"I must concede, though, that she did hide some secrets, even from me. She never told me where she knew Dr. Cameron from."
"Excuse me. Are you trying to make any point here, other than your profound contempt from me?"
Mrs. Steel gradually transformed her unfriendly smile, as she realized that she was perhaps straying from the aim of her confession.
"When Mary Anne was diagnosed as having a heart problem, about four years ago, it turned out Dr. Cameron was to be her cardiologist. They were both very surprised. It had been years since their last encounter and it was a remarkable coincidence that they'd ended up living in the same city."
Mrs. Steel was now relating this still apparently pointless story with a much less provoking tone.
"Yes," interrupted Jesse. "They were old friends. So?"
"They were more than that: they'd been married."
Kathy gasped. All the bits of information she had been gradually receiving swirled inside her head.
"Dr. Cameron told you?" he inquired, also shocked.
"He and I… We've been having an affair for quite a while now."
"But what has all this got to do with the money?"
"I was just foolish enough to tell him about my… doings."
Jesse leaned back on his chair and exhaled.
"So you were robbing Mrs. Sloan and the doctor was in the know. Is that what you're trying to tell us?"
"Yes. That's pretty much the gist of the story."
Jesse looked at Kathy. Above all, she was relieved to be able to dismiss any uncertainty she reluctantly but unavoidably might have about him. Her eyes were calm.
"But how could there've never been the least comment about the doctor's previous attachment to her? Mrs. Sloan's family treated him as if they'd never seen him before!"
"They hadn't. Thomas - Dr. Cameron - told me they'd sort of eloped. He never got to meet her family because they didn't approve of her marriage. Some kind of old-fashioned prejudices. By the time Mary Anne picked up the relationship with her sister and brothers, she was already divorced; maybe even remarried, so…"
"Mrs. Martin knew, though."
The other two pairs of eyes turned abruptly to Kathy.
"What would you know?" was Mrs. Steel's disdainful reply.
"Mrs. Steel," said Jesse angrily, "may I remind you that you're basically confessing that you stole money from Mrs. Sloan? I think you should keep your jealousies to yourself."