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one might say. Cuckold in that he was being cheated on.”
    “Is that what cuckold means? Gee. I didn’t know.” The older detective’s voice dripped sarcasm.
    “He knew his wife had outside relationships. Bill and Olivia had what some might call an open marriage. Please, ask Olivia about the specifics of their agreement. I personally preferred not to hear the details. Olivia and I have been discreet, certainly, but not because of fear of discovery by spouses. We were much more concerned with keeping up appearances in the community.”
    “Of course.”
    The detective was being adversarial and Van de Sant bristled, but he had to make his case. “Why would I provide you with details about what might be the murder weapon if I were the guilty party? Surely you realize how illogical that would be.”
    “Where were you last night?” the younger detective asked.
    Van de Sant nodded. Finally, a relevant question. “I was with Olivia. At the EconoLodge off I-Ninety-Five.” The older detective’s face was still, but Van de Sant knew he was judging the choice of accommodations. “Olivia likes it there. We, of course, could go to my home, but a hotel provides a certain anonymity that can be freeing.” Olivia liked a lot of things he didn’t feel the need toshare. When he told them about the affair, he thought the detectives might have been a bit impressed. Olivia was a fine specimen of womanhood. Just thinking about her taut body sent a pleasing current through him.
    He was at her mercy really. The affair had already put him in a compromising position and made him shirk professional responsibility, but he couldn’t bring himself to break it off. Mason Henry should be grateful to Olivia. She’s the only reason he was still a student on campus and not some gangster’s punching bag in a public school. When Mason attacked Jared Slater, Van de Sant was ready to punish him. It would’ve been standard. But Mason’s father had come to him and told him if he kicked Mason out, he would leak the affair between him and Olivia. It was blackmail, pure and simple. Olivia would have been embarrassed by the disclosure, but Van de Sant would have been ruined. The Danbury board of trustees would have fired him. He was good at his job and they respected that, but he was not one of them. Sleeping with someone in their social strata would not be tolerated.
    “Why are you even bothering to dredge up this nonsense?” Van de Sant looked at the detectives. “Isn’t it obvious who killed Bill? Surely you don’t think it’s a coincidence that Mason and Kaylee ran away the same night her father was murdered?”

25. WE WEREN’T SCHOOLGIRLS
    Olivia watched Anne leave the room after her great declaration about Olivia having an affair. What a little bitch. Olivia knew she wasn’t particularly close with her daughters, but that revelation was really uncalled for.
    She turned back to the detectives. “My husband and I have an arrangement. We are, were, good friends who no longer felt the passion of a new relationship, but we didn’t want to divorce and break up our family.”
    “So you had affairs?” The older detective seemed completely nonplussed.
    “Basically, yes.”
    “So your husband, he was having affairs too?”
    “I’m sure he wasn’t celibate.”
    “Who was he sleeping with?”
    “I have no idea,” Olivia replied with scorn. “We had an agreement. We weren’t schoolgirls sharing details about our latest crushes.”
    “Did he know about your relationship with Jeremy Van de Sant?”
    “Maybe, but I don’t think so. We’ve been discreet.” Olivia thought briefly of that odd student, Glinda, who saw her coming out of Jeremy’s office. She surely suspected something, but she wouldn’t have told William. “Detectives, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but you should be focusing on finding Mason and Kaylee. I want my daughter home safely.”
    “We’re doing everything we can, ma’am,” the older