‘And the Selbys didn’t?’ Cody asks.
Nisha considers her reply carefully but ends up being blunt all the same. ‘Alexa married Oliver for his money. Oliver married Alexa to have a pretty young thing on his arm.’
Ross feels the need to jump to the aid of his friend. ‘I’m not sure that’s quite fair…’
‘It’s accurate. They didn’t love each other. You know that, Ross. It was all about material goods and appearances.’
Ross backs down sheepishly. In a low voice that is never going to be missed by his wife he says, ‘Nisha never really took to Alexa.’
‘And I don’t mind admitting it,’ Nisha retorts. ‘Even if she is dead. She was a gold digger. Not to mention a flirt.’
The brutal honesty causes Ross to wince a little. ‘I wouldn’t say that.’
‘Well, I would. She was all over any man who came near her. And that includes you.’
Ross smiles. ‘That’s just my animal magnetism.’
‘Hmm,’ Nisha says, flashing him a look that suggests to Cody that this is a sore topic. He’s even more convinced of it when Nisha suddenly turns and walks out of the room again.
Ross does his best at damage limitation. ‘Whatever their relationship was, I still don’t think Oliver could have killed her.’
Webley says, ‘Could he get violent? Like, for example, if a bloke was getting a bit too friendly with Alexa?’
Ross mulls this one over too. ‘Not violent. Aggressive, yes. He was very protective of her.’
Cody wonders if possessive might be a better word.
‘Ever see him get into a fight over her?’ Webley asks.
‘No. He would just firmly let other guys know when he thought they were getting a little too close for comfort.’
‘Uh-huh.’
It sounds to Cody as though that sort of attitude could easily escalate into something physical. The more he hears about Oliver Selby, the more he doesn’t like him. But he’s not sure that this conversation is taking them any closer to finding him.
He says, ‘As I mentioned before, we’re having a little trouble locating Oliver. We’re talking to all his relatives and close friends, but so far no luck. I wonder if you have any suggestions for us?’
‘Not really. I—’
He is interrupted by Nisha sweeping back into the room. ‘My guess is he’s shacked up with a woman somewhere.’
Cody turns his full attention on the woman who seems to have her finger on the pulse as far as the Selby couple are concerned.
‘Oh? Why do you say that?’
‘Like I said, they were two of a kind. He hated the idea of Alexa playing around, but that never stopped him from looking at other women.’
Webley asks the question Cody is thinking. ‘Are you saying that from personal experience?’
Nisha laughs. ‘Me? No. He knew he’d get a slap on the face if he ever tried it on with me.’
‘So… you’ve got no actual evidence that he—’
Nisha rounds on her husband. ‘Tell them what he said about that woman.’
‘Which woman?’ Webley asks.
‘The one with the legs,’ Nisha says.
Cody thinks this doesn’t narrow it down much, but he joins with the two women in focusing his gaze on Ross.
Ross waves a dismissive hand. ‘That was nothing.’
‘It wasn’t nothing,’ Nisha insists. ‘He was serious. Go on, tell them.’
Reluctantly, Ross caves in. ‘Oliver’s got a thing about women’s legs.’ He turns to Webley. ‘You know, some guys like legs; other guys like, well… other parts.’
‘I get the gist,’ Webley says.
‘So anyway, he got really drunk one time and he was telling me about this particular woman’s legs, and about…’ He looks at Webley again.
‘Go on,’ she says.
‘About how she had wrapped her legs around his head. I mean, it was probably just drunken talk. All in his imagination, you know?’
‘Yeah, right,’ Nisha says.
‘Just to be clear,’ Cody says, ‘this was recently?’
