“I don’t fucking know. Maybe for sympathy. Maybe for attention. I don’t know why she would do that. But I can tell you one thing, she used to come to me back when I was an officer in Appleton, Wisconsin and tell me all the same stuff about her first husband, that he was abusing her. I would never intentionally hurt her and now I’m starting to think, maybe he didn’t either.” He’s glancing all over the place as if he’s putting all the pieces together. But his furrowed brows and wide eyes show me that it’s not making sense. None of it does. Why would she do that?

“She told me about her first husband. She told me you were holding it over her, that you’d say you could go back and get her convicted of his murder if you wanted. It’s why she couldn’t leave you.”

“None of that is true. I never talked about him. I never brought that part of her life up. When we left Wisconsin, we left that chapter of our lives behind us.” He looks me straight in the eye. He wants me to believe him, but I don’t know whether or not he’s telling the truth. How could I? I don’t know him. All I know is what Kelly has told me about him.

“Why would she lie about that?” I ask.

“I really don’t know. But I swear to you I never hurt her.”

“What about the texts you sent her the night of her murder? You threatened her!”

“I know. I regret sending those,” he says with a soft sob. “But I didn’t kill her. I was with my partner, Marcus, all night.”

“Convenient. Is that why you’re here? To convince me that you’re innocent in all of this?”

He rubs his face with his hands as if he’s trying to wake himself up from a bad dream or something. “No, I came here to look you in the eye and for you to be man enough to admit what you’ve done.”

“I didn’t kill Kelly. I wouldn’t. I loved her, and I know you don’t want to hear that as her husband, but I did.”

Scott shakes his head.

The door flings open and in the doorway is Sarah, her assistant Anne, and a man in a pinstripe suit. It takes me a moment to recognize him. It’s Matthew, Sarah’s best friend in law school. I haven’t seen him in years—but Sarah stays in touch with him via text, calls, and emails. She’s even visited him a few times in New York. Sarah looks at Scott and then at me and from her expression, I know she’s pissed.

“What the hell are you doing speaking to my client?” she shouts, her attention directed at Scott.