Chapter Fifteen #3
Only, Julian had to ask.
“And she was good with it?”
Bishop nodded.
“That was what she told us, but clearly, she wasn’t. Every time it came up, and she was asked over the last four months, she was fine.”
They let Bishop talk.
Of any of them, she’d know. Not only did she live beside the Hunterhursts, but Lucian was her husband.
“She saw the meditation shed Lucian built, and not once did she say a word to them, or me.”
Tori was curious.
“How long was the affair going on?”
Bishop told her.
“She was hooking up with the man for four months, and to make it worse, when asked, he said she was planning to leave Ridge, and he was going to propose. Hart said that was NOT a lie.”
Ohhhhh, boy.
Now, Julian had to ask.
“Did she maybe ask Ridge if they could open up their marriage for her, too? Since he was sleeping with someone else? Because while you’re privy to certain things, maybe Ridge was holding back.”
Truthfully, Bishop didn’t know.
In order to find that out, they’d have to ask Ridge.
“We’re screwed on this one, and not case-wise. Hart said the dude isn’t killing them,” Honor admitted. “So that likely means this wasn’t what got Wynter killed. That takes us right back to hunting for a serial killer.”
Tori said one thing.
“Poor Ridge.”
Yeah, they all knew someone was going to have to talk to him about it.
And Bishop was going to have help on this one.
Bet.
On.
That.
She would be tagging in her husband—the man’s lover. Oh, how tangled this web had become.
What Julian believed to his core was that he didn’t care if permission was asked. Cheating was cheating, but that wasn’t his marriage, and none of his business.
Unless it affected the business.
Which, now, it just might.
Ridge was going to lose it and be in worse condition than before. Losing Wynter was one thing. Her having an affair that they didn’t discuss openly was another.
This was one of those situations of the chicken before the egg or the egg before the chicken. Would she have cheated had Lucian and Ridge not been a couple on a different plane?
Or was she legitimately not happy, and this was going to happen anyway?
Post-partum did wild things to a woman and her emotions. Now, they’d have to brace for the fallout.
“Okay, and Hart said the guy didn’t kill her?” he asked, even though they just said it.
They needed to be sure.
Bishop nodded.
“Again, we asked, and he said no. At first, we thought maybe Wynter was going to out him for banging a patient, but Hart said he didn’t do it. So, unless he’s that strong of a psychic who can change his aura at will…”
Honor went there.
“But then why didn’t he change it all the way so we couldn’t confirm he’d had an affair with her?”
Yeah, there was that.
“So, the consensus between the four of us is that he didn’t do this.”
They all nodded.
This was three days past clusterfuck into whatever was after that on the spectrum of shit.
“Well, that was our morning,” Honor said. “Cheating, love affair, marital discourse, and a side of lies. How about you two?” she asked.
Tori shared, and considering what they found, their information was nothing quite like it.
“We haven’t been having any success regarding following Wynter’s path. She came to the square, and the coffee vendor recalled her, and Amethyst inside the shop did too. Other than that, she didn’t visit any other shops.”
Bishop knew why.
“She met with her lover after the meet-up at his office. They were hooking up every Friday at three after he closed early. So, maybe they showed at the hotel. There’s only one this close to the square.”
Julian sighed.
“I have a headache.”
Well, yeah, welcome to their world.
“Same,” Bishop said.
Tori dug some acetaminophen from her purse and handed them to her friend.
“Bottoms up.”
She took them and chased them with her coffee. What wouldn’t she give for a bottle of wine and a quiet corner to hide in as she chugged it?
Yeah, it was a bad time to be with child.
Julian was just about to tell them about the medallions when Bishop’s phone rang.
When she glanced down, she saw the name, and clued them in.
“It’s Bo,” she said. “He was going back in to do a more extensive autopsy to make sure nothing was missed.”
Well, thank God for that.
Putting it on speaker, she answered the call in hopes he had something.
“Hey, Doc. What’s up?”
He went there.
“I just finished the autopsy. I can say definitively there is no trauma to her body. So, no one physically assaulted her or forced a gun to her head. There was absolutely no sign of struggle.”
Yeah, that made sense.
He continued.
“I also checked for the situation we discussed.”
She reassured him.
“Tori and Julian are the only ones with us, and the square is pretty empty. You can say it. They’re working this from the woo-woo angle.”
Yeah, his wife had updated him about that, and the less he knew, the better it was for him.
Truthfully.
He was a man of science, and this made him twitchy.
