Crystal Lies - Melody Carlson [39]
I waved my hand. “Does it really matter? Do you really want me to name names? Let’s just say the cat’s out of the bag now, Geoffrey.” I couldn’t believe how calm I was acting when inside I was seething. Maybe watching him lose it made it easier for me to keep myself together.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Glennis.” He gave his head a sharp shake and acted like he was looking out the window at something of real interest, but I knew he was just avoiding eye contact with me. “Everyone knows that Judith and I have worked together closely on this case, but that’s all there is to it. Simply a working relationship.”
“Call it whatever you like, Geoffrey.” I stared at him now, seeing him in a whole new way. “Just don’t deny it. Okay?” I couldn’t believe this was the man I had married and lived with for more than two decades. Was he even in there somewhere? This man before me seemed more like the villain in a bad movie or the devil disguised as the man I once loved. But whatever he was, he was a stranger to me now. My heart didn’t recognize him anymore.
“Look, Glennis,” he said in a more controlled voice,“you are blowing this way out of proportion. I realize you’ve been under a lot of stress, and as a result you may be imagining things that aren’t really—”
“Are you suggesting that I’m hallucinating?” I demanded, suddenly losing my earlier calm.
He held up his hand. “Not hallucinating, exactly, but perhaps making this into something it’s not.”
“I am not imagining anything, Geoffrey. I saw the two of you together last night. Mrs. Fieldstone has seen you two together. For Pete’s sake, even your own son has seen—”
“It’s not like that,” he insisted again, talking to me slowly and calmly as if he were addressing a four-year-old child. “I told you, Glennis, we are simply working together on this case, and we have to—”
“Just admit it, Geoffrey!” I yelled. “Just get it out into the open and admit it!”
“Stop screaming.”
“I am not screaming,” I said in a quieter but still angry voice. “I’m just telling you, I know. Everyone knows. Quit acting like its not happening, Geoffrey.”
He took a deep breath, and for a moment I thought perhaps he was going to come clean. But, no, he only began pouring forth more denials, more platitudes, and finally blamed me for the whole stupid mess. “You’re the one who left me, Glennis,” he said for about the seventh time. “You chose to walk away from our marriage, not me—”
“No!” I pointed my finger in his face. “You may not have left your precious home.” I waved my hand around the foyer. “You didn’t abandon your expensive furniture and glorious views and perfectly appointed spaces, but you left our marriage when you got involved with Judith. You know it, and I know it, and probably half of the town knows it. So why don’t you quit lying about it, Geoffrey? Why can’t you tell the truth?”
“Judith is a work associate.” He sounded like a robot or maybe a message on an answering machine. “She has been working on the case with me.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Fine, have it your way, Geoffrey. Tell whatever story suits you.”
“It’s the truth—”
“Overruled, counselor!” I yelled at his face. Then I leaned forward and stared into his eyes. “Yes, I almost forgot, Geoffrey; you’re a lawyer. It’s your job to know how to spin any story. You get paid to make crap look good, don’t you?”
Then I walked out the front door, got into my car, and squealed my tires on the street as I tore around the corner. I was so outraged that I’m sure I was probably just as dangerous as someone driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but fortunately I made it back to the apartment without injuring anything but my pride.
I was still furious after I got home to my apartment. I paced through the kitchen and into the living room, back and forth, ruminating over all the things I should’ve said or done while I still had Geoffrey’s attention. I wished I had slapped him or spit in his smooth-featured face. Immature perhaps, but I think that something physical would’ve