“She was. They’d only been married for a few months, so it was a hell of a way for the honeymoon period to end.”
I pressed my lips into a slight grimace. “Poor Samantha.”
“Trina was furious,” Adam went on. “Especially because she was the one who introduced Lindsay to Jason by inviting her to the Easter lunch. So she felt like it was partly her fault.”
“Did she confront her?” I asked, brows rising.
“She was going to, but she never got a chance. That was actually my fault.”
“Why?”
“Well, after Trina found out what happened, she was angrier than I’d ever seen her before. Too angry to even look at Lindsay, let alone speak to her. But she told me all about it. I suggested she take some time to cool off and then talk to Lindsay about it later. Obviously they weren’t going to be friends anymore, but I figured Trina needed to say her piece. Let Lindsay know how much she’d hurt her and her family.” Adam stopped and hesitated for a few seconds, flattening his lips. “She was going to come over to our house and confront her about everything the next Sunday, but like I said… she never got a chance.”
“Because Lindsay died?”
“Yes. The night before Trina was going to come over.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “I know she felt awful about it. She was so mad at Lindsay for wrecking her sister’s marriage, but at the same time, they’d been best friends for a decade. So she was still devastated when she died.”
I nodded slowly. “That’s understandable.”
“Yeah. Anyway, Jason could be a suspect, right?” Adam asked. “Because when Samantha found out about the affair, she kicked him out of their house right away and hired the best divorce attorney in town. He knew he was going to end up with nothing.”
“Why?”
“Because he didn’t really have much of his own money. Samantha met him in college and brought him to Royal Falls, and marrying into the Seabornes was like winning the lottery for him. Suddenly he had a ton of money and job offers flung at him all the time, all because of his wife’s parents.”
I nodded. “That’s a definite motive. He might’ve blamed Lindsay. As if the affair was all her fault, and therefore it was also her fault that he lost his golden ticket.”
Adam let out a short snort. “Exactly. A lot of guys don’t like to take responsibility for shit like that. They’ll act like it was entirely the woman’s fault. Like she seduced him with her wicked temptress ways, and he was totally powerless.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yup. But in reality, Jason was a predatory adult willingly pursuing and sleeping with a sixteen-year-old girl.”
“She was actually still fifteen when they first met.”
“Yikes.” I underlined Jason Breckenridge’s name. Right now, he seemed like the most obvious suspect. “What about Samantha?” I asked, glancing back up at Adam. “Do you think she could’ve been angry enough at Lindsay to hurt her?”
“Maybe.”
“And Mr. and Mrs. Seaborne? Could they have been angry at her for contributing to the destruction of their daughter’s marriage?”
Adam shook his head. “No. I think they’d be more likely to kill Jason than the woman he cheated with.”
“Okay.” I fell silent for a beat as I scanned our list. “We’ve got quite a few names so far. Is there anyone else you can think of who might’ve been angry at Lindsay?”
His eyes scrunched up as he considered my question. Then he shook his head. “No one else springs to mind right now. Unless you count Hunter’s totally debunked theory that it was you, because of the necklace. And that doesn’t make sense, because your mom got the necklace at a pawn shop. Unless—”
He stopped midsentence and dropped his gaze to his mug.
“Unless what?” I asked, leaning forward.
He shook his head again. “Nothing,” he muttered. “Just forget I said anything.”
“Adam,” I said in a warning tone. “Tell me.”
He let out a deep sigh. “I can’t. I don’t want you to take it the wrong way.”
“I won’t.”
“Really, Laney. It’s nothing.”