JESSE HAD KNOWN MRS. STEEL FOR A LONG TIME NOW. ALWAYS strictly in a professional context, but, still, long enough to be taken aback by her present words and attitude. This awkward, passionate conversation was unthinkable in composed Mrs. Steel. Something must have triggered this irrepressible show of feelings.
It cost some time, trouble and several attempts to leave, but in the end they got to fully understand what was tormenting the lawyer. Since Mrs. Sloan's death, she had discovered that the doctor was involved with a nurse at the hospital, who, in turn, told her about his plans to remarry the writer.
"Good old spite."
"Yeah, well… Dr. Cameron has turned out to be a real Don Juan. Is he truly that irresistible?"
Kathy appreciated Jesse's humor.
"Not to me. But I might not have dealt with him long enough to fall prey to his charm," she answered with a wink.
They were in the cafeteria of the hotel. Not their hotel. The one they were staying in - for a very short time, they hoped - while they solved what they had come to solve, in the city where Mrs. Sloan might eventually have been murdered.
"You don't really believe that story, do you?" Kathy's question was, more than anything, addressed to herself.
"Bear in mind that there really is no story. The nurse told Mrs. Steel she suspected him capable of cutting Mary Anne's life short once he got himself included in the will. But he would have had to marry her first, which didn't happen. Dr. Sloan knew very well that at this stage, when Mrs. Sloan was merely being friendly to him, if anything, he had no chance of inheriting. So, why would he have had anything to do with her death? Besides, you were there that night. Did you see anything strange?"
"I've been thinking about it since we left Mrs. Steel. The fact is that he wasn't the first doctor to see her when we arrived at the hospital. I think he was busy with some other patient and arrived later. No, he couldn't have done her any harm. Oh, this is crazy!"
"I wonder what Mrs. Steel's husband thinks about all this," said Jesse, again trying to alleviate the tension. Oh, he was so different from David!
"I think Dr. Cameron is not very cautious, with two people knowing about his plans regarding his ex. And now we know too."
"Maybe he was just having some fun with these fictitious machinations."
"The missing money is not fictitious."