“We used to come along here to Ace’s every Friday night, and that’s how Darla got to know Eleanor,” he said. “They’d talk about women’s stuff—you know, like clothes and movie stars and all that kind of shit. Then they started hanging out together away from the bar. Next thing, Darla’s wearing makeup and changing the way she dresses to look more like Eleanor, even though she didn’t really have the figure, truth be told. These days, you women would probably call it a girl crush. Don’t get me wrong—it wasn’t sexual or nothing. I guess Darla just wanted to be like Eleanor.”

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t know Eleanor as well as Darla thought you did?”

“That’s the other thing you need to know about Darla: she’s jealous as hell.” Stevenson laughed. “When that green-eyed monster rears its ugly head, boy, you’d better take cover. It’s the reason why we split up in the end. What self-respecting man puts up with his wife checking his cell phone and rummaging through his pockets when he’s been out at work all day earning a living? I only stayed as long as I did because of Hank Junior. When he left for college a few years back, I was outta there.”

“Do you think Darla was jealous of Eleanor?”

“Hell yeah. What broad wouldn’t be? Eleanor had every guy in Eagle Rock after her. And Darla thought that included me too. At one point, she even convinced herself we were having an affair behind her back.”

“And were you?”

Stevenson snorted. “Not a chance. Girl like Eleanor wouldn’t have looked twice at a guy like me.” He picked up the refilled tumbler, took a sip, then looked at Jessica. “In any case, I loved my wife. I had no interest in screwing her best friend.”

They both drank in silence for a few minutes. Then Jessica remembered what Catherine Tavernier had told her about her father’s suspicions that Eleanor was having an affair with a coworker.

“You’re a construction worker, right?” she asked. “Did you ever work for Tav-Con?”

“Yeah, back in the ’90s, before Premium Construction took over the contracts. Still work for Premium now.”

“You ever remember hearing any rumors about Eleanor being involved with any of the staff when she worked in the office there?”

Stevenson shook his head. “Can’t say that I do. And believe me, if any of the boys were getting jiggy with Eleanor Lavelle, they wouldn’t have kept something as juicy as that to themselves. Whole place woulda known about it.”

“Maybe she wanted to keep the relationship on the down-low?” Jessica said. “From what I hear, the owner wasn’t too happy about the idea of coworkers getting it on together.”