River’s End

cocaine.” She smiled, but it was thin and hard. “Julie hated it. They argued about it. They began to argue over a great many things. His last two movies didn’t do as well as expected, critically or financially. Actors can be a tender species. Julie was worried because Sam became edgy, argumentative. But as much as she tried to smooth things over, her own career was soaring. He resented that, began to resent her.”
    “He was jealous of her,” Frank prompted.
    “Yes, when he should have been proud. They began to go out more, parties, clubs. He felt he needed to be seen. Julie supported him in that, but she was a homebody. I know it’s difficult to equate the image, the beauty, glamour, with a woman who was happiest at home, in her garden, with her daughter, but that was Julie.”
    Her voice cracked. She cleared it, sipped more coffee and continued. “She was working on the feature with Lucas Manning, Smoke and Shadows. It was a demanding, difficult role. Very physical. Julie couldn’t afford to work twelve or fourteen hours, come home, then polish herself up for night after night on the town. She wanted time to relax, time with Olivia. So Sam started going out on his own.”
    “There were some rumors about your sister and Manning.”
    Jamie shifted her gaze to Tracy, nodded. “Yes, there usually are when two very attractive people fire up the screen. People romanticize, and they enjoy gossip. Sam hounded her about other men, and Lucas in particular most recently. The rumors were groundless. Julie considered Lucas a friend and a marvelous leading man.”
    “How did Sam take it?” Frank asked her.
    She sighed now and set down her mug, but didn’t rub at the ache behind her eyes. “
    If it had been three or four years ago, he’d have laughed it off, teased her about it. Instead he hounded her, sniped at her. He accused her of trying to run his life, of encouraging other men, then of being with other men. Lucas was his prime target. It hurt Julie very much.”
    “Some women would turn to a friend, to another man under that kind of pressure.”
    Frank watched her steadily as her eyes flared, her mouth tightened.
    “Julie took her marriage seriously. She loved her husband. Enough, as it turned out, to stick by him until he killed her. And if you want to tum this around and make her seem cheap and ordinary—”
    “Mrs. Melbourne.” Frank lifted a hand. “If we want to close this case, to get justice for your sister, we need to ask. We need all the pieces.”
    She ordered herself to breathe, slowly in, slowly out, and poured more coffee she didn’t want. “The pieces are simple. Her career was moving up, and his was shaky. The shakier it got, the more he did drugs and the more he turned the blame on her. She called the police that night last spring because he attacked her in their daughter’s room and she was afraid for Livvy. She was afraid for all of them.”
    “She filed for divorce.”
    “That was a difficult decision for her. She wanted Sam to get help, to go into counseling, and she used the separation as a hammer. Most of all, she wanted to protect her daughter. Sam had become unstable. She wouldn’t risk her child.”
    “Yet it appears she opened the door to him on the night of her death.”
    “Yes.” Jamie’s hand shook now. Once. She set the coffee down and folded both hands in her lap. “She loved him. Despite everything, she loved him and believed if he could beat the drugs they’d get back together. She wanted more children. She wanted her husband back. She was careful to keep the separation out of the press. Beyond the family, the only people who knew of it were the lawyers. She’d hoped to keep it that way as long as possible.”
    “Would she have opened the door to him when he was under the influence of drugs?”
    “That’s what happened, isn’t it?”
    “I’m just trying to get a picture,” Frank told her.
    “She must have. She wanted to help him, and she believed she could handle him. If it hadn’t been for Livvy, I don’t think she’d have filed papers.”
    But her daughter had been in the house that night, Frank thought. In the house, and at risk. “You knew them both very well.”
    “Yes.”
    “In your opinion, is Sam Tanner capable of killing your sister?”
    “The Sam Tanner Julie married would have thrown himself in front of a train to protect her.” Jamie picked up her coffee again, but it didn’t wash away the bitterness that coated her throat.