Dear Lord, but this is actually almost done!
“What can you tell me about Choundry?”
“Tam’s girlfriend? I hated her,” Domaine said promptly. “She didn’t like me, either. Tam was very careful not to put us in the same room for any length of time. Why do you care about her, though? She couldn’t have possibly be involved in Oates’ murder; she’d been dead for weeks by then.”
“True, but I’m trying to get a feel for Tam, because he might have been involved in the murder. So, what was the problem?” Tobias asked. “She just rubbed you the wrong way, or vice versa? That happened sometimes, even Before.”
“Well, that would be the polite answer. The truth was, Choundry liked having her man on a short string, and every so often she would jerk on it, just to watch him jump. Tam Stuart was my friend, Commander. I don’t like seeing my friends get treated badly.”
He sighed. “The problem was, Tam liked being on that string. I thought it was dangerously codependent, what the two of them had, although I suppose the base psychiatrists didn’t. Still, they were definitely stable together, and it wasn’t exactly my business, so I kept my mouth shut and stayed away from her. When I heard she died in Piper Dome, I tried to feel bad for Tam, at least, but I couldn’t manage it. There were just too many other people who deserved my sympathy more.”