The Villa

totally masculine with its biscuit-and-burgundy color scheme and glossy mahogany desk.
    She wondered if the office was tailored to suit the man, or vice versa.
    "I assume this has to do with Anthony Avano," David began. "Is there any progress in the investigation?"
    "The case is still open, Mr. Cutter. How would you describe your relationship with Mr. Avano?"
    "We didn't have one, Detective Claremont," David replied matter-of-factly.
    "You were both executives for the same company, both worked primarily out of this building."
    "Very briefly. I'd been with Giambelli less than two weeks before Avano was killed."
    "In a couple of weeks, you'd have formed an impression," Maguire put in. "Had meetings, discussed business."
    "You'd think, wouldn't you? But I'd yet to have a meeting with him, and we had only one discussion, which took place at the party the evening before his murder. It was the only time I met him face-to-face, and there really wasn't time to talk much business."
    Didn't mention his impression, Claremont noted. But they'd get to that. "Why hadn't you met with him?"
    "Scheduling conflicts." The tone was bland.
    "Yours or his?"
    David sat back. He didn't care for the direction of the questioning, or the implication. "His, apparently. Several attempts to reach him proved unsuccessful. In the time between my arrival and his death, Avano didn't come to the office, at least not when I was here, nor did he return my calls."
    "Must've annoyed you."
    "It did." David nodded at Maguire. "Which I dealt with during our brief conversation at the winery. I made it clear that I expected him to make time to meet with me during business hours. Obviously, that never happened."
    "Did you meet with him outside of business hours?"
    "No. Detectives, I didn't know the man. Had no real reason to like or dislike him or think about him particularly."
    David kept his voice even, edging toward dismissive, as he would when winding up a tedious business meeting. "While I understand you have to explore every avenue in your investigation, I'd think you're scraping bottom if you're looking at me as a murder suspect."
    "You're dating his ex-wife."
    David felt the jolt in the belly, but his face stayed passive as he leaned forward again. Slowly. "That's right. His ex-wife, who was already his ex when he was murdered, already his ex when we began seeing each other socially. I don't believe that crosses any legal or moral line."
    "Our information is that the ex-Mrs. Avano wasn't in the habit of seeing men socially, until very recently."
    "That," David said to Maguire, "might be because she hadn't met a man she cared to see socially, until very recently. I find that flattering, but not a reason to murder."
    "Being dumped for a younger woman often is," Maguire said easily and watched cool eyes flare. Not just seeing her socially, she concluded. Seriously hung up.
    "Which is it?" David demanded. "Pilar killed him because he wanted another woman, or she's heartless because she's interested in another man so soon after her ex-husband is murdered? How do you bend that premise both ways?"
    Furious, Maguire thought, but controlled. Just the sort of makeup that could calmly sip wine and put bullets in a man.
    "We're not accusing anyone," she continued. "We're just trying to get a clear picture."
    "Let me help you out. Avano lived his own life his own way for twenty years. Pilar Giambelli lived hers, a great deal more admirably. Whatever business Avano might have had that night was his own, and nothing to do with her. My socializing with Ms. Giambelli, at this point, is completely our business."
    "You assume Avano had business that night. Why?"
    "I assume nothing." David inclined his head toward Claremont as he got to his feet. "I leave that to you. I have a meeting."
    Claremont stayed where he was. "Were you aware Mr. Avano was having financial difficulties?"
    "Avano's finances weren't my problem, or my concern."
    "They would have been, if they connected to Giambelli. Weren't you curious as to why Mr. Avano was dodging you?"
    "I'd been brought in from the outside. Some resentment was expected."
    "He resented you."
    "He may have. We never got around to discussing it."
    "Now who's dodging?" Claremont got to his feet. "Do you own a handgun, Mr. Cutter?"
    "No, I don't. I have two teenage children. There are no guns of any kind in my house, and never have been. On the night Avano was murdered, I was at home with my children."
    "They can verify