“You argued with K.T.”
“At dinner.”
“After dinner. Before the gag reel.”
“I did?” His eyes, bloodshot and dull, stared into hers. “About what she said at dinner? I was upset, embarrassed. Did I tell you already?”
“Some of it. How about when she came banging on your trailer door yesterday? What did she want then?”
“I … don’t remember.”
“Bullshit, Julian. You weren’t drunk then. I have a witness who saw her banging on your door. And she was angry, insistent.” The timing worked, Eve thought, and she was banking Peabody had heard Harris yelling outside Julian’s trailer.
“She was always angry about something,” he said with a shrug.
“She wanted you to claim you and Marlo were having an affair.”
“That’s just studio hype. It’s—”
“No, Julian. She wanted you to tell Matthew you and Marlo were screwing around behind his back. Matthew and Marlo are involved. Harris didn’t like it. She wanted you to help her break them up.”
“I didn’t know Matthew and Marlo were a thing.”
“Until?”
“Yesterday. When K.T. started raging about it. They’re really good at keeping it low. I could see it last night, when I looked for it. Up until then, I just thought they were friends. Maybe they had sex—it happens—but I didn’t know they were a thing.”
“Why would she expect you to do what she wanted, to tell Matthew Marlo cheated on him with you?”
“Hell if I know. And I wouldn’t. I like Marlo. I like Matthew.” Sincerity shimmered in his voice. “I’m not going to do anything to hurt them like that.”
“It didn’t bother you that Marlo preferred Matthew to you?”
“Actually, it was good to find out there was a reason she turned me down.”
“Not used to getting turned down, are you?”
“Not much,” he said, without a whiff of pride or shame. “I get a lot of sex. I like it. It’s fun, and after, I’m really relaxed. I’m okay that Marlo wants to be with Matthew. Somebody else will want to be with me, right?”
Hard to argue, she thought, with someone who seemed to think sex was as simple and available as a fizzy at the corner 24/7. And for him, maybe it was.
When Peabody walked in, Julian visibly winced, then looked down at the table.
“Peabody, Detective Delia, entering Interview. Thanks for coming in, Julian,” Peabody continued. “Do you want anything? Something to drink?”
He shook his head, then glanced at her. “Actually, could I have some water? I’m pushing fluids.”
“No problem.” Peabody recorded her exit.
“You didn’t want to let Harris in to your trailer yesterday,” Eve continued. “Why is that?”
“She was yelling. I didn’t want a confrontation.”
“What did she have to confront you about??
?
“I don’t know, I don’t know.” He dropped his head in his hands again. “It was always something with her.”