“I found sperm, and it’s viable. It’s pretty lively, so that tells me it’s fresh.
I’m going to say she had sex recently to her death.
They all have tails, and they are bouncing around like they are on the hunt for an egg.
There was no bruising beyond the normal kind during intercourse.
Did she have enthusiastic sex? Yes. Was she sexually assaulted? No.”
They knew that the doctor had said just that. He and Wynter swung wildly, and that was confirmed.
“She had sex around two-ish. That kind of recent?” Honor asked.
It took him a second to confirm.
“That would be exactly the correct time. She died after five, so yeah. I can compare DNA in a few weeks if you get me some of Ridge’s to sample against it.”
Yeah, no.
No one wanted to make the man live through that in a few weeks when the lab backlog got back.
The picture was pretty clear, so they didn’t need confirmation. Leon Keynon admitted to having sex with Wynter right before she died.
“We’re good on that front, but thanks, Bo, since Ridge was at work at that time,” Bishop said. “And you’re one hundred percent sure that it wasn’t forced?”
He was.
Bo had seen plenty of autopsies where it was forced.
“I’m one hundred percent sure. Like I said, no tearing, no bruising, and no damage to the cervix. It wasn’t forced. Again, exuberant, and a good time was had, but no assault. We checked under her nails, and there was no DNA like from scratching or fighting. I’m sorry.”
They were, too.
This sucked because this was a mess that no one wanted to wade into. Now, they had to decide how much to tell Ridge, and what could be left out.
“What do you want me to do now?” he asked.
“The blood samples went out, and I added tissue samples from her liver. too. I will say it will take some time, but knowing Wynter, I don’t expect to find anything shocking on board.
Her heart, liver, lungs, and all her other organs were pristine.
There was no sign of drug use that might have made her do this. ”
That meant one thing.
Honor went there.
“So, you’re keeping it suicide?”
He sighed.
“You know I have twenty-four hours, Detective, before your boss is up in my business and making my life a living hell. If you can get me proof that she was helped, I can give you more time. If not…”
They wouldn’t be able to do that.
And they knew it.
There was no way to definitively prove a psychic talked her into it. A judge would think they were batshit insane.
When Bishop went to go there, she was beaten to the punch by her partner.
And it was unexpected.
Someone wanted the rules bent.
Desperately.
“Can you mark it inconclusive?” Honor asked. “More for Ridge than us. Please? Sophia might want to know one day, and it’s going to suck to know mommy committed suicide. How will he tell her that she checked out by some evil psychic’s game?”
He softened.
There was the flipping of pages, and finally, he gave them an answer.
“I can do that. The others, though, are officially being switched over to suicide. I can’t hold onto them any longer, guys. You know that. I might be able to slip Wynter’s through, but…all of them? Her test results can go missing, and I’ll take the hit to my career on that one.”
They got it.
He was willing to save Ridge and Sophia because they were his family, too.
“Thanks, Bo.”
There was a silver lining in all of this, and he was more than happy to point it out.
“Hey, at least your boss will be off your ass,” he said, joking.
There was that.
“As long as we don’t keep collecting bodies, we can play the ‘look at all the suicides’ game,” Honor stated. “I can’t believe I’m even entertaining all of this jackassery. I’m going on vacation after this. Trust and believe it’s going to be ANYWHERE but this wackadoo town.”
He laughed.
Yeah, he understood that.
When Hailey had told him all about this, after the whole team had been updated, he’d nearly questioned if any of this was real.
“I’m heading home to be with my wife and kids. Be safe, and if you need me, call. Oh, wait. Don’t. I’m off duty. Elias is on duty now. You get my backup. I need a vacation too.”
They got it.
Bodhi was tired, and they knew he’d pulled an all-nighter for them. On top of that, he was going to take a hit to his career to help Ridge and his daughter.
“Thanks, Bo. We got it. We aren’t bothering you until you’re back on duty.”
That worked for him.
“Be safe.”
Then, he hung up.
Now with this call, it wasn’t making the situation any easier.
“I hate that Ridge is going to find out about that timeline,” Tori admitted. “He will get a copy of her death certificate, and as a businessman, he’ll make sure he sees his wife’s autopsy report.”
Yeah, they were aware.
Only, their hands were tied.
If there was any way to protect him from this, they absolutely would.
Only, what could they do?
He was going to eventually begin asking questions. When he did, they were going to have to answer them.
Well, Bishop would.
There was no doubt he’d come to her first, and then to Honor second.
So, she owned it.