The police chief is reporting what the husband told him, while Mrs. Walshe’s friend is reporting what either what Mrs. Walshe told her or simply what she imagines to be true. Neither should be believed without objective evidence.
When my husband was doing a lot of business travel, in pre cellphone days, we rarely talked while he was gone. He would say, “When I get there, I’ll give you a number where you can reach me if there’s an emergency,” and I would say, “Why? You can’t do anything from there if I have an emergency. I’ll call 911, the Knights of Columbus, or my dad, depending on the urgency.”
Nowadays we text from time to time, if one of us is away.
And given that this woman had kids...
From the sound of things so far (pure speculation here), sounds like she's got a romantic involvement.