

Chapter 26

About midday, I turned on my phone and called Marty. We didn’t want a lot of phone calls that could be verified by the police. We felt it would be more natural if we had just one call during the day like any normal couple. That was all part of the plan we’d formulated on our frantic drive down from Vero Beach when we decided to try to cover up our involvement in the murder of his ex-wife. Once we’d made a conscious decision to hide it, we were committed.

We met at TooJay’s, a decent local deli chain that was in the same plaza as the Palm Beach Grill. It was later in the afternoon, so the place was nearly empty except for a few of the elderly residents who’d walked over from the Biltmore Condos and a couple of traders from the local financial companies grabbing a late, late lunch.

We picked at a platter because neither of us felt much like eating, and when we were sure no one was around, Marty said, “So the cops came by my apartment late last night. It was a Vero detective and an agent from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. I guess they needed the FDLE for jurisdiction. They didn’t call first. Just knocked on my door around eleven. I acted like they woke me up, but of course I couldn’t sleep.”

This was what I had been anxious to hear all night. I couldn’t believe I’d managed to keep my cool. I’d wanted to race over to see him or call him the entire day. “What’d you tell them?”