Double Indemnity by Maggie Kavanagh

thought out loud. He had no idea how Nathan might react. “Do you think it was possible she was having an affair?” he said, as gently as possible. “I mean, I know you think she was talking about you, but what if she was talking about herself?”
    Nathan stared at him with obvious shock. “I don’t know. I hadn’t even….”
    â€œI’m sorry, and I know it hurts to consider the possibility, but if you two were having problems, it isn’t so unusual to go looking for comfort somewhere else.”
    If they did something terrible, could you forgive them ? Yeah. It sure as hell could have been Emma’s way of working out her own guilt, maybe even getting the courage to break it off with whoever she was seeing on the side. And then tell Nathan.
    And if the guy knew what Emma had been planning to do….
    At the other side of the table, it appeared the same gears were turning in Nathan’s mind. He looked like he might be sick. “I need some air.”
    â€œLet’s take a walk.”
    After Sam settled up with Rachel, he met Nathan outside. The cool fall night cut through the hazy warmth of the alcohol and invigorated Sam almost instantly. He motioned toward the right, away from some of the seedier neighborhoods and down along the waterfront. It wasn’t exactly a picturesque scene, what with the cargo ships and industrial docks. But in the darkness, the glowing lights shimmered on the water of the bay, lending it a sort of lurid beauty. The Baptist Street Bridge rose in the foreground, a gateway between the inner bay and the cold waters of Long Island Sound. They headed toward it, lost in their own thoughts.
    Once they’d made it halfway across the bridge’s narrow pedestrian walkway, Nathan stopped and looked down into the black, oily water.
    â€œCan you think of anyone, Nathan, anyone who it could have been? Maybe someone from the force? Someone she spent a lot of time with, or talked a lot about?”
    Nathan’s frown deepened. “She was helping to train a new guy. McCormick.”
    Sam nodded. McCormick was beefy and tall, definitely strong enough to strangle someone. The day Sam went to the station to ask about the mayor’s plan, he’d seemed hesitant to speak too freely. At the time, Sam had attributed it to his newness to the force. Looking back on it, maybe he’d just been cagey talking to a reporter who knew Emma. He didn’t give off a violent vibe, but a couple of brief interactions didn’t prove anything. Sam tried, and failed, to remember if Emma and McCormick had flirted at all, or seemed closer than normal for colleagues when he’d seen them together.
    â€œYou ever meet him?” Nathan asked.
    â€œA couple of times. We talked about the mayor’s two-year plan.”
    â€œStreets Clean for 2015?”
    Sam snorted. “That’s the one. I’m insulted you didn’t read my article.”
    â€œI didn’t know you’d written one.”
    â€œYeah, for the Gazette . It was pretty crappy, so don’t worry about it.” It hadn’t even been published until after they’d lost touch. Sam shivered and wished he’d worn something more substantial than a button-down. The wind had picked up, making it feel at least twenty degrees cooler than it had been near the bar. “So, she mentioned him to you?”
    â€œI’ve been traveling a lot over the past year, but she did talk about him on a pretty regular basis. I always thought it was sisterly affection.”
    â€œListen, I know Emma loved you very much. Whatever happened, that much is true.” He patted Nathan’s arm and let his hand linger there.
    Nathan smiled sadly. “It’s not about jealousy. If she’d told me she was unhappy, yeah, I would have been upset. But if this is true, and she put her trust in someone, maybe even loved them, and they—” He turned away and squeezed his eyes